The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Clitheroe Limestone Formation

Computer Code: CLL Preferred Map Code: ClL
Status Code: Full
Age range: Chadian Substage (CI) — Chadian Substage (CI)
Lithological Description: Predominantly pale grey and commonly coarsely crinoidal, packstones, wackestones and subordinate grainstones and mudstones with Waulsortian mudmound reef limestones present at two levels (for detailed lithogical description, see Miller, et al., 1972 and Lees, et al., 1985).
Definition of Lower Boundary: Seen at Ings End (SD 8145 4455), thin-bedded, dark grey silty packstones and interbedded mudstones of the Chatburn Limestone Formation pass upwards conformably into paler, more coarsely bioclastic cleaner-washed limestones of the Clitheroe Limestone Formation.
Definition of Upper Boundary: Seen as a sharp, unconformable boundary between the dominantly limestone succession of the Clitheroe Limestone Formation and the overlying grey to dark grey, thin-bedded calcisiltites and calcareous mudstones with thin limestone interbeds of the Hodder Mudstone Formation. At the type section this upper boundary is equivalent to the base of the Limekiln Wood Limestone Member identified as the "Salthill Cap Beds" of Miller, et al., 1972, and corresponds to a widespread unconformity.
Thickness: To 1500m
Geographical Limits: Craven Basin, Lancaster [SD46] to Skipton [SD95] - extent southward not defined.
Parent Unit: Bowland High Group (BOHI)
Previous Name(s): Clitheroe Limestone Series [Obsolete Name and Code: Use CLL] (-1441)
Clitheroe Limestone "Series" [Obsolete Name And Code: Use CLL] (CLSR)
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Partial Type Section  Middle: Salthill-Bellman Quarry, 1.7km northeast of Clitheroe Castle, Lancashire. Fewtrell and Smith, 1980, p.43. 
Partial Type Section  Good exposure in the A59 road-cut, 3.2km northeast of Clitheroe Castle, Lancashire. Fewtrell and Smith, 1980, p.43. 
Partial Type Section  Middle of the formation: exposure to the south of Coplow at Peach Quarry, 2.7km northeast of Clitheroe Castle, Lancashire. Fewtrell and Smith, 1980, p.43. 
Partial Type Section  The lowest 60m or so are exposed at Coplow Quarry, 1.8km northnortheast of Clitheroe Castle, Lancashire. Fewtrell and Smith, 1980, p.43. 
Reference(s):
Parkinson, D, 1926. The faunal succession in the Carboniferous Limestone and Bowland Shales at Clitheroe and Pendle Hill, Lancashire. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London. Volume 82. p.188-249. 
Riley N J. 1990. Stratigraphy of the Worston Shale Group (Dinantian) Craven Basin, north-west England. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol. 48, 163-187. 
Miller, J and Grayson, R F. 1972. Origin and structure of the Lower Visean "reef" limestones near Clitheroe, Lancashire. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol. 38, 607-638. 
Fewtrell, M D and Smith, D G, 1980. Revision of the Dinantian stratigraphy of the Craven Basin, N. England. Geological Magazine, Vol.117, p.37-49. 
Earp, J R, Magraw, D, Poole, E G, Land, D H and Whiteman, A J, 1961. Geology of the country around Clitheroe and Nelson. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Sheet.68, England and Wales, pp.346. 
Lees, A and Miller, J. 1985. Facies variation in Waulsortian buildups, Part 2; mid-Dinantian buildups from Europe and North America. Geological Journal, Vol.20, 134-159. 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
E059 E067 E068 E069