Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:25:15.423Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Age and significance of the Old Red Sandstone around Clew Bay, NW Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

John R. Graham ,
John B. Richardson  and
Geoffrey Clayton
John R. Graham
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Republic of Ireland.
John B. Richardson
Affiliation:
Department of Palaeontology, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, England.
Geoffrey Clayton
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Republic of Ireland.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The stratigraphy of red bed successions in the Clew Bay area of County Mayo (Ireland) is described, and new palynological evidence for the age of some of the rocks is presented. The Old Red Sandstone in the Clew Bay area comprises several lithostratigraphic units. The Louisburgh succession is interpreted as part of a Silurian marginal marine sequence. Devonian strata are represented by the Islandeady Group which has yielded plant spores which suggest that these rocks should be assigned to the Lower Devonian (Siegenian to Emsian) and the Beltra Group which contains Middle Devonian (Eifelian) spores. These Lower and Middle Devonian strata are probably separated by an unconformity, and are overlain with clear unconformity by the highest unit, the Maam Formation, which is Dinantian (Carboniferous) in age. The Clew Bay Old Red Sandstone succession, therefore, shows important differences from that of the Midland Valley of Scotland, with which it has previously been compared.

Keywords

correlationDevonianpalynologystratigraphy.
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 73 , Issue 4 , 1983 , pp. 245 - 249
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

3. References

Chaloner, W. G. & Sheerin, A. 1979. Devonian macrofloras. In House, M. R.Scrutton, C. T. & Bassett, M. G. (eds) The Devonian System, 145–61. SPEC PAP PALAEONTOL 23.Google Scholar
Charlesworth, J. K. 1963. Historical geology of Ireland. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.Google Scholar
Gardiner, P. R. R. 1975. Tectonic controls of Devonian and Lower Carboniferous sedimentation in the south of Ireland. PROC 9TH CONGR INT SEDIMENTOL 4, 141–6.Google Scholar
Graham, J. R. 1981a. ‘The Old Red Sandstone’ of County Mayo, northwest Ireland. GEOL J 16, 157–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, J. R. 1981b. Fluvial sedimentation in the Lower Carboniferous of Clew Bay, County Mayo, Ireland. SEDIMENT GEOL 30, 195–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, J. R. 1983. Analysis of the Upper Devonian Munster Basin, an example of a fluvial distributary system. In Collinson, J. D. & Lewin, J. (eds) Modern and ancient fluvial systems, 473–83. SPEC PUBL INT ASSOC SEDIMENTOL 6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, J. R. & Smith, D. G. 1981. The age and significance of a small Lower Palaeozoic inlier in County Mayo. J EARTH SCI R DUBLIN SOC 4, 1–6.Google Scholar
Holland, C. H. 1969. Irish counterpart of Silurian in Newfoundland. In Kay, M. (ed.) North Atlantic—Geology and Continental Drift, 298–308. MEM AM ASSOC PETROL GEOL 12.Google Scholar
Holland, C. H. 1977. Ireland. In House, M. R.et al. A correlation of Devonian rocks in the British Isles, 54–66. SPEC REP GEOL SOC LONDON 8.Google Scholar
Phillips, W. E. A. 1974. The stratigraphy, sedimentary environments and palaeogeography of the Silurian strata of Clare Island, Co. Mayo, Ireland. J GEOL SOC LONDON 130, 19–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, W. E. A. & Clayton, G. 1980. The Dinantian clastic succession of Clare Island, Co. Mayo. J EARTH SCI R DUBLIN SOC 2, 115–36.Google Scholar
Phillips, W. E. A., Kennedy, M. J. & Dunlop, G. M. 1969. Geologic comparison of western Ireland and northeastern Newfoundland. In Kay, M. (ed.) North Atlantic—Geology and Continental Drift, 194–211. MEM AM ASSOC PETROL GEOL 12.Google Scholar
Phillips, W. E. A., Rickards, R. B. & Dewey, J. F. 1970. The Lower Palaeozoic rocks of the Louisburgh area, Co. Mayo. PROC R IRISH ACAD 70B, 195–210.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. B. 1965. Middle Old Red Sandstone spore assemblages from the Orcadian Basin, north-east Scotland. PALAEONTOLOGY 7, 559–605.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. B. & Rasul, S. 1978. Palynological evidence for the age and provenance of the Lower Old Red Sandstone from Apley Barn Borehole, Witney, Oxfordshire. PROC GEOL ASSOC 90, 27–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, J. B. & Bluck, B. J. 1982. Palaeodrainage of the southern margin of the Caledonian mountain chain in the northern British Isles. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH EARTH SCI 73, 11–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, D. G. 1979. The distribution of trilete spores in Irish Silurian rocks. In Harris, A. L., Holland, C. H. & Leake, B. E. (eds) The Caledonides of the British Isles—reviewed, 423–31. SPEC PUBL GEOL SOC LONDON 8.Google Scholar
Van der Zwan, C. J. 1980. Palynological evidence concerning the Devonian age of the Dingle Group, South-west Ireland. REV PALAEOBOT PALYNOL 29, 271–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van der Zwan, C. J., Visscher, H. & Horne, R. R. 1978. A Devonian palynological assemblage from the Dingle Group of southwestern Ireland. The Palaeontological Association International Symposium on the Devonian System 1978: Abstracts, 57.Google Scholar
Westoll, T. S. 1977. Northern Britain. In House, M. R.et al. A correlation of Devonian rocks in the British Isles, 66–93. SPEC REP GEOL SOC LONDON 8.Google Scholar