The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details
Scarborough Formation
| Computer Code: | SCR | Preferred Map Code: | Scr |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status Code: | Full | ||
| Age range: | Bajocian Age (JB) — Bajocian Age (JB) | ||
| Lithological Description: | Variable lithology comprising: fossiliferous argillaceous limestone (peloidal micrite and wackestone), calcareous mudstone, calcareous siltstone, calcareous medium-grained sandstone, calcareous concretions and ironstone. Peloidal limestones are locally cross-bedded. | ||
| Definition of Lower Boundary: | The lower boundary is conformable, or disconformable, at the abrupt upward transition from plant debris-rich, mudstone with plant rootlets, or cross-bedded sandstone of the upper part of the Cloughton Formation (Gristhorpe Member) and well laminated calcareous mudstone, or limestone of the Scarborough Formation (Bate, 1965, p.83; Parsons, 1977; Gowland and Riding, 1991; Powell et al., 1992). | ||
| Definition of Upper Boundary: | The upper boundary is disconformable, at the abrupt upward transition from grey shelly mudstone or shelly sandstone of the Scarborough Formation to cross-bedded sandstone with plant fragments of the lower part of the Scalby Formation (Moor Grit Member) (Bate, 1965, p.83; Parsons, 1977; Gowland and Riding, 1991; Powell et al., 1992). | ||
| Thickness: | Up to 30 m in the type coastal section at Hundale Point [TA 026 949] Gowland and Riding, 1991); thins westward to between 9-14 m in the Hambleton Hills [SE 477 898] (Powell et al., 1992, p.46); at Yons Nab [TA 085 841] south of Scarborough it is only 3 m thick (Rawson and Wright, 1992). | ||
| Geographical Limits: | Present throughout the North Yorkshire Moors, Cleveland Hills, Hambleton Hills and Howardian Hills, and is well exposed in several coastal cliff sections near Hundale Point [TA 026 948] between Cloughton Wyke and Long Nab, northwest of Scarborough, and at Black Rocks [TA 050 870] to the south of Scarborough. Equivalent strata in Humberside and Lincolnshire are dominated by limestones (Lincolnshire Limestone, Cope et al., 1980). Offshore, the formation is equivalent, in part, to the Strangways Formation of the West Sole Group (Lott and Knox,1994). | ||
| Parent Unit: | Ravenscar Group (RAG) | ||
| Previous Name(s): | Scarborough Limestone [Obsolete Name And Code: Use SCR]
(SBL)
Grey Limestone Series [Obsolete Name And Code] (GLSR) Scarborough Limestone Series [Obsolete Name and Code: Use SCR] (-4318) |
||
| Alternative Name(s): | none recorded or not applicable | ||
| Stratotypes: | |||
| Type Section | The type section at Hundale Point [TA 026 948] was described by Bate (1965, p.83) and later by Parsons (1977) and Gowland and Riding (1991). Here, grey mudstone with plant fragments of the Cloughton Formation are overlain by calcareous siltstone, calcareous mudstone, calcareous fine- to medium-grained sandstone and thin beds of argillaceous limestone; calcite concretions are present in the uppermost calcareous siltstones. Sandstones and siltstones have a rich and diverse trace fossil assemblage, including Diplocraterion, Rhizocorallium, Thalassinoides and Chondrites burrows. Bivalves and sparse ammonites (Humphriesianum and Subfurcatum Zones - early to late Bajocian) are present. Seven members have been recognised at Hundale Point (Parsons, 1977; Gowland and Riding, 1991) but these are not readily traceable away from the coastal cliff exposures. The members at Hundale Point comprise, in upward sequence, the Helwath Beck Member, the Hundale Shale Member, the Hundale Sandstone Member, the Spindle Thorn Limestone Member, the Ravenscar Shale Member, the White Nab Ironstone Member and the Bogmire Gill Member. | ||
| Reference Section | Quarry near Kirby Knowle exposes the Brandby Roadstone Member (Phillips, 1829) and Crinoid Grit Member (Richardson, 1912) typical of the Scarborough Formation lithofacies in the west and southwest of the Cleveland Basin (Fox-Strangways, et al., 1886). Comparative sections in the Hambleton Hills are illustrated in Powell et al. (1992, Figure 13, and p.48) and Powell (1992). The most complete section is at Brockholes [SE 4744 8777]. Here, grey mudstone with plant fragments of the Cloughton Formation is sharply overlain by yellow, sandy limestone and grey, micritic, peloidal limestone with bivalves that passes up to calcareous sandstone with pentacrinoid columnals and Diplocraterion burrows (Brandsby Roadstone Member). Above, the Crinoid Grit Member comprises yellow, medium-grained, cross-bedded, calcareous sandstone with bivalves, pentacrinoid columnals and abundant burrows; the upper boundary with the white to pale grey, fine-grained, orthoquartzitic sandstone of the overlying Moor Grit Member is poorly exposed. | ||
| Reference(s): | |||
| Powell, J H. 1992. Gyrochorte burrows from the Scarborough Formation (Middle Jurassic) of the Cleveland Basin, and their sedimentological setting. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.49, 41-47. | |||
| Richards, P C, Lott, G K, Johnson, H, Knox, R W O'B. and Riding, J B. 1993. 3. Jurassic of the Central and Northern North Sea. In: Knox, R W O'B and Cordey, W G (eds.). Lithostratigraphic nomenclature of the UK North Sea. British Geological Survey, Nottingham. | |||
| Lott, G K and Knox, R W O'B. 1994. 7. Post-Triassic of the Southern North Sea. In: Knox, R W O'B and Cordey, W G (eds.) Lithostratigraphic nomenclature of the UK North Sea. British Geological Survey, Nottingham. | |||
| Richardson, L. 1912. The Lower Oolitic Rocks of Yorkshire. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.17, 184-215. | |||
| Parsons, C F. 1977. A stratigraphic revision of the Scarborough Formation. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.41, 203-222. | |||
| Bate, R H. 1965. Middle Jurassic ostracoda from the Grey Limestone Series, Yorkshire. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology, Vol. 11, 75-133. | |||
| Frost, D V. 1998. Geology of the country around Northallerton. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 42 (England and Wales). | |||
| Riding, J B and Wright, J K. 1989. Palynostratigraphy of the Scalby Formation (Middle Jurassic) of the Cleveland Basin, north-east Yorkshire. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.47, 349-354. | |||
| Knox, R W O'B, Howard, A S, Powell, J H and van Buchem, F S P. 1991. Lower and Middle Jurassic sediments of the Cleveland Basin N.E. England: Shallow marine and paralic facies seen in their sequence stratigraphic context. Field Excursion Guide, No.5; 13th International Sedimentological Congress, Nottingham, UK. 1990. 66pp. | |||
| Rawson, P F and Wright, J K (eds). 1992. The Yorkshire Coast. Geologists' Association Guide, No.34. 2nd Edition, 117pp. (Ongar: PSS Group.) | |||
| Whyte, M A and Romano, M. 2006. Middle-Upper Jurassic sequence between Cayton Bay and Yons Nab. 174-182 in Scrutton, C T and Powell, J H (eds), Yorkshire Rocks and Landscapes - A Field Guide, 3rd Edition. (Leeds: Yorkshire Geological Society.) | |||
| Waters, C N, Smith, K, Hopson, P M, Wilson, D, Bridge, D M, Carney, J N, Cooper, A H, Crofts, R G, Ellison, R A, Mathers, S J, Moorlock, B S P, Scrivener, R C, McMillan, A A, Ambrose, K, Barclay, W J, and Barron, A J M. 2007. Stratigraphical Chart of the United Kingdom: Southern Britain. British Geological Survey, 1 poster. | |||
| Hemingway, J E and Knox, R W O'B. 1973. Lithostratigraphical nomenclature of the Middle Jurassic strata of the Yorkshire Basin of north-east England. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.39, 527-535. | |||
| Gowland, S and Riding, J B. 1991. Stratigraphy, sedimentology and palaeontology of the Scarborough Formation (Middle Jurassic) at Hundale Point, North Yorkshire. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.48, 375-392. | |||
| Hemingway, J E. 1974. Jurassic. 161-233 in Rayner, D H and Hemingway, J E (eds), The geology and mineral resources of Yorkshire. (Leeds: Yorkshire Geological Society.) | |||
| Fox-Strangways, C, Cameron, A G and Barrow, G. 1886. The geology of the country around Northallerton and Thirsk. Memoir of the Geological Survey of England and Wales | |||
| Powell, J H, Cooper, A H C and Benfield, A C. 1992. Geology of the country around Thirsk. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 52 (England and Wales). | |||
| Cope, J C W, Duff, K L, Parsons, C F, Torrens, H S, Wimbledon, W A and Wright, J K. 1980. A correlation of Jurassic rocks in the British Isles. Part 2: Middle and Upper Jurassic. Geological Society of London Special Report, 15, 73pp. | |||
| Phillips, J. 1829. Illustrations of the geology of Yorkshire, or a description of the strata and organic remains. Part I, the Yorkshire Coast. (York.) | |||
| 1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used: | |||
| E033 E034 E035 E042 E043 E044 E052 E053 E054 E063 | |||