Whiteadder Water - an excursion: Difference between revisions
Created page with "'''By D.C.Greig. From Scottish Borders geology: an excursion guide edited by A.D. McAdam, E.N.K. Clarkson, P. Stone. Edinburgh : Scottish Academic Press (for [http://www.edinb..." |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 19: | Line 19: | ||
==== 2. Willie's Hole: Cementstone Facies, Plants ==== | ==== 2. Willie's Hole: Cementstone Facies, Plants ==== | ||
Return to Chirnside and continue south through Allanton on the B6437 road. Take the first left past Broomdykes, left again at the next T-junction and straight on at the next junction. A good track goes down to the riverside where there is parking by the footbridge and ford. Walk west along the track across the alluvial plain for 500 m to a cutting beside the low riverside cliff, waterfall and pool known as Willie's Hole (NT 878 547). A 1.5 m pale brown fine-grained sandstone, dipping at 12 degrees to the south, forms a low waterfall across the river. Above the sandstone are exposed 5 m of grey mudstones and silty mudstones with pale brown-grey nodular cementstone ribs less than 10 cm in thickness. Six metres of similar beds occur below the sandstone but with thicker cementstone bands up to 30 cm, one making a low weir across the river. Well-preserved plants are found at this locality, including ''Alcicornopteris'' and Archaeocalamites. Also recorded are the bivalves ''Lithophaga'' and ''Modiolus'', together with `''Estheria''', ostracodes, an early scorpion ''Eoscorpius''?, rare fish fragments and eurypterid fragments. The shrimp ''Tealliocaris'' occurs in a silty bed towards the top of the section. Cater et al (1989)<ref>Cater, J.M.L., Briggs, D.E.G and Clarkson, E.N.K. 1989<ref>Cater, J.M.L., Briggs, D.E.G. and Clarkson, E.N.K. 1989. Shrimp-bearing sedimentary successions in the Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian) Cementstone and Oil Shale Groups of northern Britain. Trans. R. Soc. Edinb: Earth Sci. 80, 5-15. | Return to Chirnside and continue south through Allanton on the B6437 road. Take the first left past Broomdykes, left again at the next T-junction and straight on at the next junction. A good track goes down to the riverside where there is parking by the footbridge and ford. Walk west along the track across the alluvial plain for 500 m to a cutting beside the low riverside cliff, waterfall and pool known as Willie's Hole (NT 878 547). A 1.5 m pale brown fine-grained sandstone, dipping at 12 degrees to the south, forms a low waterfall across the river. Above the sandstone are exposed 5 m of grey mudstones and silty mudstones with pale brown-grey nodular cementstone ribs less than 10 cm in thickness. Six metres of similar beds occur below the sandstone but with thicker cementstone bands up to 30 cm, one making a low weir across the river. Well-preserved plants are found at this locality, including ''Alcicornopteris'' and Archaeocalamites. Also recorded are the bivalves ''Lithophaga'' and ''Modiolus'', together with `''Estheria''', ostracodes, an early scorpion ''Eoscorpius''?, rare fish fragments and eurypterid fragments. The shrimp ''Tealliocaris'' occurs in a silty bed towards the top of the section. Cater et al (1989)<ref>Cater, J.M.L., Briggs, D.E.G and Clarkson, E.N.K. 1989<ref>Cater, J.M.L., Briggs, D.E.G. and Clarkson, E.N.K. 1989. Shrimp-bearing sedimentary successions in the Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian) Cementstone and Oil Shale Groups of northern Britain. Trans. R. Soc. Edinb: Earth Sci. 80, 5-15. | ||
==== 3. Hutton Castle: Cementstone Facies, Gypsum ==== | ==== 3. Hutton Castle: Cementstone Facies, Gypsum ==== | ||
| Line 28: | Line 27: | ||
==== 5. Foulden: Site of Special Scientific Interest ==== | ==== 5. Foulden: Site of Special Scientific Interest ==== | ||
The nature of the Cementstone Group strata was fully investigated by a multi-disciplinary study on a locality excavated near Foulden Newton Farm (NT 922 553). In this area, sediments of the Cementstone Group, mainly siltstones mudstones and cementstones, were deposited on an extensive flood-plain, crossed by small meandering rivers and passing southwards into coastal mudflats. Semi-permanent lakes surrounded by lycopod swamps lay scattered on the flood-plain and in one of these the Foulden Fish Bed, the principal subject of the investigation, was deposited. During its existence of perhaps a few thousand years, the lake was never more than a few metres deep and, though initially floored by a shell-bed, the bottom became too soft to support benthos. Through time the salinity of the water fluctuated, the lake became shallower and it finally silted up altogether. At its maximum extent the lake supported a rich fauna including the 2 m long fish ''Megalichthys''. The relative proportions of the fauna changed with the salinity and there were two mass-mortality events. Results were published in a special part of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1985 | The nature of the Cementstone Group strata was fully investigated by a multi-disciplinary study on a locality excavated near Foulden Newton Farm (NT 922 553). In this area, sediments of the Cementstone Group, mainly siltstones mudstones and cementstones, were deposited on an extensive flood-plain, crossed by small meandering rivers and passing southwards into coastal mudflats. Semi-permanent lakes surrounded by lycopod swamps lay scattered on the flood-plain and in one of these the Foulden Fish Bed, the principal subject of the investigation, was deposited. During its existence of perhaps a few thousand years, the lake was never more than a few metres deep and, though initially floored by a shell-bed, the bottom became too soft to support benthos. Through time the salinity of the water fluctuated, the lake became shallower and it finally silted up altogether. At its maximum extent the lake supported a rich fauna including the 2 m long fish ''Megalichthys''. The relative proportions of the fauna changed with the salinity and there were two mass-mortality events. Results were published in a special part of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1985)<ref>Wood, S.P. and Rolfe, W.D.I. 1985. Introduction to the palaeontology of the Dinantian of Foulden, Berwickshire, Scotland. Trans. R. Soc. Edinb: Earth Sci. 76, 1-6. (This issue, part 1, pp 1-10(), contains 12 papers devoted to the faunas, environment and ecology of Foulden).</ref> on the general palaeontology (Wood and Rolfe), the sedimentology (Anderton), the plants (Scott and Meyer-Berthaud), the miospores (Clayton), certain arthropods (Waterston, Briggs and Clarkson, Almond), the ostracods (Pollard), various fish (Forey and Young, Gardiner, Andrews) and the palaeoecology (Clarkson). Although protected the site can be visited and some of the 30 m section in grey cementstone facies can still be examined. | ||
===References=== | ===References=== | ||
Revision as of 18:29, 8 March 2015
By D.C.Greig. From Scottish Borders geology: an excursion guide edited by A.D. McAdam, E.N.K. Clarkson, P. Stone. Edinburgh : Scottish Academic Press (for Edinburgh Geological Society), 1972.
Author: A.D. McAdam
O.S. 1:50000 Sheet 74 Kelso
BGS 1:50 000 Geological Survey of Scotland map. 34 Eyemouth Drift
BGS 1:50 000 Geological Survey of Scotland map. 34 Eyemouth Bedrock
Introduction
The Cementstone Group, the lowest series in the Carboniferous of Berwickshire, is exposed in many of the sections cut in the valley sides of the Whiteadder Water. It is difficult to relate these sections one to another, because of the lack of distinctive horizons, the absence of progressive upward lithological change and the variable structure (Greig 1988, pp 45-49)[1]
1. East Blanerne: Cementstone Facies
One of several good cliff sections cutting cementstone facies in the Whiteadder Water, lies 2 km WNW of Chirnside by the B6355 road where there is limited roadside parking (NT 845 570). Access can be gained from the west end of the cliff and the section examined by scrambling along the base. The cliff is some 5 to 10 m high and is surmounted by a few metres of red sand and gravel deposits resting on boulder clay. The strata dip generally to the south-east exposing some 30 m of section. The beds are dominantly grey in colour with some green and reddish beds. The strata are mainly composed of grey mudstones and silty mudstones, generally poorly-bedded and blocky, with beds of siltstone and sandstone, and ribs and bands of cementstone. Faulting affects the south-east end of the section. The bivalves Modiolus latus? And Curvirimula, Spiororbis, ostracods and fish fragments have been reported.
2. Willie's Hole: Cementstone Facies, Plants
Return to Chirnside and continue south through Allanton on the B6437 road. Take the first left past Broomdykes, left again at the next T-junction and straight on at the next junction. A good track goes down to the riverside where there is parking by the footbridge and ford. Walk west along the track across the alluvial plain for 500 m to a cutting beside the low riverside cliff, waterfall and pool known as Willie's Hole (NT 878 547). A 1.5 m pale brown fine-grained sandstone, dipping at 12 degrees to the south, forms a low waterfall across the river. Above the sandstone are exposed 5 m of grey mudstones and silty mudstones with pale brown-grey nodular cementstone ribs less than 10 cm in thickness. Six metres of similar beds occur below the sandstone but with thicker cementstone bands up to 30 cm, one making a low weir across the river. Well-preserved plants are found at this locality, including Alcicornopteris and Archaeocalamites. Also recorded are the bivalves Lithophaga and Modiolus, together with `Estheria', ostracodes, an early scorpion Eoscorpius?, rare fish fragments and eurypterid fragments. The shrimp Tealliocaris occurs in a silty bed towards the top of the section. Cater et al (1989)Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag on the general palaeontology (Wood and Rolfe), the sedimentology (Anderton), the plants (Scott and Meyer-Berthaud), the miospores (Clayton), certain arthropods (Waterston, Briggs and Clarkson, Almond), the ostracods (Pollard), various fish (Forey and Young, Gardiner, Andrews) and the palaeoecology (Clarkson). Although protected the site can be visited and some of the 30 m section in grey cementstone facies can still be examined.
References
- ↑ Greig, D.C. 1988. Geology of the Eyemouth district. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 34 (Scotland), 78pp.
| At all times follow: The Scottish Access Codeand Code of conduct for geological field work |