The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Spynie Clay Member

Computer Code: SPYCL Preferred Map Code: SC
Status Code: Full
Age range: Devensian Stage (QD) — Devensian Stage (QD)
Lithological Description: A dark bluish grey to yellowish-red, commonly laminated clay containing well-dispersed clasts and lenses of sand, gravel and diamicton, and low diversity, high-Arctic microfossils, indicative of a glaciomarine environment.
Definition of Lower Boundary: A sharp, unconformable, undulating contact with underlying deposits of either glaciofluvial sand and gravel, or brown, gravelly clayey sand, and gravelly sandy clay diamictons, interpreted as till.
Definition of Upper Boundary: A sharp, planar, erosional, unconformable contact with late-glacial raised beach deposits, or at the present ground surface.
Thickness: To 20m
Geographical Limits: Sheet 95 (Elgin).
Parent Unit: Errol Clay Formation (ERRCL)
Previous Name(s): Late-Glacial Raised Beach And Estuarine Alluvium (-539)
Spynie Clay Formation [Obsolete Name and Code: Use SPYCL] (-1840)
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Reference Section  BGS-registered borehole No. 4, cited in Peacock et al. 1966, at 2.1 to 11.7m depth. Peacock et al. 1966. 
Type Section  Spynie claypit. Buchan, 1935; Eyles et al. 1946. 
Reference(s):
Buchan, A. 1935. Investigations of the glacial and post-glacial deposits of Loch Spynie. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Aberdeen. 
Peacock, J D, Berridge, N G, Harris, A L, May, F. 1968. The geology of the Elgin District. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Scotland. Sheets 86 and 96 (Scotland). (Edinburgh: HMSO). 
Merritt, J W, Auton, C A, Connell, E R, Hall, A M and Peacock, J D. 2003. The Cainozoic geology and landscape evolution of north-east Scotland. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheets 66E, 67, 76E, 77, 86E, 87W, 87E, 95, 96W, 96E and 97 (Scotland) 
Eyles, V A, Anderson, J G C, Bonnell, D G R and Butterworth, A R I C. 1946. Brick clays of north-east Scotland. Part I - Description of occurrences; Part II - Report on analyses and physical tests. Geological Survey of Great Britain: Wartime Pamphlet, No.47. 
Peacock, J D. 1999. The pre-Windermere Interstadial (late Devensian) raised marine strata of eastern Scotland and their macrofauna: a review. Quaternary Science Reviews, Vol.18, 1655-1679. 
Merritt, J W, Connell, E R and Bridgland, D R (editors). 2000. The Quaternary of the Banffshire Coast and Buchan; Field Guide. (London: Quaternary Research Association.) 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
S095