Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T12:33:29.057Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lower Old Red Sandstone fluvial dispersal systems in the British Isles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

J. R. L. Allen  and
S. F. Crowley
J. R. L. Allen
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 2AB, England.
S. F. Crowley
Affiliation:
Poroperm Laboratories Ltd, Chester Street, Saltney, Chester, CH4 8RD, England.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An evolving pattern of fluvial dispersal responsible for the Lower Old Red Sandstone magnafacies has emerged from a stratigraphical and geographical consideration of palaeocurrent structures, clast lithology and fauna, sandstone composition, and sandstone detrital heavy-mineral assemblages. The evidence suggests that the Post-Ludlow (Downton) and lower Gedinnian rocks formed mainly in the joined Dingle–Shannon and Anglo–Welsh basins, fed from metamorphic complexes in NW Britain or beyond. Contemporaneous sedimentation in the Caledonian basin was restricted to its northeastern end. Later in the Gedinnian, the Dingle–Shannon and Angle–Welsh basins appear to have become separated by the uplift of a broad and extensive belt of mainly Lower Palaeozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks; included in this belt were outcrops of Post-Ludlow strata representing the earlier stream of metamorphic detritus. Granite intrusion, which reduced the density of and consequently uplifted the crust, occurred widely in the regions dividing and bordering these basins, and may be causally connected with their separation in the Gedinnian. The Caledonian basin appears to have remained a separate feature.

Keywords

AngleseyconglomerateDinglegraniteheavy mineralintrusionIsle of ManpalaeocurrentsandstoneScotlandSouth WalesupliftWelsh Borders.
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 74 , Issue 2 , 1983 , pp. 61 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1983

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. 1965. Sedimentation and palaeogeography of the Old Red Sandstone of Anglesey, North Wales. PROC YORKSHIRE GEOL SOC 35, 139–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. 1974a. Sedimentology of the Old Red Sandstone (Siluro-Devonian) in the Clee Hills area, Shropshire, England. SEDIMENT GEOL 12, 73–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. 1974b. Source rocks of the Lower Old Red Sandstone: exotic pebbles from the Brownstones, Ross-on-Wye. Hereford and Worcester. PROC GEOL ASSOC LONDON 85, 493–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. & Tarlo, L. B. 1963. The Downtonian and Dittonian facies of the Welsh Borderland. GEO. MAG 100, 129–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L., Thomas, R. G. & Williams, B. P. J. 1981. Field Meeting: The facies of the Lower Old Red Sandstone, north of Milford Haven, southwest Dyfed, Wales. PROC GEOL ASSOC LONDON 92, 241–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. & Williams, B. P. J. 1978. The sequence of the earlier Lower Old Red Sandstone (Siluro-Devonian), north of Milford Haven, southwest Dyfed (Wales). GEOL J 13, 113–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. & Williams, B. P. J. 1981. Sedimentology and stratigraphy of the Townsend Tuff Bed (Lower Old Red Sandstone) in South Wales and the Welsh Borders. J GEOL SOC LONDON 138, 15–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. & Williams, B. P. J. 1982. The architecture of an alluvial suite: rocks between the Townsend Tuff and Pickard Bay Tuff Beds (early Devonian), southwest Wales. PHIL TRANS R SOC LONDON B297, 51–89.Google Scholar
Ball, H. W. & Dineley, D. L. 1961. The Old Red Sandstone of Brown Clee Hill and the adjacent area. I. Stratigraphy. BULL BR MUS (NAT HIST) GEOL 5, 177–242.Google Scholar
Bassett, M. G., Lawson, J. D. & White, D. E. 1982. The Downton Series as the fourth series of the Silurian System. LETHAIA 15, 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1978. Sedimentation in a late orogenic basin: the Old Red Sandstone of the Midland Valley of Scotland. In Bowes, D. R. & Leake, B. E. (eds) Crustal evolution in northwestern Britain and adjacent regions, 249–278. GEOL J SPEC ISSUE 10.Google Scholar
Boyd Dawkins, W. 1902. The Red Sandstone-rocks of Peel (Isle of Man). Q J GEOL SOC LONDON 58, 633–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, P. E.. Miller, J. A. & Grasty, J. A. 1968. Isotopie ages of late Caledonian granitic intrusions in the British Isles. PROC YORKSHIRE GEOL SOC 36, 251–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brück, P. M., Colthurst, R. J., Feely, M., Gardiner, P. R. R., Penney, S. R., Reeves, T. J., Shannon, P. M., Smith, D. G. & Vanguestaine, M. 1979. South-east Ireland: Lower Palaeozoic stratigraphy and depositional history. In Leake, B. E., Harris, A. C. & Holland, C. H. (eds) The Caledonides of the British Isles – reviewed, 533–44. SPEC PUBL GEOL SOC LONDON 8.Google Scholar
Campbell, R. 1913. The geology of southeastern Kincardineshire. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 48, 923–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cocks, L. R. M. & Fortey, R. A. 1982. Faunal evidence for oceanic separation in the Palaeozoic of Britain. J GEOL SOC LONDON 139, 465–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crowley, S. F. 1981. Fades, environments and diagenesis of the Peel Sandstones, Isle of Man. Unpublished MSc Thesis, Reading University.Google Scholar
Doran, R. J. P., Holland, C. H. & Jackson, A. A. 1973. The sub-Old Red Sandstone surface in southern Ireland. PROC R IR ACAD B73, 109–28.Google Scholar
Ford, T. D. 1971. Slump structures in the Peel Sandstone Series, Isle of Man. ISLE OF MAN NAT HIST AND ANTIQ J 7, 440–8.Google Scholar
Gale, N. H. & Beckinsale, R. D. 1983. Comments on the paper ‘Fission-track dating of British Ordovician and Silurian stratotypes’ by R. J. Ross and others. GEOL MAG 120, 295–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gale, N. H., Beckinsale, R. D. & Wadge, A. J. 1980. Discussion of a paper by McKerrow, Lambert and Chamberlain on the Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian time scales. EARTH PLANET SCI LETT 51, 9–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardiner, P. R. R. & MacCarthy, I. A. J. 1981. The Late Palaeozoic evolution of southern Ireland in the context of tectonic basins and their transatlantic significance. In Kerr, J. W. & Fergusson, A. J. (eds) Geology of the North Atlantic Borderlands, 683–725. MEM CAN SOC PET GEOL 7.Google Scholar
Gill, E. L. 1903. Keisley Limestone pebbles from the Isle of Man. Q J GEOL SOC LONDON 59, 307–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greig, D. C., Wright, J. E., Hains, B. A. & Mitchell, G. H. 1968. Geology of the country around Church Stretton, Craven Arms, Wenlock Edge and Brown Clee. MEM GEOL SURV GB.Google Scholar
Halliday, A. N., Aftalion, M. & Leake, B. F. 1980. A revised age for the Donegal granites. NATURE 284, 542–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halliday, A. N., Aftalion, M., van Breeman, O. & Jocelyn, J. 1979. Petrogenetic significance of Rb–Sr and U–Pb isotopie systems in the 400 Ma old British Isles granitoids and their hosts. In Leake, B. E., Harris, A. C. & Holland, C. H.The Caledonides of the British Isles – reviewed, 653–61. SPEC PUBL GEOL SOC LONDON 8.Google Scholar
Harper, J. C. & Hartley, J. J. 1938. The Silurian inlier of Lisbellaw, County Fermanageh, with a note on the age of the Fintona Beds. PROC R IR ACAD B45, 73–87.Google Scholar
Heard, A. & Davies, R. 1924. The Old Red Sandstone of the Cardiff district. Q J GEOL SOC LONDON 80, 489–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holland, C. H. 1969a. Irish counterpart of Silurian of Newfoundland. In Kay, M. (ed.) North Atlantic—geology and continental drift, 298–308. MEM AM ASSOC PET GEOL 12.Google Scholar
Holland, C. H. 1969b. The Welsh Silurian geosyncline in its regional context. In Wood, A. (ed.) The Pre-Cambrian and Lower Palaeozoic rocks of Wales, 209–17. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.Google Scholar
Holland, J. G. & Lambert, R. St J. 1970. Weardale granite. TRANS NAT HIST SOC NORTHUMBERLAND 41, 103–23.Google Scholar
Home, R. R. 1974. The lithostratigraphy of the late Silurian to early Carboniferous of the Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry. BULL GEOL SURV IREL 1, 395–428.Google Scholar
House, M. R., Richardson, J. B., Chaloner, W. G., Allen, J. R. L., Holland, C. H. & Westoll, T. S. 1977. A correlation of Devonian rocks of the British Isles. GEOL SOC LONDON SPEC REP 8.Google Scholar
Ingham, J. K., McNamara, K. J. & Rickards, R. B. 1978. The Upper Ordovician and Silurian rocks. In Moseley, F. (ed.) The geology of the Lake District, 121–45. Leeds: Yorkshire Geological Society.Google Scholar
Jukes, J. B. & Du Noyer, G. C. 1863. Explanation of Sheets 160, 161, 171 and part of 172. MEM GEOL SURV IREL.Google Scholar
Lamplugh, G. W. 1903. The geology of the Isle of Man. MEM GEOL SURV GB.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leake, B. E. 1978. Granite emplacement: the granites of Ireland and their origin. In Bowes, D. R. and Lake, B. E. (eds) Crustal evolution in northwestern Britain and adjacent regions, 221–47. GEOL J SPEC ISSUE 10.Google Scholar
Leeder, M. R. 1982. Upper Palaeozoic basins of the British Isles—Caledonide inheritance versus Hercynian plate margin processes. J GEOL SOC LONDON 139, 479–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leggo, P. J., Compston, W. & Leake, B. E. 1966. The geochronology of the Connemara granites and its bearing on the antiquity of the Dalradian series. Q J GEOL SOC LONDON 122, 91–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, H. P. 1934. The occurrence of fossiliferous pebbles of Salopian age in the Peel Sandstones (Isle of Man). SUMM PROG GEOL SURV G B (II), 91–109.Google Scholar
McKerrow, W. S., Lambert, R. St J. & Chamberlain, V. E. 1980. The Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian time scales. EARTH PLANET SCI LETT 51, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molyneux, S. G. 1979. New evidence for the age of the Manx Group, Isle of Man. In Leake, B. E., Harris, A. C. & Holland, C. H. (eds) The Calendonides of the British Isles—reviewed, 415–21. SPEC PUBL GEOL SOC LONDON 8.Google Scholar
Moorbath, S., Bell, K., Leake, B. E. & McKerrow, W. S. 1968. Geochronological studies in Connemara and Murrisk, western Ireland. In Hamilton, E. I. & Farquhar, (eds) Radiometrie dating for geologists, 259–98. London: Interscience.Google Scholar
Moorbath, S. & Dodson, M. H. 1961. Isotopie ages of the Weardale granite. NATURE 190, 900–1.Google Scholar
Morton, D. J. 1979. Palaeogeographical evolution of the Lower Old Red Sandstone basin in the western Midland Valley. SCOTT J GEOL 15, 97–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Connor, P. J. 1975. Rb–Sr whole-rock isochron for the Newry Granodiorite, N.E. Ireland. SCI PROC R DUBLIN SOC A5, 407–13.Google Scholar
O'Connor, P. J. & Brück, P. M. 1978. Age and origin of the Leinster Granite. J EARTH SCI R DUBLIN SOC 1, 105–13.Google Scholar
Okada, H. 1967. Composition and cementation of some Lower Palaeozoic grits in Wales. MEM FAC SCI KYUSHU UNIV D18, 261–76.Google Scholar
Parkin, J. 1974. Silurian rocks of Innishvickillane, Blaskett Islands, Co. Kerry. SCI PROC R DUBLIN SOC A5, 277–91.Google Scholar
Parkin, J. 1976. Silurian rocks of the Bull's Head, Annascaul and Derrymore Glen inliers, Co. Kerry. PROC R IR ACAD B76, 577–606.Google Scholar
Pidgeon, R. T. 1969. Zircon and U-Pb ages from the Galway granite and the Dalradian of Ireland. SCOTT J GEOL 5, 375–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pidgeon, R. T. & Aftalion, M. 1978. Cogenetic and inherited zircon U-Pb systems in granites: Palaeozoic granites in Scotland and England. In Bowes, D. R. and Leake, B. E. (eds) Crustal evolution in northwestern Britain and adjacent regions, 183–220. GEOL J SPEC ISSUE 10.Google Scholar
Ross, R. J., Naeser, C. W., Izett, G. A., Obradovich, J. D., Bassett, M. G., Cocks, L. R. M., Dean, W. T., Ingham, J. K., Jenkins, C. J., Rickards, R. B., Sheldon, P. R., Toghill, P., Whittington, H. B. & Zalasiewicz, J. 1982. Fission track dating on British Ordovician and Silurian stratotypes. GEOL MAG 119, 135–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, R. W. L. 1971. Ostracoda from the Underbarrow, Kirkby Moor and Scout Hill Flags (Silurian) near Kendal, Westmorland. PALAEONTOLOGY 14, 595–611.Google Scholar
Simon, J. B. & Bluck, B. J. 1982. Palaeodrainage of the southern margin of the Caledonian mountain chain in the northern British Isles. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH EARTH SCI 73, 11–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soper, N. J. & Moseley, F. 1978. Structure. In Moseley, F. (ed.) The geology of the Lake District, 45–67. Leeds: Yorkshire Geological Society.Google Scholar
Stensiö, E. A. 1932. The cephalaspids of Great Britain. London: British Museum (Natural History).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tunbridge, I. P. 1980. Possible Devonian uplift on the Swansea Valley Fault. GEOL MAG 117, 497–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tunbridge, I. P. 1981. Old Red Sandstone sedimentation—an example from the Brownstones (highest Lower Old Red Sandstone) of south central Wales. GEOL J 16. 111–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van der Zwan, C. J. 1980. Palynological evidence concerning the Devonian age of the Dingle Group, southwest Ireland. REV PALAEOBOT PALYNOL 29, 271–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wadge, A. J., Gale, N. H., Beckinsale, R. D. & Rundle, C. C. 1978. An Rb–Sr isochron for the Shap Granite. PROC YORKSHIRE GEOL SOC 42, 297–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walder, P. S. 1941. The petrography, origin and conditions of deposition of a sandstone of Downtonian age. PROC GEOL ASSOC LONDON 52, 245–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallis, F. S. 1928. On the Old Red Sandstone of the Bristol district. Q J GEOL SOC LONDON 83, 760–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westoll, T. S. 1977. Northern Britain. In House, et al. (eds) A correlation of the Devonian rocks of the British Isles, 66–110. GEOL SOC LONDON SPEC REP 8.Google Scholar
White, E. I. 1935. The ostracoderm Ptaeraspis Kner and the relationships of the agnathous vertebrates. PHIL TRANS R SOC LONDON B225, 381–457.Google Scholar
White, E. I. 1938. New pteraspids from South Wales, Q J GEOL SOC LONDON 94, 85–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, B. P. J., Allen, J. R. L. & Marshall, J. D. 1982. Old Red Sandstone facies of the Pembroke Peninsula, S.W. Dyfed—south of the Ritec fault. In Bassett, M. G. (ed.) Geological excursions in Dyfed, south-west Wales, 151–74. Cardiff: National Museum of Wales and University of Wales Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, H. E. 1953. The petrography of the Old Red Sandstone rocks of the North of Ireland. PROC R IR ACAD B55, 283–320.Google Scholar
Wilson, H. E. 1972. Regional geology of Northern Ireland. Belfast: Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, Ministry of Commerce.Google Scholar
Wyborn, D., Owen, M., Compston, W. & McDougall, I. 1982. The Laidlaw Volcanics: a late Silurian point on the geological time scale. EARTH PLANET SCI LETT 59, 90–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar