The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Butterby Till Member

Computer Code: BUTTI Preferred Map Code: notEntered
Status Code: Full
Age range: Devensian Stage (QD) — Devensian Stage (QD)
Lithological Description: Stiff, brown, gravelly sandy clay diamicton, commonly with well dispersed clasts of andesite, tuff and granite from the Lake District; greywacke and grandiorite from southern Scotland, and red sandstones probably of both Triassic and Devonian age, in addition to Carboniferous lithologies (sandstone, gritty sandstone, limestone, mudstone, coal). Commonly thinly intercalated with dark grey, laminated silts and clays, and lenses if sand and gravel.
Definition of Lower Boundary: Commonly intercalated with dark grey, laminated silts and clays, or sand and gravel of the Tyne and Wear Glaciolacustrine Formation. Some contacts possibly glaciotectonic.
Definition of Upper Boundary: Generally the ground surface.
Thickness: To 15m
Geographical Limits: Durham lowlands and southern Northumberland.
Parent Unit: Wear Till Formation (WETI)
Previous Name(s): Upper Stony Clays [Obsolete Name and Code: Use BUTTI] (-1405)
Alternative Name(s): Butterby Member
Stratotypes:
Type Area  Durham lowlands and southern Northumberland. No specific stratotype identified, but exemplified by records of unidentified boreholes south of High Butterby reported (Smith and Francis, 1967. 226, 235-6.) in an area between Shincliffe, Croxhall and Bowburn, County Durham. Smith and Francis, 1967. 226, 235-6. 
Reference(s):
Smith, D B and Francis, E A. 1967. Geology of the country between Durham and West Hartlepool. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Sheet 27 (England and Wales). 
Smith, D B. 1998. Geology of the country around Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 20 (England and Wales). 
Francis, E A. 1970. Quaternary. 134-152 in Johnson, G A L, Geology of Durham County. [Newcastle: Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.] 152pp. 
Thomas, G S P. 1999. Northern England. 91-98 in Bowen, D Q (Editor), A revised correlation of Quaternary and Neogene deposits in the British Isles. Geological Society Special Report No.23. 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
none recorded or not applicable