The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Benholm Clay Formation

Computer Code: BECL Preferred Map Code: BC
Status Code: Full
Age range: Anglian Stage (QA) — Wolstonian Stage (QO)
Lithological Description: Dark grey shelly silty clay with broken marine bivalve shells and sparse clasts of sandstone, andesite, siltstone and limestone.
Definition of Lower Boundary: Unconformable on bedrock and conformable or tectonic contact on Birnie Gravel Formation.
Definition of Upper Boundary: Tectonic contacts with Burn of Benholm Peat Bed or Mill of Forest Till Formation.
Thickness: 4.6m+
Geographical Limits: Burn of Benholm area and coastal exposures on Kincardine coast between Inverbervie and St.Cyrus.
Parent Unit: Logie-Buchan (Albion) Glacigenic Subgroup (LBAG)
Previous Name(s): Black Shelly Till [Obsolete Name and Code: Use BECL] (-48)
Black Shelly Boulder Clay [Obsolete Name and Code: Use BECL] (-3837)
High-Level Marine Shell Bed [Obsolete Name and Code: Use BECL] (-4453)
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Type Section  British Geological Survey Trial Pit (BBP4): British Geological Survey registered number NO76NE/4 - Burn of Benholm area. 
Reference Section  British Geological Survey measured section (BBS1). NO76NE/5 - Burn of Benholm area. 
Reference Section  Horse Crook stream section. Campbell, 1934, locality 1. 
Reference(s):
Campbell, R, 1934. On the occurrence of Shelly Boulder Clay and interglacial deposits in Kincardineshire. Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society, Vol.13, 176-183. 
Sutherland, D G. 1981. The high-level marine shell beds of Scotland and the build-up of the last Scottish ice sheet. Boreas, Vol.10, 247-254. 
Donner, J J. 1960. Pollen analysis of the Burn of Benholm peat-bed, Kincardineshire, Scotland. Societas Scientarum Fennica, Commentationes Biologicae, Vol.22, 1-13. 
Donner, J J. 1979. The Early or Middle Devensian peat at Burn of Benholm, Kincardineshire. Scottish Journal of Geology, Vol.15, 247-250. 
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) 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
S067