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Geology of the Cranborne Chase District (Dorset)

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Geology of the Cranborne Chase district (Dorset) Integrated Geological Surveys (South) Internal Report IR/03/061 BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY INTERNAL REPORT IR/03/061 Geology of the Cranborne Chase district (Dorset) C R Bristow Contributor/editor M A Woods (Cretaceous biostratigraphy), I P Wilkinson (Cretaceous micropalaeontology) and J A Riding (Palaeogene palynology) 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 GD 272191/1999 Geographical index UK, SW England, Dorset Subject index Geology, Paleogene, Poole Formation, London Clay Formation, Cretaceous, Chalk Bibliographical reference BRISTOW, C R. 2002. Geology of the Cranborne Chase district (Dorset). 1:10 000 sheets ST90NE, 91SE, 91NE, SU00NW, 01SW and 01NW. British Geological Survey Internal Report, IR/03/061. 43pp. © NERC 2003 Keyworth, Nottingham British Geological Survey 2003 BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY The full range of Survey publications is available from the BGS Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG Sales Desks at Nottingham and Edinburgh; see contact details 0115-936 3241 Fax 0115-936 3488 below or shop online at www.thebgs.co.uk e-mail: [email protected] The London Information Office maintains a reference collection www.bgs.ac.uk of BGS publications including maps for consultation. Shop online at: www.thebgs.co.uk The Survey publishes an annual catalogue of its maps and other publications; this catalogue is available from any of the BGS Sales Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3LA Desks. 0131-667 1000 Fax 0131-668 2683 The British Geological Survey carries out the geological survey of e-mail: [email protected] Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the latter as an agency service for the government of Northern Ireland), and of the London Information Office at the Natural History Museum surrounding continental shelf, as well as its basic research (Earth Galleries), Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London projects. It also undertakes programmes of British technical aid in SW7 2DE geology in developing countries as arranged by the Department for International Development and other agencies. 020-7589 4090 Fax 020-7584 8270 020-7942 5344/45 email: [email protected] The British Geological Survey is a component body of the Natural Environment Research Council. 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 Parent Body Natural Environment Research Council, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, Wiltshire SN2 1EU 01793-411500 Fax 01793-411501 www.nerc.ac.uk IR/03/061 Last modified: 2003/04/14 13:09 Preface This account describes the geology depicted on 1:10 000 sheets ST90NE (Witchampton), ST91SE (Chettle), ST91NE (Sixpenny Handley), SU00NW (Horton), SU01SW (Wimborne St Giles) and SU01NW (Pentridge), which form part of the 1:50 000 scale Ringwood (314) Geological Sheet. The original geological survey on the one-inch scale was by H W Bristow and J Trimmer and published on Old Series Sheet 15 in 1856. The district was geologically surveyed on the 1:10 560 scale by F J Bennett 1896–1899, E E L Dixon 1899–1890 and C Reid in 1894 and 1899. The 1:63 360 scale Ringwood Sheet 314 was first published with drift in 1902 and reprinted in 1948. The sheet was reconstituted from the one-inch scale without geological revision and reprinted on to a 1:50 000 scale base in 1976 and reprinted in 1990. The 1:10 000 scale revision survey was carried out by C R Bristow in 1997 and 1998. Cretaceous macrofossils have been identified by M A Woods, Cretaceous micropalaeontology by I P Wilkinson and Palaeogene palynolog by J A Riding. Contents Preface .............................................................................................................................................i Contents...........................................................................................................................................i 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................1 1.1 Geographical setting .......................................................................................................1 1.2 Previous work .................................................................................................................1 1.3 Geological sequence .......................................................................................................3 2 Cretaceous...............................................................................................................................6 2.1 New Pit Chalk Formation ...............................................................................................6 2.2 Lewes Nodular Chalk Formation....................................................................................6 2.3 Seaford Chalk Formation................................................................................................6 2.4 Newhaven Chalk Formation ...........................................................................................9 2.5 Culver Formation............................................................................................................9 2.6 Portsdown Chalk Formation .........................................................................................11 3 Palaeogene.............................................................................................................................24 3.1 Reading Formation........................................................................................................24 3.2 London Clay Formation................................................................................................25 3.3 Poole Formation............................................................................................................34 Broadstone Clay .....................................................................................................................36 4 DRIFT....................................................................................................................................38 4.1 Clay-with-flints.............................................................................................................38 4.2 Older Head....................................................................................................................39 4.3 Head ..............................................................................................................................39 4.4 River Terrace Deposits .................................................................................................39 i IR/03/061 Last modified: 2003/04/14 13:09 4.5 Peat................................................................................................................................40 4.6 Alluvium .......................................................................................................................40 4.7 Landslip.........................................................................................................................40 4.8 Swallow holes ...............................................................................................................40 4.9 Made Ground ................................................................................................................41 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................41 References.....................................................................................................................................41 FIGURES Figure 1 Topographical map of the Cranborne Chase area. Figure 2 Geological map of the Cranborne Chase area. Figure 3 Gamma-ray and sonic log of the Cranborne Borehole. Figure 4 Lithological markers in the Seaford Chalk of the Cranborne Chase area. Figure 5 Section in the Newhaven Chalk, near Sixpenny Handley. TABLES Table 1 Geological succession in the Cranborne Chase area. Table 2 Biostratigraphical subdivisions of the Newhaven, Tarrant and Spetisbury Chalk. Table 3 Comparative chrono- and lithostratigraphy of the Campanian chalks. ii IR/03/061 Last modified: 2003/04/14 13:09 1 Introduction 1.1 GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING The Cranborne Chase, mainly falling in the County of Dorset, but with a small part in the north in Wiltshire, and an even smaller part in the north-east in Hampshire, is a rural area with several small scattered villages, but no major settlement. The area is mostly underlain by Chalk which is inclined towards the south-east to give extensive broad sloping surfaces on which are developed several subsequent streams. This gives an overall grain of north-west/south-east trending ridges and valleys, which join the consequent, south-westward, flowing River Allen (Figure 1). The ridges tend to have large, well-drained, fields developed upon them giving rise to an open landscape. By contrast, in the south-east of the area, where Palaeogene deposits overlie the Chalk, the strata are more varied and both well-drained sandy and heavy clay soils occur in close proximity giving a much smaller-scale field-pattern to the land. The highest ground, some 220 m OD, is in the north-west north
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