The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Wolston Glacigenic Formation

Computer Code: WOLS Preferred Map Code: notEntered
Status Code: Full
Age range: Anglian Stage (QA) — Wolstonian Stage (QO)
Lithological Description: Comprises the pre-Devensian glacial succession of much of the English Midlands. Predominantly tills, sands, gravels and laminated clays. In type area and elsewhere it constitutes a succession including a basal reddish-brown Trias-rich till of essentially northern provenance (Thrussington Till Member, Moreton Member), glacialacustrine muds (Wolston Clay Member and Bosworth Clay Member), an upper grey, chalky till with Jurassic and Cretaceous material, essentially of north-eastern provenance (Oadby Till Member), and flint-rich outwash gravels (Dunsmore Gravel Member). Characteristically lacks Scottish and Lake districts erratics (which characterise the Devensian Stockport Glacigenic Formation), and western (Welsh, etc.) erratics (which are found in the probably equivalent Nurseries Glacigenic and Ridgacre formations to the west of the Wolston Glacigenic Formation).
Definition of Lower Boundary: Overlies the pre-glacial fluvial sands and gravels of the Baginton Sand and Gravel Formation or, more generally, bedrock (mainly Triassic and Jurassic).
Definition of Upper Boundary: Ground surface or various younger Quaternary deposits (head, fluvial deposits).
Thickness: About 25 m at type locality; elsewhere may be represented by up to 80 m of deposits.
Geographical Limits: English Midlands east of Birmingham, and as far south as the Moreton-in-Marsh and Tewkesbury areas. Precise limits in east and north somewhat uncertain and contentious, but essentially lies north-west of the Chalk scarp of the Chilterns and Norfolk and west of the Fens (including lower Witham of Lincolnshire) and west of the Lincolnshire Limestone scarp of north Lincolnshire, and (mostly) south and east of the Trent.
Parent Unit: Albion Glacigenic Group (ALBI)
Previous Name(s): Wolstonian Glacial Deposits (-617)
Wolston Series [Obsolete Name and Code: Use WOLS] (-4405)
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Type Area  Area between Coventry, Rugby and Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. Shotton, 1953; Sumbler, 1983; Old et al., 1987. 
Type Section  Wolston Pit, near Coventry. Shotton, 1953; Sumbler, 1983. 
Reference(s):
Old, R A, Sumbler, M G and Ambrose, K, 1987. Geology of the country around Warwick. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 184 (England and Wales). 
Sumbler, M G. 1983. A new look at the type Wolstonian glacial deposits of Central England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Vol. 94, 23 - 31. 
Stoker, M S, McMillan, A A and Waters, C N. Quaternary Stratigraphical Chart: Southern Britain. British Geological Survey, 1 poster. 
Old R A, Hamblin, R J O, Ambrose, K, and Warrington G. 1991. Geology of the country around Redditch. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 183 (England and Wales). 
Bridge, D McC, Carney, J N, Lawley, R S and Rushton, A W A. 1998. Geology of the country around Coventry and Nuneaton. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 169 (England and Wales). 
Shotton, F W. 1953. The Pleistocene deposits of the area between Coventry, Rugby and Leamington and their bearing on the topographic development of the Midlands. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol.B237, 209-260. 
Sumbler, M G. 2001. The Moreton Drift, a further clue to glacial chronology in central England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Vol.112, 13-27. 
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. 
Bowen, D Q. 1999. A revised correlation of Quaternary 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:
E217 E111 E112 E113 E114 E124 E125 E126 E127 E140 E141 E142 E143 E154 E155 E156 E157 E167 E169 E170 E171 E172 E183 E184 E185 E186 E187 E200 E201 E202 E203 E204 E216 E218 E219 E220 E221