The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details
Nurseries Glacigenic Formation
| Computer Code: | NURS | Preferred Map Code: | notEntered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status Code: | Full | ||
| Age range: | Anglian Stage (QA) — Anglian Stage (QA) | ||
| Lithological Description: | Comprises the older of the two pre-Devensian glacial successions identified in the Birmingham area. Predominantly tills, sands and gravels and laminated glaciolacustrine clays. Characteristically lacks Scottish and Lake districts erratics (which characterise the Stockport Glacigenic Formation), and northern and eastern (e.g. Cretaceous) erratics (which are found in the Wolston Glacigenic Formation). At the type locality it comprises brown till with abundant erratics (mainly local Upper Carboniferous Coal Measures rocks but including rocks of western derivation such as North Welsh rhyolite), together with sands and gravels and laminated clays. Represented by sand and gravel and laminated clay at Nechells. At both localities underlies the organic Quinton Beds ("Hoxnian"). Full geographic exent and thus full range of lithology uncertain. Glacigenic deposits. Anglian (MIS 12). | ||
| Definition of Lower Boundary: | Rests upon Permo-Triassic and Palaeozoic bedrock. | ||
| Definition of Upper Boundary: | At type locality and at Nechells, overlain by the organic Quinton Peat Formation (Hoxnian). Elsewhere and more generally, inferred to be overlain by the Ridgacre Formation, or depending on lateral extent, younger Quaternary deposits (head, fluvial deposits) or ground surface. Remnants may be present inside the Devensian limit beneath the Stockport Formation. | ||
| Thickness: | Up to c. 20 to 25 m at type locality and Nechells. | ||
| Geographical Limits: | Full extent highly uncertain pending further work, but likely to be fairly widespread in and to the south of the Birmingham area (Redditch and Birmingham districts) (SheetS E168, 182, 183) beyond the limit of the Stockport Glacigenic Formation (Devensian), both beneath the Ridgacre Formation and beyond the limits of that unit. Currently positively identified only in sections at Quinton and Nechells, where it underlies the temperate (Hoxnian) Quinton Beds. Remnants may be present inside the Devensian limit beneath the Stockport Glacigenic Formation. | ||
| Parent Unit: | Albion Glacigenic Group (ALBI) | ||
| Previous Name(s): | Western Drift [Obsolete Name and Code: Use NURS, RIDG]
(-1097)
Lower Glacial Series and Late-Glacial Series [Obsolete Name and Code: Use NURS] (-429) |
||
| Alternative Name(s): | none recorded or not applicable | ||
| Stratotypes: | |||
| Type Section | Site investigation boreholes and motorway cutting at Quinton, Birmingham. Horton, 1974, 1989. | ||
| Reference Section | Nechells. Kelly, 1964; Shotton and Osborne, 1965. | ||
| Reference(s): | |||
| Old R A, Hamblin, R J O, Ambrose, K, and Warrington G. 1991. Geology of the country around Redditch. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 183 (England and Wales). | |||
| Kelly, M R. 1964. The Middle Pleistocene of North Birmingham. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol.B247, 533-592. | |||
| Shotton, F W and Osbourne, P J. 1965. The fauna of the Hoxnian interglacial deposits of Nechells, Birmingham. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol. B248, 353-378. | |||
| Bowen, D Q. 1999. A revised correlation of Quaternary deposits in the British Isles. Geological Society Special Report, No. 23. | |||
| Horton, A. 1974. The sequence of Pleistocene deposits proved during the construction of the Birmingham motorways. Report of the Institute of Geological Sciences, No.74/22. (London:HMSO). | |||
| Horton, A. 1989. Quinton. 69-76 in Keen, D H (editor), The Pleistocene of the West Midlands. Field Guide. [Cambridge: Quaternary Research Association.] | |||
| Powell, J H, Glover, B W and Waters, C N. 2000. Geology of the Birmingham area. Memoir of British Geological Survey Sheet 168 (England and Wales). | |||
| Stoker, M S, McMillan, A A and Waters, C N. Quaternary Stratigraphical Chart: Southern Britain. British Geological Survey, 1 poster. | |||
| McMillan, A A, Hamblin, R J O, and Merritt, J W. 2011. A lithostratigraphical framework for onshore Quaternary and Neogene (Tertiary) superficial deposits of Great Britain and the Isle of Man. British Geological Survey Research Report, RR/10/03. 343pp. | |||
| 1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used: | |||
| E124 E125 E140 E141 E154 E155 E167 E168 E169 E183 | |||