Lyell Collection
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
Lyell Centre  |   Lyell Collection  |   Subscriptions   |   Geological Society  |   Email alerts  |   Online bookshop  |   Help

Keywords:
Author:
Advanced search>>
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Jeans, C. V.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 1995; v. 89; p. 31-55;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.089.01.04
© 1995 Geological Society of London

Clay mineral stratigraphy in Palaeozoic and Mesozoic red bed facies onshore and offshore UK

C. V. Jeans

Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge University, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK

Different methods of clay mineral correlation within sedimentary sequences provide varying degrees of stratigraphical resolution. These range from: (1) precise time correlation by the recognition of clay-forming events; (2) levels of general stratigraphical significance based upon changes in clay mineral assemblages reflecting widespread climatic, topographic or sea-level changes; (3) correlations of no stratigraphical significance where the distribution of clay minerals reflect patterns of detrital dispersal, pore-fluid flow in buried sediments, or metamorphism. The main use of clay mineral stratigraphy is to provide an alternative means of correlating effectively unfossiliferous sediments by tying them into biostratigraphically dated standard sequences in which the clay mineral variations are well established. Since 1980 it has been used in offshore UK to help correlation in the Old Red Sandstone (Devonian-Lower Carboniferous) of the North Sea and west of Shetland, and the New Red Sandstone (late Carboniferous-Triassic) of the Southwest Approaches, southern North Sea Basin and the central North Sea. Results of these studies are described and critically assessed.