Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T14:04:07.313Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Stratigraphy of a flysch succession: the Ordovician of W Nithsdale, SW Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

James D. Floyd
James D. Floyd
Affiliation:
Institute of Geological Sciences, Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3LA, Scotland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A thick Ordovician marine flysch succession including greywackes, conglomer- ates, siltstones and shales occurs in West Nithsdale in the Northern belt of the Southern Uplands. Five new formations of Caradoc and ?Ashgill age are defined based mainly on petrographical and lithological evidence. The proposed correlation with areas up to 80 km distant to the SW, emphasises the persistent nature of the greywacke formations in the Southern Uplands when traced along strike. It is demonstrated that the main inliers of black shale in the Northern belt cannot be simple anticlines but are closely associated with large strike faults. The position of the investigated flysch succession in the accretionary prism model for the development of the Southern Uplands during the evolution of the Caledonides is indicated and its significance assessed.

Keywords

accretionary prismblack shale inliersCaradoccorrelationgreywackeLeadhills lineNorthern beltpetrographySouthern Uplands
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 73 , Issue 1 , 1982 , pp. 1 - 9
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Craig, G. Y. & Walton, E. K. 1959. Sequence and structure in the Silurian rocks of Kirkcudbrightshire. Geol Mag 96, 209–20.Google Scholar
Dawson, J., Floyd, J. D. & Philip, P. R. 1977. A mineral recon- naissance survey of the Doon-Glenkens area, south-west Scot- land. Mineral Reconnaissance Programme Rep Inst Geol Sci 18.Google Scholar
Dawson, J., Floyd, J. D. & Philip, P. R. 1979. A mineral recon- naissance survey of the Abington-Biggar-Moffat area, south- central Scotland. Mineral Reconnaissance Programme Rep Inst Geol Sci 28.Google Scholar
Floyd, J. D. 1975. The Ordovician rocks of West Nithsdale. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, St Andrews University.Google Scholar
Holroyd, J. 1978. The sedimentologic and geotectonic significance of Lower Palaeozoic flysch-rudites. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Wales.Google Scholar
Kelling, G. 1958. The Ordovician rocks of the Rhinns of Galloway. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Edinburgh University.Google Scholar
Kelling, G. 1961. The stratigraphy and structure of the Ordovician rocks of the Rhinns of Galloway. Q J Geol Soc London 117, 37–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelling, G. 1962. The petrology and sedimentation of Upper Ordovician rocks of the Rhinns of Galloway. Trans R Soc Edinburgh 67, 107–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lapworth, C. 1889. On the Ballantrae rocks of south Scotland and their place in the Upland sequence. Geol Mag 26, 20–24, 59–69.Google Scholar
Leggett, J. K. 1980. The sedimentological evolution of a Lower Palaeozoic accretionary fore-arc in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Sedimentology 27, 401–17.Google Scholar
McKerrow, W. S., Leggett, J. K. & Eales, M. H. 1977. Imbricate thrust model of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Nature 267, 237–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peach, B. N. & Home, J. 1899. The Silurian rocks of Britain 1, Scotland. MEM GEOL SURV U K.Google Scholar
Ritchie, M. & Eckford, R. J. A. 1936. The Haggis Rock of the Southern Uplands. Trans Geol Soc Edinburgh 13, 371–7.Google Scholar
Walton, E. K. 1955. Silurian greywackes in Peeblesshire. Proc R Soc Edinburgh B65, 327–57.Google Scholar
Walton, E. K. 1961. Some aspects of the succession and structure in the Lower Palaeozoic rocks of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Geol Rundsch 50, 63–77.Google Scholar
Welsh, W. 1964. The Ordovician rocks of north-west Wigtownshire. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Edinburgh University.Google Scholar
Williams, A. 1962. The Barr and Lower Ardmillan Series (Caradoc) of the Girvan district, south Ayrshire. Mem Geol Soc London 3.Google Scholar