This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights and duplication or sale of all or part is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for research, private study, criticism/review or educational purposes. Electronic or print copies are for your own personal, non- commercial use and shall not be passed to any other individual. No quotation may be published without proper acknowledgement. For any other use, or to quote extensively from the work, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder/s. A SKUIMENTOLOGICAL a n d palaeogeographical STUDY OF THE NAMURIAN 'ROUGH ROCK1 IN THE SOUTHERN PENNINES BY CHRISTOPHER WALTER HEATH, B.Sc. (Wales) VOLUME I Thesis submitted to the University of Keele for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 1973 VOLUME I CONTENTS ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT S SECTION 1. THE SETTING CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION Page Definition of the Rough Rock 1 Definition of the research area 1 Geological structures of the area 3 Topography of the area 6 CHAPTER 2 : BACKGROUND TO RESEARCH Introduction 8 Rough Rock: Stratigraphical Position and Name 8 The basal Coal Measures 9 Numerical system of classification of grits 10 The problem of lithological correlation 11 Correlation using palaeontological horizons 11 The pseudonyms of the Rough Rock 18 The Rough Rock Flags 19 Page The use of the terms 'grit* and 'flags' 21 CHAPTER 3 : SEDIMENTOLOGICAL STUDIES ON THE ROUGH ROCK The research of Sorby 23 The research of Gilligan 24 Researches after the advent of palaeontological zoning 26 Conclusions 31 CHAPTER A S AIMS AND TECHNIQUES Aims 33 Techniques: Field 35 Mapping 36 Data Collection 36 Laboratory Methods 37 Petrographic Methods 38 BIBLIOGRAPHY pp 40 - 51 SECTION 2. THE DATA CHAPTER Ç : LITHOFACIES Introduction 52 Lithofacies 1, Mudstone with Marine Fossils 53 Description 53 Interpretation 55 Lithofacies 2, Mudstones and Siltstones Description Interpretation Lithofacies 3, Seat-earths, Ganisters, Ganisteroid sandstone and Coal Description Interpretation Lithofacies 4, Shale-pellet Conglomerates Description Interpretation Lithofacies 5, Mudstone Conglomerates Description Interpretation Lithofacies 6, Mixed Conglomerates Description Interpretation Lithofacies 7> Pebble Seams Description Interpretation Lithofacies 8, Contorted Sandstones General Description Type (i) Type (ii) Type (Lii) Type (ir) Page Type (v) 80 Interpretation 81 Lithofacies 9, Medium-scaled, Cross-bedded Strata 86 Description 86 (1) Tabular shaped cross-beds 88 (a) Thick, medium-scaled sets 89 (b) Medium-scaled cross-bedding with associated parallel bedding 90 (c) Medium-scaled, tabular cross-beds 91 (2) Trough-shaped cross-beds 92 Interpretation 94 Lithofacies 10, Massire-bedded Sandstone 97 Description 97 Interpretation 98 Lithofacies 11, Ripple-bedded Sandstone 99 Description 99 Interpretation 100 Lithofacies 12, Parallel-bedded Sandstone 101 Description 101 Interpretation 1°4 CHAPTER 6 : PALAEOCURRENT DIRECTIONS 106 CHAPTER 7 : T H E WORK OF .I.S.SHACKLETON 116 BIBLIOGRAPHY pp 121 - 127 SECTION 3. SPECULATIONS CHAPTER 8 : LITHOFACTES ASSOCIATIONS Introduction 128 Fluviatile Association 130 (a) Channel Sub-Association 131 (b) Avulsion/Overbank Sub-Association 138 (c) Flood Channel Sub-Association 144 Interpretation 149 Additional lithofacies Associations 157 CHAPTER 9 : CONCLUSIONS Rough Rock Sedimentation and Palaeogeography in the Tectonic Framework l6l Regional Appraisal 171 BIBLIOGRAPHY pp 173 - 179 ABSTRACT The Rough Rock is the highest sandstone in the Namurian, being overlain by the Gastrioceras subcrenatum Marine Band, which marks the junction between the Namurian and Westphalian in north-west Europe, and its occurrence in the southern Pennines forms the subject of this study. The delineation of the Rough Rock of this study is discussed, and the problems of correlation and the results of previous studies are detailed. It is shown that much of the previous research is invalidated by mis-correlation with the overlying Westphalian sandstones and the contemporary hypotheses of Millstone Grit derivation. The Rough Rock is divided into several lithofacies, each indicative of a local depositional environment, and an analysis is made of their local and regional distribution. By combining this information with measurements of cross-stratal azimuths, a broad picture of fluviatile deposition locally controlled by syntectonic features is obtained. Finally the combined effect of differential subsidence between Gulf and Block developments and contemporary movement along Charman, Malvemian and Church Stretton structural features, on sedimentation and palaeogeography, is displayed. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my gratitude to the following: The National Coal Board and Murgatroyds Chemical Company Limited for financing the project, and Professor F. Wolverson-Cope who put forward the original idea and supervised my studies throughout the duration of the project. Members of the lecturing and technical staff of the Department of Geology, Keele, notably Drs. B. K. Holdsworth and J. D. Collinson and Mr D. Leverett, and my colleagues Mrs M. Ashton and Mr P. D. Guion. Mrs J. Massey for typing the thesis, and Robertson Research International Company Limited for photographic and reprographic facilities used during the final preparation. Quarry-owners and landowners, without whose permission to visit various localities this work could never have been possible. Finally, my mother, for farsightedness and self-sacrifice. Section 1 THE SETTING 1. Chapter X Introduction The Rough Rock is the highest sandstone in the Namurian succession of Northern and Midland England, being placed by convention in the upper Yeadonian, Gib or C division of the Namurian (Fig.l), its outcrop lying within an area of over 4,000 square miles. It occurs immediately below the junction between the Westphalian and the Namurian and lies between two other prominent sandstones, the Namurian Holcombe Brook Grit and the Westphalian Woodhead Hill Rock, which would allow an extension of research, at a later date, on sandstones in many ways similar to the Rough Rock. Below the former, coals are rare, and the faunal horizons are goniatite-bearing with occasional lingula horizons, and sandstones can usually be traced over fairly large areas. Above the latter, coals are prominent, faunal horizons, where marine, are usually separated by greater thicknesses of strata, and non-marine bivalve horizons are frequent, whilst sandstones are usually localised and cannot be correlated over large areas. It was proposed to study the Rough Rock over a restricted area, with the intention of examining the effect, if any, of the Basement/ Carboniferous Limestone surface and large-scale structures on the depositional history of the Rough Rock. In the Namurian, Gulf and 'Block' facies had been observed (Falcon 8c Kent 1960, Kent 1966), while in the Westphalian the splitting and reuniting of coal seams, together with the apparent preference of washouts to follow synclinal 2 . axes (Cope pers. com. concerning the Potteries Coalfield), pointed to some type of structural control. Bluck (1961) in the South Wales Coalfield, at an horizon slightly above that of the Rough Rock in the Central Province, observed evidence for currents flowing into the central part of the present South Wales Syncline. The need to include the Derbyshire Dome and the north-south aligned Goyt Trough or Syncline, and Kettleshume Anticline to the west, was obvious, but it was soon apparent that restriction of the study to the western side of the Pennines would Halt the east-west extent of the area to a maximum of only 15 miles. The area was, therefore, extended to cover both sides of the Pennines in order to make the east- west component similar to the north-south one. At this stage, it will suffice to define the area studied, its topography and structure, as the more detailed aims, and the reasons for setting limits to the area are dealt with later. The area studied falls within four administrative areas: North Staffordshire, east Cheshire, the south-western part of the West Riding of Torkshire, and west Derbyshire (Fig.2). The northern boundary is that of Grid-Line northing 390 between Marple and Sheffield; the western, southern and eastern limits are marked by the outcrop of the formation. In the west, this approximates to the line of the Red Rock Fault, between Stockport and Mow Cop, whioh throws the Triassic of the Cheshire Plain against the Carboniferous of the southern Pennines. The southern limit, though approaching the boundary between the 3. Carboniferous and the Triassic, is irregular, owing to the Triassic Infilling valleys eroded into the Carboniferous, and the broad, southerly-plunging Potteries syncline. The eastern boundary is the almost north-south aligned Junction of the Namurian and Westphalian between Derby and Sheffield. The outcrop of the Rough Rock occurs within an area of 900 square miles, and the length of the outcrop is approximately 170 miles (Fig.2). The area including the outcrop covered by this investigation is covered by Ordnance Survey one-inch sheets 101 (Manchester), 110 (Sbke-on-Trent), 111 (Buxton and Matlock), 120 (Derby), and the 'Peak District' Tourist Map. Geological Survey (New Series) one-inch sheets covering the area are 98 (Stockport), 99 (Chapel-en-le-Frith), 100 (Sheffield), 110 (Macclesfield), 111 (Buxton), 112 (Chesterfield), 123 (Stoke-on-Trent, in preparation), 124 (Ashbourne, out of print), and 125 (Derby, in preparation). Parts of the area are covered by published