The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details
Oldhaven Member
| Computer Code: | OH | Preferred Map Code: | notEntered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status Code: | Full | ||
| Age range: | Ypresian Age (GY) — Ypresian Age (GY) | ||
| Lithological Description: | The Oldhaven Member typically consists of cross-bedded, laminated or bioturbated, fine-grained glauconitic sand, some silty, sandy silts and sandy clayey silts with thin clay beds, some of which are cemented to form argillaceous limestone. There is a shelly marine fauna in shell beds or lenses, with some fish teeth. Black well-rounded flint gravel occurs at the base. Lenses or thin beds of calcareous shelly sandstone are present locally. Occurrences in the west of the London Basin, corresponding to King’s (1981) Tilehurst Member, are generally finer-grained, have more bioturbation and a more diverse fauna. Knox (1983) reported common disseminated volcanic ash in the Oldhaven Member in north Kent and south-west Essex, from which he inferred correlation with ash-bearing deposits of the Harwich Formation in north-east Essex. The sequence at Herne Bay is described in detail by Ward (1978) and by Daley (1999). | ||
| Definition of Lower Boundary: | The base of the Oldhaven Member is sharp, locally erosive and generally planar. It rests on the Blackheath Member where that unit exists but more generally on the Lambeth Group. | ||
| Definition of Upper Boundary: | The Oldhaven Member is overlain by the Swanscombe Member or by clayey silts and silty clays of the London Clay Formation, which include a basal gravel bed and much less glauconite. King (1981) observes that the Tilehurst Member is similar in lithology to the Swanscombe Member, but that where the units coexist there is a discontinuity between them usually marked by a gravel bed, and that the fauna differs. | ||
| Thickness: | Up to about 10m. | ||
| Geographical Limits: | The Oldhaven Member is present throughout the London Basin except in the central part, and also occurs in the Hampshire Basin. King (in prep.) assigns occurrences to the west of London to his Tilehurst Member. | ||
| Parent Unit: | Harwich Formation (HWH) | ||
| Previous Name(s): | Oldhaven Beds [Obsolete Name and Code: Use OH]
(-1608)
Herne Bay Member [Obsolete Name and Code: Use OH] (*967) |
||
| Alternative Name(s): | none recorded or not applicable | ||
| Stratotypes: | |||
| Reference Section | Old Cement Works, Harefield, London Borough of Hillingdon. (Cooper, 1976; Daley, 1999; King, 1981, fig. 32). | ||
| Type Section | Cliffs and foreshore east of Herne Bay, Kent. (Curry, 1981; Daley, 1999; King, 1981; Ward, 1978). It comprises beds c2 and c3 of Prestwich (1850, fig. 11) and Beds L to N of Ward (1978). | ||
| Reference Section | Reference section: old quarry associated with the previous Westwood brick and tile works, in the vicinity of present-day Tay Road, Tilehurst, Reading, Berkshire. (King, 1981, fig. 32). | ||
| Reference Section | Warner's Brickworks, Knowl Hill, Reading. (Ellison et al., 1994; Kennedy and Sellwood, 1970; Sellwood, 1974). | ||
| Reference(s): | |||
| Aldiss, D T. 2012. The stratigraphical framework for the Palaeogene successions of the London Basin, UK. British Geological Survey Open Report OR/12/004. | |||
| King, C. in prep. A revised correlation of Palaeogene and Neogene deposits in the British Isles. Geological Society of London Special Report. | |||
| Daley, B. 1999. London Basin: eastern localities, In: Daley, B, Balson, P (Eds.), British Tertiary Stratigraphy. Geological Conservation Review Series 15, pp. 23-72. | |||
| Ellison, R A, Knox R W O'B, Jolley, D W and King, C, 1994. A revision of the lithostratigraphical classification of the early Palaeogene strata of the London Basin and East Anglia. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Vol.105, 187-197. | |||
| King, C. 1981. The stratigraphy of the London Clay and associated deposits. Tertiary Research Special Paper No.6. (Backhuys: Rotterdam). | |||
| Kennedy, W.J., Sellwood, B.W., 1970. Ophiomorpha nodosa Lundgren, a marine indicator from the Sparnacian of south-east England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 81, 99-110. | |||
| Ward, D J. 1978. The Lower London Tertiary (Palaeocene) succession of Herne Bay, Kent. Institute of Geological Sciences, Report 78/10. | |||
| Whitaker, W. 1866. On the "Lower London Tertiaries" of Kent. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society London, Vol.22, 404-435. | |||
| Cooper, J. 1976. Report of a field meeting to Harefield, Middlesex. Tertiary Research, Vol. 1, 31-36. | |||
| Curry, D. 1981. Thanetian. 255-265 in Stratotypes of Palaeogene stages. Pomerol, C (editor). Mémoire Hors Série du Bulletin d'Information des Géologues du Bassin du Paris, No. 2. | |||
| Daley, B. 1999. London Basin: western localities. 73-84 in British Tertiary Stratigraphy. Daley, B, and Balson, P (editors). Geological Conservation Review Series, No. 15. | |||
| King, C, and Curry, D. 1992. Molluscs from the Tilehurst Member (London Clay Formation, Early Eocene) at Crondall and Up Nately (Hampshire). Tertiary Research, Vol. 13, 141-146. | |||
| Knox, R W O. 1983. Volcanic ash in the Oldhaven Beds of southeast England, and its stratigraphical significance. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Vol. 94, 245-250. | |||
| Sellwood, B W. 1974. Tertiary beach deposits east of Reading associated with the London Clay transgression [letter]. Geological Magazine, Vol. 111, 80-83. | |||
| Whitaker, W. 1872. The geology of the London Basin, Part I. The Chalk and the Eocene beds of the southern and western tracts. Memoir of the Geological Survey of England and Wales, Vol. IV. | |||
| Prestwich, J. 1850. On the structure of the strata between the London Clay and the Chalk in the London and Hampshire Tertiary systems. Part I Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, Vol. 6, 252-281. | |||
| 1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used: | |||
| E207 E241 E258 E259 E272 E273 E274 | |||