The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Corse Diamicton Member

Computer Code: CORSE Preferred Map Code: notEntered
Status Code: Full
Age range: Devensian Stage (QD) — Devensian Stage (QD)
Lithological Description: Pebbly, clayey, sandy silt diamicton. Typically black and dark grey, weakly calcareous, matrix-supported. The matrix contains a rich Mesozoic (principally Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous) palynoflora. Clasts are of pebble grade and typically subangular to rounded and composed of quartzitic and psammitic metasedimentary rocks, with sparse felsite, chalk and shell fragments. Deformed and attenuated beds and rafts of pinkish yellow fine-grained, slightly pebbly, sand are locally common. Interpreted as having been initially deposited as subglacial till but subsequently, at least in part, glaciotectonically deformed and rafted into position during a subsequent glacial event.
Definition of Lower Boundary: The lower boundary of the diamicton is complex due to its, in part, glaciotectonic emplacement. In some situations it rests with an unconformable, undulatory, sharp to gradational basal contact on brown diamicton of the Rottenhill Till Formation. (It might also include a leaf of the overlying Hythie Till Formation, e.g. northeast face, Leys Quarry (disused). In other situations (e.g. north face, Kirkhill Quarry) its basal boundary is seen as a sharp, planar, subhorizontal, erosion surface on red felsitic gravel of the Corsend Gelifluctate Bed.
Definition of Upper Boundary: The upper boundary of the diamicton is also complex. In some situations (e.g. northeast face, Leys Quarry (disused) it displays a sharp to gradational, interdigitating (glaciotectonic) upper and lateral contact with brown diamicton of the Hythie Till Formation within which it occurs as attenuated masses and rafts. Where overlying diamicton of the Hythie Till Formation is locally absent the Corse Diamicton Formation occurs at the present ground surface. In other situations (e.g. north face, Kirkhill Quarry (infilled) the diamicton's upper boundary is a sharp, erosional, channelised surface and it is overlain by the Kirkhill Church Sand Member. (Blackhills Sand and Gravel Formation).
Thickness: To 4.7m
Geographical Limits: Buchan, northeast Scotland. The member is only known within the immediate vicinity of Kirkhill quarry (infilled) (centred on NK 0120 5285) and Leys quarry (disused) (centred on NK 0040 5250) on Sheet 87W (Ellon). Buchan, northeast Scotland.
Parent Unit: Whitehills Glacigenic Formation (WHGL)
Previous Name(s): East Leys Till [Obsolete Name and Code: Use CORSE] (-156)
Corse Diamicton Formation [Obsolete Name and Code: Use CORSE] (-2109)
Unweathered Mesozoic till [Obsolete Name and Code: Use CORSE] (-2110)
Element of Kirkhill Upper Till [Obsolete Name and Code: Use CORSE] (-2714)
East Leys Member (-810)
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Partial Type Section  Northeast face of Leys Quarry (disused), 6.5km southeast of Stricken, Buchan, northeast Scotland. 
Partial Type Section  North face of Kirkhill Quarry (infilled), 7km southeast of Stricken, Buchan, northeast Scotland. Connell, Hall and Romans. 1984. 
Reference(s):
Connell, E R, Edwards, K J and Hall, A M. 1982. Evidence for two pre-Flandrian palaeosols in Buchan, Scotland. Nature, 297, 570-572. 
Connell, E R, Hall, A M and Romans, J C C. 1984. Kirkhill Quarry. 57-81 in Hall, A M (Editor), Buchan Field Guide. (Cambridge: Quaternary Research Association.) 
Hall, A M and Connell, E R. 1991. The glacial deposits of Buchan, northeast Scotland. 129-136 in Ehlers, J, Gibbard, P L and Rose, J (editors), Glacial Deposits in Great Britain and Ireland. (Rotterdam: Balkema.) 
Hall, A M and Jarvis, J. 1993. Kirkhill. 225-230 in Gordon, J E and Sutherland, D G (editors), Quaternary of Scotland. Geological Conservation Review Series: 6. (London: Chapman and Hall.) 
Sutherland, D G. 1999. Scotland. 99-114 in Bowen D Q (Editor), A revised correlation of Quaternary deposits in the British Isles. Special Report of The Geological Society of London, No.23. 
Connell, E R and Hall, A M. 2000. Kirkhill and Leys quarries. 65-67 in Merritt, J W, Connell, E R and Bridgland, D R (editors), The Quaternary of the Banffshire Coast and Buchan: Field Guide. (London: Quaternary Research Association.) 
McMillan, A A, Hamblin, R J O, and Merritt, J W. 2011. A lithostratigraphical framework for onshore Quaternary and Neogene (Tertiary) superficial deposits of Great Britain and the Isle of Man. British Geological Survey Research Report, RR/10/03. 343pp. 
Merritt, J W, Auton, C A, Connell, E R, Hall, A M and Peacock, J D. 2003. The Cainozoic geology and landscape evolution of north-east Scotland. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheets 66E, 67, 76E, 77, 86E, 87W, 87E, 95, 96W, 96E and 97 (Scotland) 
Connell, E R and Hall, A M. 1987. The periglacial history of Buchan, Scotland. 277-285 in Boardman, J (Editor), Periglacial Processes and Landforms in Britain and Ireland. Periglacial processes in Britain and Ireland. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 
Merritt, J W, Connell, E R and Bridgland, D R (editors). 2000. The Quaternary of the Banffshire Coast and Buchan; Field Guide. (London: Quaternary Research Association.) 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
none recorded or not applicable