Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T09:26:21.069Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Westphalian alluvial plain sedimentation, Isle of Arran, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

M. Kirk
M. Kirk
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Geology, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow GI IXJ, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Facies analysis suggests that Westphalian (Upper Carboniferous) Coal Measure sequences on the Isle of Arran, Scotland, were deposited in a proximal alluvial plain environment close to the basin margin. Detailed examination of well exposed coastal sections has revealed the existence of six laterally and vertically interrelated sedimentary facies. Facies 1 to 3 are interpreted as fluvial channel deposits. Low sinuosity multistorey (facies 1), low sinuosity vertically accreted (facies 2), and rare high sinuosity laterally accreted channel deposits (facies 3) are developed. Associated overbank sediments comprise the deposits of crevasse splays (facies 4), flood plains (facies 5) and shallow lakes (facies 6). In terms of the spatial distribution of facies, a relatively high proportion of fluvial channel and floodplain deposits (facies 2 and 5) occur in the more proximal sequence at Laggan compared with the more distally located sequence occurring at Corrie. Palaeocurrent measurements from fluvial channel sandstones indicate that sediment source areas and the Westphalian basin margin lay to the north and northwest. Down palaeoslope towards the southeast, normal coal-bearing Westphalian sediments formed penecontemporaneously on the Scottish mainland in Ayrshire.

A sedimentological model is presented for the proximal non-coal-bearing Westphalian sequences of Arran. This model can explain the differences observed between the Arran sediments, and contemporaneous normal coal-bearing Westphalian sediments of the Scottish mainland.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 126 , Issue 4 , July 1989 , pp. 407 - 421
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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

Allen, J. R. L. 1963. The classification of cross stratified units, with notes on their origin. Sedimentology 2, 93–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. 1965. A review of the origin and characteristics of Recent alluvial sediments. Sedimentology 5, 89–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. 1983. Studies in fluviatile sedimentation: Bars, bar-complexes and sandstone sheets (low sinuosity braided streams) in the Brownstones (L. Devonian), Welsh Borders. Sedimentary Geology 33, 237–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. & Banks, N. L. 1972. An interpretation and analysis of recumbent-folded deformed cross-bedding. Sedimentology 19, 257–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arndorfer, D. J. 1973. Discharge pattern in two crevasses of the Mississippi River Delta. Marine Geology 15, 269–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1971. Sedimentation in the meandering River Endrick. Scottish Journal of Geology 7, 93–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bluck, B. J. & Kelling, G. 1963. Channels from the upper carboniferous coal measures of South Wales. Sedimentology 2, 29–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blundell, G. R. K. & Moore, L. R. 1960. Mid Coal Measures ‘red beds’ in the South Wales coalfield. 4th Congràs d'avancement des Etudes de Stratigraphie Carbonifère VI, 41–8.Google Scholar
Bridge, J. S. 1977. Flow bed topography, grain size and sedimentary structure in open channel bends: a three-dimensional model. Earth Surface Processes 2, 401–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bridge, J. S. 1984. Flow and sedimentary processes in river bends: comparison of field observations and theory. In River Meandering (ed. Elliott, C. M.), pp. 857–72. Proceedings of ‘Rivers'83’, American Society of Civil Engineers.Google Scholar
Bridge, J. S., Smith, N. D., Trent, F., Gabel, S. L. & Bernstein, P. 1986. Sedimentology and morphology of a low sinuosity river: Calamus River, Nebraska Sand Hills. Sedimentology 33, 851–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bridges, E. M. 1978. World Soils, Cambridge University Press, 127 pp.Google Scholar
Buringh, P. 1970. Introduction to the Study of Soils in Tropical and Subtropical Regions, 2nd ed. Wageningen Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, 124 pp.Google Scholar
Calver, M. A. 1968. Distribution of Westphalian marine faunas in Northern England and adjoining areas. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 37, 1–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cant, D. J. 1978. Bedforms and bar types in the South Saskatchewan River, Canada. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 48, 1321–30.Google Scholar
Cant, D. J. & Walker, R. G. 1978. Fluvial processes and facies sequences in the sandy braided South Saskatchewan River, Canada Sedimentology 25, 625–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, J. M. 1969. Brahmaputra River; Channel processes and sedimentation. Sedimentary Geology 3, 129–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duchaufour, P. 1982. Pedology, Pedogenesis and Classification. George Allen & Unwin, 448 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliott, T. 1974. Interdistributary bay sequences and their genesis. Sedimentology 21, 611–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliott, T. 1976. Sedimentary sequences from the upper Limestone Group of Northumberland. Scottish Journal of Geology 12, 115–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliott, T. 1986. Deltas. In Sedimentary Environments and Facies, 2nd. ed. (ed. Reading, H. G.), pp. 113–54. Blackwell Scientific Publications, 615 pp.Google Scholar
Ethridge, F. G. & Schumm, S. A. 1978. Reconstructing palaeochannel morphologic and flow characteristics: methodology, limitations, and assessment. In Fluvial Sedimentology (ed. Miall, A. D.), pp. 703–21. Society of Petroleum Geologists Memoir no. 5.Google Scholar
Fielding, C. R. 1984. Upper delta plain lacustrine and fluviolacustrine facies from the Westphalian of the Durham coalfield, N.E. England. Sedimentology 31, 547–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fielding, C. R. 1985. Coal depositional models and the distinction between alluvial and delta plain environments. Sedimentary Geology 42, 41–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fielding, C. R. 1986. Fluvial channel and overbank deposits from the Westphalian of the Durham coalfields, N.E. England. Sedimentology 33, 119–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flores, R. M. 1981. Coal deposition in fluvial palaeo-environments of the Palaeocene Tongue River Member of the Fort Union Formation, Powder River area, Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Montana. In Modern and Ancient Nonmarine Depositional Environments (ed. Ethridge, F. G. Flores, R. M.), pp. 169–90. Special Publication of the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists no. 31; Tulsa.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gersib, G. A. & McCabe, P. J. 1981. Continental coalbearing sediments of the Port Hood Formation (Carboniferous), Cape Linzee, Nova Scotia, Canada. In Modern and Ancient Nonmarine Depositional Environments (eds. Ethridge, F. G. Flores, R. M.), pp. 95–108. Special Publication of the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists no. 31; Tulsa.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huggett, J. M. 1984. Controls on mineral authigenesis in Coal Measure sandstones of the East Midlands, UK. Clay Minerals 19, 343–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, C. M. 1977. The effects of varying discharge regimes on sedimentary structures in modern rivers Geology 5, 567–70.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelling, G. 1968. Patterns of sedimentation in Rhondda Beds of South Wales. Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists 53, 2369–86.Google Scholar
Leeder, M. R. 1973. Fluviatile fining-upward cycles and the magnitude of palaeochannels. Geological Magazine 110, 265–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leitch, D. 1941. The upper Carboniferous Rocks of Arran. Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow 20, 141–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leopold, L. B. & Wolman, M. G. 1957. River channel patterns: braided, meandering and straight. Professional Papers of the United States Geological Survey no. 282-B, 85 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKee, E. D., Reynolds, M. A. & Baker, C. H. 1962. Laboratory studies on deformation in unconsolidated sediment. United States Geological Survey Professional Papers 350-D, 151–5.Google Scholar
Miall, A. D. 1977. A review of the braided-river depositional environment. Earth Science Reviews 13, 1–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mykura, W. 1960. The replacement of coal by limestone and the reddening of Coal Measures in the Ayrshire Coalfield. Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Great Britain 16, 69–109.Google Scholar
Mykura, H. & Hampton, B. P. 1984. On the mechanism of the formation of reduction spots in Carboniferous red beds of the Warwickshire coalfield. Geological Magazine 121, 71–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nami, M. 1976. An exhumed Jurassic meander belt from Yorkshire, England. Geological Magazine 113, 47–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parsons, R. B., Moncharon, L. & Knox, E. G. 1973. Geomorphic occurrence of Pelloxerents, Willamette Valley, Oregon. Soil Science Society of American Proceedings 37, 924–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pick, M. C. 1964. The stratigraphy and sedimentary features of the Old Red Sandstone, Portishead coastal section, north east Somerset. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 75, 199–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plint, A. G. 1985. Possible earthquake induced soft-sediment faulting and remobilization in Pennsylvanian alluvial strata, southern New Brunswick, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 22, 907–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puigdefabregas, C. & Van Vliet, A. 1978. Meandering stream deposits from the Tertiary of the Southern Pyrenees. In Fluvial Sedimentology (ed. Miall, A. D.), pp. 469–85. Memoir of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists no. 5.Google Scholar
Rust, B. R. 1982. Sedimentation in an arid zone anastomosing fluvial system. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 51, 745–56.Google Scholar
Scharpenseel, N. W. 1972. Formation and mode of link of clay-humic acid complexes v. radiometric precipitation in system montmorillinite (14C) – amino acid (55Fe) – (14C) humic acid. Zeitschrift für Pflanzenerwahrung Bodenkunde 129, 226–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schumm, S. A. 1972. Fluvial palaeochannels. In Recognition of Ancient Sedimentary Environments (ed. Rigby, J. K. Hamblin, W. K.), pp. 98–107. Society of Economic Palaeontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication no. 16.Google Scholar
Smith, N. D. 1971. Transverse bars and braiding in the Lower Platte River, Nebraska. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 823, 3407–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Todd, T. W. 1968. Palaeoclimatology and the relative stability of feldspar minerals under atmospheric conditions. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 38, 832–44.Google Scholar
Tunbridge, I. P. 1984. Facies model for a sandy ephemeral stream and clay playa complex; the Middle Devonian Trentishoe Formation of North Devon, U.K. Sedimentology 31, 697–716.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, A. 1935. The origin of the structure known as Guiliemites. Geological Magazine 72, 241–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar