Geological Society, London, Memoirs
Geological Society, London, Memoirs; 2003; v. 28;
p. 1-4;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.MEM.2003.028.01.01
© 2003 Geological Society of London
Chapter I Introduction
Why an atlas of the Carboniferous in northern England? There can hardly be a more researched system in the whole of the British Isles, given its widespread distribution at outcrop and annual appearance in numerous PhD theses (including our own). But perhaps all we really know about the Carboniferous is no more than skimming the surface. In this atlas, using modern multifold seismic and borehole data collected by the oil industry in its search for petroleum accumulations, we can start to look beyond the surface exposures and gain some new insights into the structure and stratigraphy of the subsurface (and surface) Carboniferous. The main elements of this atlas are: (i) a series of regional seismic lines crossing all the basinal areas in northern England illustrating the Carboniferous in section, and (ii) a set of palaeofacies maps describing the evolution of the system in map view.
The unique appeal of this atlas of seismic sections is that it is based on data from onshore UK. That is, we can walk the seismic lines at outcrop and in many cases compare exposure to the seismic data and palaeofacies maps. For example, stand on top of Mam Tor in Derbyshire and look eastwards over Hope valley towards Castleton (see frontispiece). Here, we can look out over a Carboniferous basin fill. On the right is an exhumed Dinantian platform margin and, ahead, Namurian Edale Shales form the valley floor. On the left, the north side of the valley is composed of basinal and slope
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This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
