Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

Journal of the Geological Society

This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by MACQUAKER, J. H. S. Articles by TAYLOR, K. G. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

A sequence-stratigraphic interpretation of a mudstone-dominated succession: the Lower Jurassic Cleveland Ironstone Formation, UK

Department of Earth Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK

Microfacies analysis (using optical and backscattered electron imagery) has been undertaken on 37 samples from the Cleveland Ironstone Formation, Staithes, Yorkshire, UK. Four lithofacies were encountered: clay-rich mudstones, silt-rich mudstones, sand-rich mudstones and concretionary carbonates (two types: berthierine/siderite-rich ironstones and apatite-rich concretionary horizons). Successive units were found to stack systematically into upward-coarsening units on a small (0.1–1.0 m) scale. Upward-coarsening and upward fining packages were also found on a larger (1.0–3.0 m) scale. The small-scale upward-coarsening units are interpreted to be parasequences; while the large scale upward-fining and upward-coarsening packages are interpreted to be retrogradational and progradational parasequence sets respectively. The ironstones occur at the level where the stacking patterns change from being overall progradational to retrogradational, while the apatite-rich concretionary units occur at the level where the stacking patterns change from being retrogradational to progradational. The concretionary carbonates are interpreted to have formed close to/at major stratal surfaces. The ironstones are interpreted to be either the correlative equivalent of sequence boundaries or part/all, of the forced regressive system tract; while the apatite-rich units are interpreted to have precipitated close to/at maximum flooding surfaces (condensed sections) and/or major transgressive surfaces.

KEYWORDS: United Kingdom, mudstone, ironstone, phosphate rocks, sequence stratigraphy

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. H. S. Macquaker, K. G. Taylor, and R. L. Gawthorpe High-Resolution Facies Analyses of Mudstones: Implications for Paleoenvironmental and Sequence Stratigraphic Interpretations of Offshore Ancient Mud-Dominated Successions Journal of Sedimentary Research, April 1, 2007; 77(4): 324 - 339. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L.K. Adams, J.H.S. Macquaker, and J.D. Marshall Iron(III)-Reduction in a Low-Organic-Carbon Brackish-Marine System Journal of Sedimentary Research, June 1, 2006; 76(6): 919 - 925. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. H.S. Macquaker and M. A. Keller Mudstone Sedimentation at High Latitudes: Ice as a Transport Medium for Mud and Supplier of Nutrients Journal of Sedimentary Research, July 1, 2005; 75(4): 696 - 709. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Maximizing Information from Fine-Grained Sedimentary Rocks: An Inclusive Nomenclature for Mudstones Journal of Sedimentary Research, September 1, 2003; 73(5): 735 - 744.

				Stratigraphic Significance of Ooidal Ironstones from the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway: The Peace River Formation, Alberta, Canada, and the Castlegate Sandstone, Utah, U.S.A. Journal of Sedimentary Research, March 1, 2002; 72(2): 316 - 327.

				J. H. S. MACQUAKER and J. K. HOWELL Small-scale (<5.0 m) vertical heterogeneity in mudstones: implications for high-resolution stratigraphy in siliciclastic mudstone successions Journal of the Geological Society, February 1, 1999; 156(1): 105 - 112. [Abstract] [PDF]

				Discussion on a sequence-stratigraphic interpretation of a mudstone-dorninated succession: the Lower Jurassic Cleveland Ironstone Formation, UK Journal of the Geological Society, October 1, 1997; 154(5): 913 - 916. [Abstract] [PDF]