Geological Notes and Local Details for Geological Sheet SS 91 SE (Tiverton)
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Geological notes and local details for Geological Sheet SS 91 SE (Tiverton) Integrated Geological Surveys (South) Programme Internal Report IR/05/010 BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY INTEGRATED GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS (SOUTH) PROGRAMME INTERNAL REPORT IR/05/010 Geological notes and local details for Geological Sheet SS 91 SE (Tiverton) Jonathan R Lee The National Grid and other Ordnance Survey data are used with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. Ordnance Survey licence number Licence No:100017897/2005. Keywords Report; Culm, Permian, breccia, terrace deposits, head, alluvium. Front cover Cover picture details, delete if no cover picture. Bibliographical reference LEE J R. GEOLOGICAL NOTES AND LOCAL DETAILS FOR GEOLOGICAL SHEET SS 91 SE (TIVERTON). 2005. British Geological Survey Internal Report, IR/05/010. 14pp. Copyright in materials derived from the British Geological Survey’s work is owned by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and/or the authority that commissioned the work. You may not copy or adapt this publication without first obtaining permission. Contact the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Section, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, e-mail [email protected] You may quote extracts of a reasonable length without prior permission, provided a full acknowledgement is given of the source of the extract. © NERC 2005. 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(Earth Galleries), Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DE The British Geological Survey is a component body of the Natural Environment Research Council. 020-7589 4090 Fax 020-7584 8270 020-7942 5344/45 email: [email protected] Forde House, Park Five Business Centre, Harrier Way, Sowton, Exeter, Devon EX2 7HU 01392-445271 Fax 01392-445371 Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, 20 College Gardens, Belfast BT9 6BS 028-9066 6595 Fax 028-9066 2835 Maclean Building, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8BB 01491-838800 Fax 01491-692345 Sophia House, 28 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9LJ 029–2066 0147 Fax 029–2066 0159 Parent Body Natural Environment Research Council, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, Wiltshire SN2 1EU 01793-411500 Fax 01793-411501 www.nerc.ac.uk Acknowledgements The author wishes to thank Stephen Booth, Elaine Burt, Richard Ellison and Andrew Newell for their helpful and constructive discussions, plus the numerous land owners who allowed access to land. Contents Acknowledgements.........................................................................................................................i Contents...........................................................................................................................................i Summary........................................................................................................................................ii 1 Introduction............................................................................................................................ 2 2 Geological notes on SS 91 SE ................................................................................................ 2 2.1 Carboniferous ................................................................................................................. 3 2.1.1 Culm (Bude Formation) 2.2 Permian........................................................................................................................... 4 2.2.1 Exeter Group 2.3 Palaeogene-Quaternary................................................................................................... 5 2.3.1 River terrace deposits 2.3.2 Alluvium 2.3.3 Head 2.4 Structural and stratigraphic arrangement of bedrock units............................................. 7 3 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 8 References .................................................................................................................................... 10 FIGURES Figure 1. Topographic map of SS 91 SE (Tiverton) including the location of boreholes (coloured dots). TABLES Table 1. Stratigraphy of the Tiverton district (SS 91 SE). i Summary This report describes and provides an initial interpretation of the bedrock and superficial geology of 1:10, 000 Geological Sheet SS 91 SE Tiverton (Devon). The geology of the area consists of Carboniferous sandstones and mudstones, which belong to the Bude Formation (Culm), in-turn these are unconformably overlain by Permian sandstone and breccias. The sandstone, typically a fine-grained sandstone or sandy mudstone, is informally called the ‘Tidcombe Sands’, whilst two breccias can be recognised and distinguished on the basis of clast morphology and lithology – the Chevithorne Breccia and Cadbury Breccia. Previous studies suggest that the ‘Tidcombe Sands’ and Chevithorne Breccia intercalate to the north of Tiverton, whilst present mapping to the south of the town reveals that the sands are also inter-digitated with the southern Cadbury Breccia, and the latter is derived from the southwest. Resting unconformably upon the Permian strata are thick accumulations of Palaeogene and Quaternary deposits. These include terrace deposits and alluvium associated with the rivers that drain the sheet, and a significant distribution of blanket head, regolith and colluvium. 1 Introduction This geological report is designed to be used in conjunction with 1:10, 000 Geological Sheet SS 91 SE. The area lies within the area of the 1:50 000 Geological Sheet 310 (Tiverton). This was originally mapped at one-inch to one-mile scale by H. De la Beche and W.A.E. Usher during the mid- and late- nineteenth century and corresponds to Old Series Sheets 21 and 26 (although no accompanying memoir was produced). The district covered by Sheet SS 91 SE covers the area around the Devon market town of Tiverton, which lies approximately 18 km north of Exeter (Fig.1.). It is crossed from north to south on the western edge by the River Exe, and from east to west by an east-bank tributary of the Exe, the River Lowman. Several minor tributaries of the Lowman drain the steep hills to the north and south of Tiverton, which rise to in excess of 130m OD. The town of Tiverton, is situated between 65-90m OD. Most of the rural land within the district is given over to agriculture. The steeper terrain, generally underlain by Permian breccias and Upper Carboniferous Culm, and the poorly-drained terrain covered by Cenozoic head and alluvium are predominantly used for grazing cattle. Less steep terrain, including the sandstones, terrace sands and gravels, blanket head on hill tops, and the lower slopes of the breccia, are mainly arable with wheat and barley commonly grown. ii Figure 1. Topographic map of SS 91 SE (Tiverton) including the location of boreholes (coloured dots). National grid references within this report are given to six figures and all fall within the 100km square SS. 2 Geological notes on SS 91 SE The geology of SS 91 SE (Tiverton) consists of Palaeozoic bedrock from the Carboniferous and Permian systems, overlain by head and fluvial deposits of Neogene- Quaternary age. The full stratigraphic sequence is shown in Table 1. 3 System / Subsystem -Series Group / Formation Lithofacies Palaeoenvironment PALAEOGENE – Alluvium Clast-supported Fluvial floodplain QUATERNARY gravels, silty sand River terraces Clast-supported gravels Fluvial, braided Head, regolith Muddy gravel PERMIAN Exeter Group Cadbury Breccia Clast-supported breccia Alluvial fan Tidcombe Sands Stratified sands and Distal braided channel, muds playa lakes Clast-supported breccia Alluvial fan Chevithorne Breccia? CARBONIFEROUS Bude Formation Massive bedded Fluvial – deltaic? sandstones and Upper Carboniferous mudstones (Silesian - Westphalian) Table 1. Stratigraphy of the Tiverton district (SS 91 SE). 2.1 CARBONIFEROUS 2.1.1 Upper Culm (Bude Formation) Culm crops-out throughout the southern portions of SS 91 SE to the south of Tiverton. It is correlated with the Bude Formation of Edmonds et al. (1968) and Edwards & Scrivener (1999) based upon its lithological similarity to deposits in the Okehampton and Exeter districts. Within the SS 91 SE area, the Bude Formation consists of massive thickly-bedded brown and purple