The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details
Scalby Formation
| Computer Code: | SCY | Preferred Map Code: | Scy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status Code: | Full | ||
| Age range: | Bathonian Age (JN) — Bathonian Age (JN) | ||
| Lithological Description: | The lower part of the formation (Moor Grit Member) is dominated in coastal exposures by grey, medium- to coarse-grained, sporadically pebbly, trough cross-bedded sandstone, with thin siltstone and mudstone beds; plant fragments and fossil wood casts are common. Inland, in the Hambleton Hills (Powell et al., 1992) this member is represented by grey to white, fine-grained, orthoquartzitic sandstone, with low-angle cross stratification and planar bedding. The uppermost Long Nab Member comprises laminated grey mudstones and siltstones with yellowish grey, fine- to medium-grained, planar bedded and cross-stratified sandstones. Plant fragments and rootlets are common in both members, together with sporadic thin coals and grey mudstone seatearths. | ||
| Definition of Lower Boundary: | The lower boundary is disconformable or unconformable, at the abrupt upward transition from grey, shelly mudstone or shelly sandstone of the Scarborough Formation to grey, cross-bedded and planar laminated sandstone with sporadic plant fragments of the lower part of the Scalby Formation (Moor Grit Member) (Gowland and Riding, 1991; Nami and Leeder, 1978; Powell et al., 1992). The boundary is commonly a scoured, erosional surface. | ||
| Definition of Upper Boundary: | The upper boundary is conformable or disconformable, at the boundary between siltstone, mudstone or cross-bedded sandstone with plant fragments of the Long Nab Member (Scalby Formation) and the Cornbrash Formation, which at Cayton Bay [TA 078 841], comprises red-brown, sandy, nodular, bioturbated limestone with oysters and other bivalves; u-shaped burrows extend down from the base of the Cornbrash Formation into the underlying grey siltstone and silty sandstone of the Scalby Formation (Wright, 1977). Inland in the Hambleton Hills and Howardian Hills, the Cornbrash Formation (limestone) is generally absent (Powell et al., 1992, p.53) and the upper boundary is taken at the base of the yellow-brown, calcareous medium-grained sandstone with bivalves (Kellaways Rock Member, Osgodby Formation). The Kellaways Rock Member is referred to as the Redcliff Rock Member by Page (1989). | ||
| Thickness: | Up to 60 m on the North Yorkshire coast; 32 to 48 m in the Hambleton Hills in the west of the outcrop. | ||
| Geographical Limits: | North Yorkshire Moors, Cleveland Hills, Hambleton Hills and Howardian Hills, and is well exposed in several coastal cliff sections (Scalby Cliff) between Long Nab [TA 028 943] and Scalby Ness [TA 037 907], and south of Scarborough between South Bay [TA 046 875] and White Nab [TA 058 864] (Black, 1929; Hemingway and Knox, 1973; Nami and Leeder, 1978). Equivalent strata in Humberside and Lincolnshire are represented by the Redbourne Group (Gaunt et al., 1992). Offshore, the formation is equivalent, in part, to the Hudleston Formation of the West Sole Group (Lott and Knox, 1994). | ||
| Parent Unit: | Ravenscar Group (RAG) | ||
| Previous Name(s): | Upper Estuarine Series
(-697)
Upper Deltaic Series [Obsolete Name and Code: Use SCY] (-3024) |
||
| Alternative Name(s): | none recorded or not applicable | ||
| Stratotypes: | |||
| Reference Section | Reference section for the upper boundary on the south side of Cayton Bay, south of Scarborough. Conformable or disconformable, at the boundary between siltstone, mudstone or cross-bedded sandstone with plant fragments of the Long Nab Member (Scalby Fm.) and the Cornbrash Formation, which at Cayton Bay [TA 078 841], comprises red-brown, sandy, nodular, bioturbated limestone with oysters and other bivalves; u-shaped burrows extend down from the base of the Cornbrash Formation into the underlying grey siltstone and silty sandstone of the Scalby Formation (Wright, 1977). | ||
| Type Section | Coastal cliff section (Scalby Cliff) near Scalby Mills, north of Scarborough, between Long Nab [TA 028 943], Scalby Ness [TA 037 907] and southwards to Castle Hill [TA 048 893]. Along this 10.5 km section, it consists of medium- to coarse-grained, trough cross-bedded sandstone (Moor Grit Member, c. 15 m thick) overlain by grey mudstone, siltstone and sandstone, with local channel sandstone bodies. Plant fragments, rootlet horizons and drifted logs are common in the upper member, and thin coals are locally present. Dinosaur footprints occur sporadically. The lower, erosional boundary of the Moor Grit Member with the shelly mudstone of the Scarborough Formation is well exposed north of Long Nab [TA 028 943]. The upper boundary with the overlying Cornbrash Formation is not exposed until farther south, on the north side of Castle Hill [TA 048 893], Scarborough (Fox-Strangways, 1892). A better, intermittently exposed upper boundary at Cayton Bay is given in the reference section. | ||
| Reference(s): | |||
| Page, K N. 1989. A stratigraphic revision for the English Lower Callovian. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Vol.100, 363-382. | |||
| Hancock, N J and Fisher, M J. 1981. Middle Jurassic North Sea deltas with particular reference to Yorkshire. 186-195 in Illing, L V and Hobson, G D (eds), Petroleum geology of the continental shelf of north-west Europe. (London: Institute of Petroleum.) | |||
| Hemingway, J E. 1974. Jurassic. 161-233 in Rayner, D H and Hemingway, J E (eds), The geology and mineral resources of Yorkshire. (Leeds: Yorkshire Geological Society.) | |||
| Butler, N, Charnock, M A, Hager, K O, and Watkins, C A. 2005. The Ravenscar Group: a coeval analogue for the Middle Jurassic reservoirs of the North Sea and offshore Mid-Norway. 43-53 in Recent Developments in Applied Biostratigraphy. Powell, A J, and Riding, J B (editors). The Micropalaeontological Society, Special Publications. | |||
| Richards, P C, Lott, G K, Johnson, H, Knox, R W O'B. and Riding, J B. 1993. 3. Jurassic of the Central and Northern North Sea. In: Knox, R W O'B and Cordey, W G (eds.). Lithostratigraphic nomenclature of the UK North Sea. British Geological Survey, Nottingham. | |||
| Cope, J C W, Duff, K L, Parsons, C F, Torrens, H S, Wimbledon, W A and Wright, J K. 1980. A correlation of Jurassic rocks in the British Isles. Part 2: Middle and Upper Jurassic. Geological Society of London Special Report, 15, 73pp. | |||
| Gaunt, G D, Fletcher, T P and Wood, C J. 1992. Geology of the country around Kingston upon Hull and Brigg. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, sheets 80 and 89 (England and Wales). 172pp. | |||
| Lott, G K and Knox, R W O'B. 1994. 7. Post-Triassic of the Southern North Sea. In: Knox, R W O'B and Cordey, W G (eds.) Lithostratigraphic nomenclature of the UK North Sea. British Geological Survey, Nottingham. | |||
| Nami, M and Leeder, M R. 1978. Changing channel morphology and magnitude in the Scalby Formation (M. Jurassic) of Yorkshire, England. In: Miall, A D (Ed.), Fluvial sedimentology. Memoir of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, No.5. | |||
| Knox, R W O'B, Howard, A S, Powell, J H and van Buchem, F S P. 1991. Lower and Middle Jurassic sediments of the Cleveland Basin N.E. England: Shallow marine and paralic facies seen in their sequence stratigraphic context. Field Excursion Guide, No.5; 13th International Sedimentological Congress, Nottingham, UK. 1990. 66pp. | |||
| Hemingway, J E and Knox, R W O'B. 1973. Lithostratigraphical nomenclature of the Middle Jurassic strata of the Yorkshire Basin of north-east England. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.39, 527-535. | |||
| Gowland, S and Riding, J B. 1991. Stratigraphy, sedimentology and palaeontology of the Scarborough Formation (Middle Jurassic) at Hundale Point, North Yorkshire. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.48, 375-392. | |||
| Wright, J K. 1977. The Cornbrash Formation (Callovian) in North Yorkshire and Cleveland. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.41, 325-346. | |||
| Leeder, M R and Nami, M. 1979. Sedimentary models for the non-marine Scalby Formation (Middle Jurassic) and the evidence for late Bajocian/Bathonian uplift of the Yorkshire Basin. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.42, 461-482. | |||
| Livera, S E and Leeder, M R. 1981. The Middle Jurassic Ravenscar Group (Deltaic Series) of Yorkshire: recent sedimentological studies as demonstrated during a field meeting 2/3 May, 1980. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Vol.92, 241-250. | |||
| Waters, C N, Smith, K, Hopson, P M, Wilson, D, Bridge, D M, Carney, J N, Cooper, A H, Crofts, R G, Ellison, R A, Mathers, S J, Moorlock, B S P, Scrivener, R C, McMillan, A A, Ambrose, K, Barclay, W J, and Barron, A J M. 2007. Stratigraphical Chart of the United Kingdom: Southern Britain. British Geological Survey, 1 poster. | |||
| Black, M. 1929. Drifted plant-beds of the Upper Estuarine Series of Yorkshire. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 85, 389-437. | |||
| Fox-Strangways, C, Cameron, A G and Barrow, G. 1886. The geology of the country around Northallerton and Thirsk. Memoir of the Geological Survey of England and Wales | |||
| Riding, J B and Wright, J K. 1989. Palynostratigraphy of the Scalby Formation (Middle Jurassic) of the Cleveland Basin, north-east Yorkshire. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.47, 349-354. | |||
| Fisher, M J and Hancock, N J. 1985. The Scalby Formation (Middle Jurassic, Ravenscar Group) of Yorkshire: reassessment of age and depositional environment. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.45, 293-298. | |||
| Fox-Strangways, C. 1892. Jurassic rocks of Britain, Vols 1 and 2, Yorkshire. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. | |||
| Powell, J H, Cooper, A H C and Benfield, A C. 1992. Geology of the country around Thirsk. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 52 (England and Wales). | |||
| 1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used: | |||
| E033 E034 E035 E042 E043 E044 E052 E053 E063 | |||