Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b95js Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T02:52:23.075Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

8.—A Stratigraphical Revision of the Old Red Sandstone of North-eastern Caithness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2012

R. Nowell Donovan ,
Richard J. Foster  and
T. Stanley Westoll
R. Nowell Donovan
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, The University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Richard J. Foster
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, The University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
T. Stanley Westoll
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, The University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

The stratigraphy of the Old Red Sandstone between Latheron and Brough in north-eastern Caithness has been revised. Stratigraphical subdivision in this area is primarily based on variations in lithology but is supported by the recognition of distinct faunal assemblages. The terms Wick Flagstone and Thurso Flagstone are discarded both as Group and Formation names and in their place type sequences different from those given by the Survey are proposed on the basis of the more continuous exposure seen between Ellens Goe and Latheron in eastern Caithness and in the Ham/Scarfskerry area of northern Caithness. The revision has been facilitated by an analysis of the structure of the area which suggests that a variable c. east-west compression has been the dominant controlling factor in the development of the structure of Caithness.

As a result of the revision the position of the Achanarras Fish Bed is now clear. The Passage Beds Group is no longer considered a meaningful subdivision as it is partly overlain by and partly overlies this Fish Bed. The John o' Groats Sandstone Group is thought to probably overlie the Caithness Flagstones conformably.

The following major stratigraphical subdivisions are recognised:

D. John o' Groats Sandstone Group.

C. Upper Caithness Flagstone Group

(c) Mey Subgroup

(b) Ham-Scarfskerry Subgroup

(a) Latheron Subgroup.

B. Lower Caithness Flagstone Group (position of Achanarras Fish Bed)

(d) Robbery Head Subgroup

(c) Lybster Subgroup

(b) Hillhead Red Bed Subgroup

(a) Clyth Subgroup.

A. Sarclet Group.

A typographical device is used for formal description of formations and groups whose boundaries are truncated by faults.

Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 69 , Issue 8 , 1974 , pp. 167 - 201
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1974

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

References to Literature

Crampton, C. B. and Carruthers, R. G., 1914. The geology of Caithness. Mem. Geol. Surv. U.K., 194 pp.Google Scholar
Donovan, R. N. and Foster, R. J., 1972. Subaqueous shrinkage cracks from the Caithness Flagstone Series (Middle Devonian) of northeast Scotland. J. Sedim. Petrol., 42, 309–317.Google Scholar
Flinn, D., 1969. A geological interpretation of the aeromagnetic maps of the continental shelf around Orkney and Shetland.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sir Geikie, A., 1878. On the Old Red Sandstone of Western Europe. Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinb., 9, 596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goddard, E. N., Trask, P. D., Deford, R. K., Rove, O. N., Singewald, J. T. Jr., and Overbeck, R. M., 1948. Rock Color Chart, 6 pp. Washington: Natn Res. Coun.Google Scholar
Holgate, N., 1969. Palaeozoic and Tertiary movements on the Great Glen Fault. Scott. J. Geol., 5, 97–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarvik, E., 1948. On the morphology and taxonomy of the Middle Devonian osteolepid fishes of Scotland. K. Svenska Vetenskaps Akad. Handl., 25, 1–301.Google Scholar
Johnson, M. R. W. and Stewart, F. H. (Eds.), 1963. The British Caledonides. London and Edinburgh:Google Scholar
Kennedy, W. Q., 1946. The Great Glen Fault. Q. Jl Geol. Soc. Lond., 102, 41–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miles, R. S. and Westoll, T. S., 1963. Two new genera of Coccosteid Arthrodira from the Middle Old Red Sandstone of Scotland, and their stratigraphical distribution. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., 65, 179–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sir Murchison, R. I., 1859. On the succession of older rocks in the northernmost counties of Scotland; with observations on the Orkney and Shetland Islands. Q. Jl Geol Soc. Lond., 15, 353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mykura, W. and Young, B. R., 1969. Sodic scapolite (dipyre) in the Shetland Islands. Rep. Inst. Geol. Sci., 69/4.Google Scholar
Price, N. J., 1966. Fault and Joint Development in Brittle and Semi-brittle Rock, 176 pp. London: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Rayner, D. H., 1963. The Achanarras Limestone of the Middle Old Red Sandstone, Caithness, Scotland. Proc. Yorks. Geol. Soc., 34, 117–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, J. B., 1962. Spores with bifurcate processes from the Middle Old Red Sandstone of Scotland. Palaeontology, 5, 171–194.Google Scholar
Sedgwick, A. and Murchison, R. I., 1829. On the Old Conglomerates and other Secondary Deposits of the north coast of Scotland. Proc. Geol. Soc. Lond., 1, 77.Google Scholar
Westoll, T. S., 1951. The vertebrate-bearing strata of Scotland. Int. Geol. Congr., 1948, 18, 5–20.Google Scholar
Westoll, T. S., 1968. Sedimentary rhythms in coal-bearing strata In Coal and Coal-bearing Strata (Murchison, D. G. and Westoll, T. S., Eds.), 71–103. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.Google Scholar
Wilson, G. V., Edwards, W., Knox, J., Jones, R. C. B. and Stephens, J. V., 1935. The Geology of the Orkneys. Mem. Geol. Surv. U.K., 205.Google Scholar