The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Mearns Glacigenic Subgroup

Computer Code: MDR Preferred Map Code: MN
Status Code: Full
Age range: Devensian Stage (QD) — Devensian Stage (QD)
Lithological Description: Till, sand and gravel and laminated silt composed principally of decomposed Silurian and Devonian rocks and associated with deposition from glacial ice of the Strathmore ice-stream.
Definition of Lower Boundary: Unconformable: base of Mill of Forest Till Formation.
Definition of Upper Boundary: Unconformable: top of Drumlithie Sand and Gravel Formation.
Thickness: Very variable, generally 5 to 10m, but in excess of 24m proved in boreholes.
Geographical Limits: Strathmore, east of Perth and as isolated spreads along the coast between Stonehaven and the mouth of the River Dee.
Parent Unit: Caledonia Glacigenic Group (CALI)
Previous Name(s): Mearns Drift Group [Obsolete Name and Code: Use MDR] (-2318)
Red Clay Series [Obsolete Name and Code: Use MDR] (-2319)
Red Glacial Drift [Obsolete Name and Code: Use MDR] (-1058)
Red Series [Obsolete Name and Code: Use MDR, LBD, MEAG, LBAG] (-1013)
Mearns Glacigenic Group [Obsolete Name and Code: Use MDR] (-1687)
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Reference Section  River cliff, 200m downstream (east) of Mill of Forest Farm, Stonehaven. 
Reference Section  0.1m to 15.1m depth in.BGS borehole NO88NW/13, at Craigie's Wood, Stonehaven. 
Type Area  Howe of Mearns, Kincardineshire. 
Reference(s):
Synge, F M. 1956. The glaciation of north east Scotland. Scottish Geographical Magazine, Vol.72, 129-143. 
Glentworth, R, Mitchell, W A and Mitchell, D. 1964. The red glacial drift deposits of north east Scotland. Clay Minerals Bulletin, Vol.5, 373-381. 
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.) 
Jamieson, T F. 1906. The glacial period in Aberdeenshire and the southern border of the Moray Firth. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, Vol.62, 13-39. 
Simpson, S. 1948. The glacial deposits of Tullos and Bay of Nigg, Aberdeen. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Vol.61, 687-697. 
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) 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
S066 S067 S066 S066