Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T21:54:24.675Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Correlation of depositional sequences in a structurally complex area: the Dalradian of Glenn Fearnach to Glen Shee, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

S. Goodman ,
A. Crane ,
M. Krabbendam ,
A. G. Leslie  and
A. Ruffell
S. Goodman
Affiliation:
Department of Geology & Petroleum Geology, University of Aberdeen, King's College, Aberdeen, AB9 2UE, UK.
A. Crane
Affiliation:
Department of Geology & Petroleum Geology, University of Aberdeen, King's College, Aberdeen, AB9 2UE, UK.
M. Krabbendam
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PR, UK.
A. G. Leslie
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, School of Geosciences, Queen's University of Belfast, University Road, Belfast BT7 INN, UK.
A. Ruffell
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, School of Geosciences, Queen's University of Belfast, University Road, Belfast BT7 INN, UK.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The stratigraphy of the Neoproterozoic Dalradian Supergroup has been formalised at group, subgroup and formation level, based largely on mapping in the SW Highlands of Scotland. Elsewhere, there has been a tendency for the lithostratigraphy to be fitted into this framework, implying that the lithostratigraphy represents basin-wide changes in depositional environment. The pitfalls of this ‘layer-cake’ approach are illustrated by interpreting the geology of the Gleann Fearnach to Glen Shee area of the Central Highlands, using the published maps of the adjacent regions. Attempts to correlate units into the Braemar area in the NE and into the Pitlochry area in the SW show considerable mismatch between the maps covering these areas, which has in the past led to invocation of geometrically unlikely arrangements of faults and slides to explain the lithostratigraphical distribution.

The present study is the result of a different approach adopted during remapping of the Gleann Fearnach to Glen Shee area. Some basin-wide events, here suggested to be associated with key sequence stratigraphic surfaces, were identified. These principally relate to the deposition of Appin Quartzite, Boulder Bed and Ben Lawers Schist precursor sediments. Between these reference units the stratigraphy has been determined by detailed field mapping, and variation from the standard stratigraphy explained in terms of both the position within the depositional sequence and palaeogeography during deposition. This has led to an integrated solution which works on both sedimentological and structural grounds. There are local implications for the stratigraphy and structural geology elsewhere in the Scottish Dalradian, but, more importantly, it is an approach which must be more widely applied in order to make wider correlations beyond the British Dalradian to the rest of the Laurentian margin.

Keywords

Dalradian SupergroupAppin GroupArgyll GroupPerthshirepalaeogeographysequence stratigraphy
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 87 , Issue 4 , 1996 , pp. 503 - 513
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1996

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

Anderton, R. 1985. Sedimentation and tectonics in the Scottish Dalradian. SCOTT J GEOL 21, 407–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, E. B. 1925. Perthshire tectonics: Loch Tummel, Blair Atholl and Glen Shee. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 55, 671–98.Google Scholar
Bailey, E. B. 1928. Schist Geology: Braemar, Glen Clunie and Glen Shee. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 55, 737–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrow, G. & Cunningham-Craig, E. H. 1912. The geology of the districts of Braemar. Ballater and Glen Clova (Sheet 65). MEM GEOL SURV UK.Google Scholar
Christie-Blick, N., Grotzinger, J. P. & von der Borch, C. C. 1988. Sequence stratigraphy in Proterozoic successions. GEOLOGY 16, 100–4.Google Scholar
Coats, J. S., Smith, C. G., Fortey, N. J., Gallagher, M. J., May, K. & McCourt, W. J. 1980. Stratabound barium-zinc mineralisation in Dalradian Schist near Aberfeldy, Scotland. TRANS INST MIN METALL (B: APPLIED EARTH SCI) 89, 110–22.Google Scholar
Crane, A., Goodman, S., Krabbendam, M., Leslie, A. G.. Paterson, I.B., Robertson, S. & Rollin, K. 1997. Geology of the Glen Shee district (Sheet 56W (Scotland) and adjacent areas. MEM BRIT GEOL SURV. In press.Google Scholar
Glover, B. W. 1993. The sedimentology of the Neoproterozoic Grampian Group and the significance of the Fort William Slide between Spean Bridge and Rubha Cuilcheanna, Inverness-shire. SCOTT J GEOL 29, 29–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glover, B. W. & McKie, T. 1996. A sequence stratigraphical approach to the understanding of basin history in orogenic Neoproterozoic successions: an example from the central highlands of Scotland. In Hesselbo, S. P. & Parkinson, D.N. (eds) Sequence stratigraphy in British Geology, SPEC REP GEOL SOC LONDON 103, 257–69.Google Scholar
Goodman, S. & Winchester, J. A. 1993. Geochemical variations within metavolcanic rocks of the Dalradian Farragon Beds and adjacent formations. SCOTT J GEOL 29, 131–41.Google Scholar
Harris, A. L. & Pitcher, W. S. 1975. The Dalradian Supergroup. In Harris, A. L., Shackleton, R.M., Watson, J., Downic, C.Harland, W.B. & Moorbath, S. (eds) A correlation of the Precambrian rocks in the British Isles, SPEC REP GEOL SOC LONDON 6, 52–75.Google Scholar
Harris, A. L., Baldwin, C. T., Bradbury, H. J., Johnson, H. D. & Smith, R. A. 1978. Ensialic basin sedimentation: The Dalradian Supergroup. In Bowes, D.R. & Leake, B.E. (eds) Crustal evolution in northwestern Britain and adjacent regions. 115–38. Liverpool: Seel House Press.Google Scholar
Harris, A. L., Haselock, P. J., Kennedy, M. J. & Mendum, J. R. 1994. The Dalradian Supergroup in Scotland. Shetland and Ireland. In Gibbons, W. & Harris, A.L. (eds) A revised correlation of the Precambrian rocks in the British Isles. SPEC REP GEOL SOC LONDON 22, 33–53.Google Scholar
Hickman, A. H. 1975. The stratigraphy of late Precambrian metasediments between Glen Roy and Lismore. SCOTT J GEOL 11, 117–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moles, N. R., Ruffell, A. & Parnell, J. 1992. Prediction of sediment hosted ores by use of sequence stratigraphy in basin analysis. In Proceedings of Mineral deposit Modelling in Relation to Crustal Reservoirs of the Ore Forming Elements. TRANS INST MIN METALL 101, 171–2.Google Scholar
Payton, C. E. (ed.) 1977. Seismic stratigraphy—applications to hydrocarbon exploration. AM ASSOC PET GEOL MEM 26.Google Scholar
Soper, N. J. & England, R. W. 1995. Vendian and Riphean rifting in NW Scotland. J GEOL SOC LONDON 152, 11–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spencer, A. M. 1969. Discussion of late Pre-Cambrian glaciation in Scotland. PROC GEOL SOC LONDON 1657, 177–98.Google Scholar
Upton, P. S. 1983. A stratigraphical, structural and metamorphic study of the Lower and Middle Dalradian between Braemar and the Spittal of Glenshee, NE Scotland. Unpublished PhD thesis. University of Manchester.Google Scholar
Upton, P. S. 1986. A structural cross-section of the Moine and Dalradian rocks of the Braemar area. REP BRIT GEOL SURV 17, 9–19.Google Scholar
Van Wagoner, J. C., Mitchum, R. M., Campion, K. M. & Rahmanian, V. D. 1990. Siliciclastic sequence stratigraphy in well logs, cores and outcrops: concepts for high resolution correlation of time and facies. AM ASSOC PET GEOL (Methods in Exploration Series) 7.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. C. L. 1990. Sequence stratigraphy: An introduction. GEOSCIENTIST 1, 13–23.Google Scholar