Yorkshire Geological Society Occasional Publication no. 6: The Role of Tectonics in Devonian & Carboniferous Sedimentation in British Isles, 1989

Edited by R S Arthurton, P Gutteridge & S Nolan
Published by the Geological Society of London for the Yorkshire Geological Society and the British Sedimentological Research Group. Paperback: 258 pages, price £30

Abstract:

The hypothesis that tectonism exerted a major influence on sedimentation in the British Isles during the Devonian an Carboniferous has been advanced by many geologists and is widely accepted. Controversy, however, exists regarding the extent, style, mechanism and exact timing of this tectonism. A large number of models and variants of models exist, from a local to the plate tectonic scale.

Syn-sedimentary tectonism is not the only hypothesis which has been proposed to explain variation in the Devonian and Carboniferous rocks of the British Isles. Sedimentary and climatic processes and eustatic changes in sea level have also been proposed. In some cases these various hypotheses have been invoked for the same set of rocks by advocates favouring one or two theories over the others. Of the various main hypotheses, those on syn-sedimentary tectonism appear to be the most amenable to testing, utilising recent advances in geological techniques, particularly in sedimentology, basin analysis and biostratigraphy. By determining the style and timing on syn-sedimentary fault movements and local crustal tilting and warping, further light might be shed on the possible controls invoked by other hypotheses.

Papers include case histories from Ireland, England, the Midland Valley of Scotland and South Wales: studies taking sedimentary basins as a whole and examining the interaction of sedimentation, subsidence and deformation during their evolution; and larger-scale discussions on the tectonic setting of basin development during the Devono-Carboniferous. Additionally, two papers, citing case histories from the Carboniferous of northern England, were concerned with the problems of distinguishing the effects of tectonism from those due to other influences on sedimentation.

Contents:

Preface

Regional Synthesis

Ireland

Role of the Dingle Bay Lineament in the evolution of the Old Red Sandstone of south-west Ireland: S P Todd
Intra-Dinantian tectonic activity on the Curlew Fault, north-west Ireland: M E Philcox, G D Sevastopulo and C V MacDermot
The mid-Dinantian unconformity at Navan, Ireland: M E Philcox
The style and timing of the Dinantian syn-sedimentary tectonics in the eastern part of the Dublin Basin, Ireland: S C Nolan
Subsidence history of the South Munster Basin, Ireland: D Naylor, G D Sevastopulo and A G Sleeman
Some thoughts on the subsidence and evolution of the Muster Basin, southern Ireland: C A Price
Tectonic controls and sedimentary response in the Devonian-Carboniferous Munster and South Munster basins, south-west Ireland: E A Williams, M L F Bamford, M A Cooper, H E Edwards, M Ford, G G Grant, I A J MacCarthy, A M McAfee and M J O'Sullivan

Scotland