The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Gordale Limestone Member

Computer Code: GDLL Preferred Map Code: notEntered
Status Code: Full
Age range: Asbian Substage (CR) — Asbian Substage (CR)
Lithological Description: Scar-forming, mid to pale grey limestone, well bedded, varying from thick to very thick-bedded. Variations include fine- and medium-grained (more rarely coarse-grained) bioclastic calcarenite packstones, wackestones and subordinate grainstones, with thin conglomerates adjacent to the Middle Craven Fault. The wackestones and packstones commonly show pseudobrecciation and the grainstones are cross-bedded. Undulating palaeokarstic surfaces are present, commonly overlain by thin mudstone "clays" (bentonites). Topographically, the member forms conspicuous stepped scar features and prominent limestone pavements.
Definition of Lower Boundary: Taken at a conspicuous bedding plane at the base of the scar-forming pale grey, well-bedded limestone of the Gordale Limestone Member above the pale grey massive limestone of the Cove Limestone Member.
Definition of Upper Boundary: The conformable upper boundary is drawn at the upward passage from pale grey limestones of the Gordale Limestone Member to darker grey limestone of the Lower Hawes Limestone at the base of the Alston Formation, Yoredale Group.
Thickness: 94m thick in its type section at Gordale Scar, elsewhere a thickness of 70-75m is typical.
Geographical Limits: Southern part of the Askrigg Block, north of Settle, Yorkshire.
Parent Unit: Malham Formation (MALM)
Previous Name(s): Kingsdale Limestones [Obsolete Name And Code: See GDLL] (KDL)
Kingsdale Limestone [Obsolete Name And Code: See GDLL] (KIL)
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Type Section  Gordale Scar, 1.5km northeast of Malham, where the full thickness (94m) of the Gordale Limestone Member, including top and base, is seen. Arthurton et al. 1988. 
Reference(s):
Arthurton, R S, Johnson, E W, and Mundy, D J C. 1988. Geology of the country around Settle. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 60 (England and Wales). 
Mundy, D J C and Arthurton, R S, 1980. Field Meetings: Settle and Flasby. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.43, 32-36. 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
E050 E060