The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Rossendale Formation

Computer Code: ROSSE Preferred Map Code: notEntered
Status Code: Full
Age range: Yeadonian Substage (CY) — Yeadonian Substage (CY)
Lithological Description: A fine- to very coarse-grained and pebbly, feldspathic sandstone, interbedded with grey siltstone and mudstone, and subordinate marine black shales, thin coals and seatearths. Typically, the formation comprises a lower mudstone-dominated succession including two prominent marine shales, the Cancelloceras cancellatum and Cancelloceras cumbriense marine bands, and an upper sandstone-dominated succession, including the Rough Rock and Rough Rock Flags.
Definition of Lower Boundary: The sharp conformable base of the formation is taken at the base of the dark grey, fissile mudstone of the Cancelloceras cancellatum Marine Band with eponymous fauna, where the formation overlies the Marsden Formation. It typically overlies quartz-feldspathic sandstone of the Huddersfield White Rock (Yorkshire), Holcombe Brook Grit (Lancashire), Chatsworth Grit (Derbyshire).
Definition of Upper Boundary: The sharp conformable base of the dark grey, fissile mudstone of the Subcrenatum Marine Band with eponymous fauna present at the base of the Pennine Coal Measures Group. Typically rests upon coarse- or very coarse-grained and pebbly sandstone of the Rough Rock.
Thickness: Rochdale (Rossendale) 130m thick; Bradford and north Derbyshire 75m; Stainmore Trough and Askrigg Block 45m; north Isle of Man 26m.
Geographical Limits: Central Pennine Basin from Lancashire and West Yorkshire, between Lancaster [SD 47 61] and Harrogate [SE 30 55], extending southward to north Staffordshire [SK06], the Askrigg Block [SE 10 80] and Stainmore Trough [SD 85 15] and locally on the north of the Isle of Man [NX 46 00].
Parent Unit: Millstone Grit Group [See Also MIGR] (MG)
Previous Name(s): Rough Rock Grit Group [Obsolete Name and Code: Use ROSSE] (-3005)
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Reference Section  Ballavaarkish (Shellag North) Borehole, north Isle of Man [NX 4625 0070] includes the Rossendale Formation from 138.4m to 164.55m depth, including a 7m-thick, fine- to coarse-grained, cross-bedded, feldspathic sandstone contemporaneous with (though mineralogically and apparently provincially distinct from) the Rough Rock of the Pennine Basin. Also occurring are palaeosols and listricated claystones, one of which, near the base of the formation, may include the upper part of the Cancelloceras cumbriense Marine Band. Chadwick et al., 2001. 
Reference Section  BGS Winksley Borehole (SE 27 SE/9), in the southern part of the Askrigg Block [SE 2507 7150] includes the Rossendale Formation from approximately 29.7m to 55.89m depth. Cooper and Burgess, 1993. 
Partial Type Section  Orchard Farm stream section, southwest of Buxton [SK 0226 6903] is the Stage stratotype for the Yeadonian, with both the Cancelloceras cancellatum and Cancelloceras cumbriense marine bands present within a c.17m section Ramsbottom, 1981. 
Type Area  The Forest of Rossendale provides excellent sections, representative of much of the succession including the sandstones of western (Haslingden Flags) and northern (Rough Rock) provenance, as well as a good exposure of the basal marine band. Wright et al, 1927. 
Reference Section  Elland Bypass (A629) roadcut, near Halifax [SE 103 215] 500m-long and up to 30m-high section in the Rough Rock and Rough Rock Flags. Bristow and Myers, 1989. 
Reference(s):
Bristow, C S and Myers, K J, 1989. Detailed sedimentology and gamma-ray log characteristics of a Namurian deltaic succession:sedimentology and facies analysis. 75-80 "in" Whateley, M K G and Pickering, K T. Deltas: sites and traps for Fossil Fuels, Geological Society Special Publication No.41. 
Waters, C N, Barclay, W J, Davies, J R and Waters, R A. In press. Stratigraphical framework for Carboniferous successions of Southern Great Britain (Onshore). British Geological Survey Research Report, RR/05/06. 
Price, D, Wright, W B, Jones, R C B, Tonks, L H and Whitehead, T H. 1963. Geology of the country around Preston. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Sheet 75 (England and Wales). 
Ramsbottom, W H C. 1981. Fieldguide to the boundary stratotypes of the Carboniferous stages in Britain. Biennial Meeting of the Subcommisson of Carboniferous Stratigraphy, Leeds. 
Chadwick, R A, Jackson, D I, Barnes, R P, Kimbell, G S, Johnson, H, Chiverell, R C, Thomas, G S P, Jones, N S, Riley, N J, Pickett, E A, Young, B, Holliday, D W, Ball, D F, Molyneux, S G, Long, D, Power, G M and Roberts, D H. 2001. Geology of the Isle of Man and its offshore area. British Geological Survey Research Report, RR/01/06. 
Stephens, J V, Mitchell, G H and Edwards, W N. 1953. Geology of the country between Bradford and Skipton. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Sheet 69 (England and Wales). 
Wright, W B, Sherlock, R L, Wray, D A, Lloyd, W and Tonks, L H, 1927. The Geology of the Rossendale Anticline. Memoir of the Geological Survey, England. England and Wales Sheet 76. 
Cooper, A H and Burgess, I C. 1993. Geology of the country around Harrogate. Memoir for 1:50000 geological sheet 62 (England and Wales). London: HMSO for the British Geological Survey. 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
E123 E124 E125 E059 E068 E069 E070 E075 E076 E077 E086 E099