The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Woolwich Sands

Computer Code: WLWS Preferred Map Code: notEntered
Status Code: Full
Age range: Ypresian Age (GY) — Ypresian Age (GY)
Lithological Description: The Woolwich Sands comprise cross-bedded or bioturbated fine- to coarse-grained sand and silty sand, locally with a low-diversity fossil mollusc fauna. Marginal marine. Early Eocene (earliest Ypresian).
Definition of Lower Boundary: At Lower Upnor, the Woolwich Sands overlies the Lower Shelly Beds, probably on an erosion surface (Kennedy and Sellwood, 1970). Further east at Canterbury it comprises the entire Woolwich Formation and rests on the Upnor Formation (Gamble, 1972) (King, in prep.).
Definition of Upper Boundary: The top of the Woolwich Sands is a sharply defined erosive contact at the base of the overlying fine-grained glauconitic sands of the Oldhaven Member (Harwich Formation).
Thickness: Up to about 6 m.
Geographical Limits: The Woolwich Sands occurs in Kent, possibly extending into east London.
Parent Unit: Woolwich Formation (WL)
Previous Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Type Section  The Lower Upnor Pit (Daley, 1999b; Ellison et al., 1994; Kennedy and Sellwood, 1970). 
Reference(s):
Aldiss, D T. 2014. The stratigraphical framework for the Palaeogene successions of the London Basin, UK. British Geological Survey Open Report, OR/14/008. 95pp. 
Daley, B. 1999. London Basin: eastern localities, In: Daley, B, Balson, P (Eds.), British Tertiary Stratigraphy. Geological Conservation Review Series 15, pp. 23-72. 
Ellison, R A, Knox R W O'B, Jolley, D W and King, C, 1994. A revision of the lithostratigraphical classification of the early Palaeogene strata of the London Basin and East Anglia. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Vol.105, 187-197. 
Gamble, H J. 1972. Field meeting to Boughton and Canterbury, Kent: Sunday, 11 July 1971. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Vol. 83, 471-478. 
Kennedy, W.J., Sellwood, B.W., 1970. Ophiomorpha nodosa Lundgren, a marine indicator from the Sparnacian of south-east England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 81, 99-110. 
King, C. in prep. A revised correlation of Palaeogene and Neogene deposits in the British Isles. Geological Society of London Special Report. 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
none recorded or not applicable