Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-fv566 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-20T05:11:20.380Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Clay mineralogy of the Cretaceous strata of the British Isles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

C. V. Jeans
C. V. Jeans*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
*
*E-mail: dwal02@esc.cam.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The clay mineralogy of the Cretaceous strata of the British Isles is described and discussed within its lithostratigraphical and biostratigraphical framework using published and unpublished sources as well as 1400 new clay mineral analyses. The regional clay mineral variation is described systematically for the following strata:

  1. (1) Southern England — Purbeck Limestone Group (Berriasian/Ryazanian; Lulworth and Durlston formations), Wealden Group (Valanginian—Barremian/Aptian; Ashdown, Wadhurst Clay, Tunbridge Wells Sands, Grinstead Clay Member, Wealden Clay, Wessex and Vectis formations), Lower Greensand (Aptian—Lower Albian; Atherfield Clay, Hythe, Sandgate, Folkestone Sands, Ferruginous Sands, Woburn Sands and Faringdon Sponge Gravels formations), Selborne Group (Middle—Upper Albian; Gault Clay and Upper Greensand formations) and the Chalk Group (Cenomanian—Lower Maastrichtian).

  2. (2) Eastern England — Cromer Knoll Group (Ryazanian—Upper Albian; Speeton Clay, Spilsby Sandstone, Sandringham Sands, Claxby Ironstone, Tealby, Roach Ironstone, Dersingham, Carstone and Red Chalk (or Hunstanton Red Limestone) formations).

  3. (3) Scotland — Inner Hebrides Group (Cenomanian—Campanian; Morvern Greensand, Gribun Chalk, Coire Riabhach Phosphatic Hibernian Greensands formations).

  4. (4) Northern Ireland — Hibernian Greensands (Cenomanian—Santonian) and Ulster White Limestone formations (Santonian—Lower Maastrichtian).

The stratigraphical patterns of clay mineral variation divide naturally into two types; firstly, the more complex pattern of the Lower Cretaceous strata and secondly, the simple pattern of the Upper Cretaceous. Clay mineral variations in the non-marine and marine Lower Cretaceous strata of England are best explained by the interplay of two main clay mineral assemblages between which all gradations occur. The assemblage which dominates the main clay formations consists of mica, kaolin and poorly defined mixed-layer smectite-mica-vermiculite minerals, and sometimes includes vermiculite and traces of chlorite. It is dominantly of detrital origin and detailed evidence indicates it is derived largely from the reworking of Mesozoic sediments although ultimately from weathered Palaeozoic sediments and metasediments. Although mainly of detrital origin, this assemblage contains a persistent component that formed coevally with the approximate depositional age of its host sediment. Whether this component is of soil origin or was neoformed in the sediment shortly after deposition is unclear. There is little firm evidence indicating the sources of this clay mineral detritus. However, in the strata of the Wealden Group of southern England, mineral trends suggest three sources; one of these was to the west (Cornubian Massif), another must have been the Anglo- Brabant landmass. In the Selborne Group (Middle—Upper Albian) and in the overlying Lower Chalk (Cenomanian) where this assemblage makes its last appearance in the Cretaceous of England, there is good evidence of easterly and south-easterly sources.

The second main assemblage tends to be largely monominerallic, and usually dominated by smectite with or without small amounts of mica; less frequently, kaolin, berthierine or glauconite sensu lato is the sole or dominant component. It is considered to be of volcanogenic origin, derived from the argillization of volcanic ash under different conditions of deposition and diagenesis. The source of the ash in Berriasian—Aptian times seems to have been an extensive volcanic field in the southern part of the North Sea and in the Netherlands, whereas in the Albian (and extending into the Cenomanian) a westerly source dominated. The current controversy about the role of climate or pattern of volcanic activity controlling the clay mineral stratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous is reviewed.

In the lower part of the Upper Cretaceous strata of England, Scotland and Ireland, sand-grade glauconite is particularly abundant. Much of it represents the glauconitization of pene- contemporanous volcanic ash, possibly of basaltic origin, associated with continental breakup and the opening up of the Atlantic Ocean and the earliest stages in the development of the Hebridean Tertiary Igneous Province. The Upper Cretaceous Chalk facies of England and Ireland is dominated by a smectite-rich clay assemblage containing mica, and the various hypotheses for its origin (detrital, neoformation, volcanogenic) are reviewed in the light of available mineralogical, chemical and geological data.

Keywords

Cretaceousclay mineralogyBritish isles
Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , March 2006 , pp. 47 - 150
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2006

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

Alexander, J., Brightman, M.A. & Milodowski, A.E. (1987) Mudrock hydrogeology and hydrochemistry of a shallow sedimentary environment: the middle Thames Valley area. British Geological Survey Report, FLU87-3, 39 pp.Google Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. (1982) Mud drapes in sand-wave deposits: a physical model with application to the Folkestone Beds (Early Cretaceous, S.E. England). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, A306, 291–345.Google Scholar
Allen, P. (1998) Purbeck-Wealden (early Cretaceous) climates. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 109, 197–236.Google Scholar
Allen, P. & Parker, A. (1995) Petrography of the Whitchurch Sands Formation. Pp. 150–154 in: Geology of the country around Thame. Memoirs of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 237 (England and Wales), 169 pp.Google Scholar
Allen, P. & Wimbledon, W.A. (1991) Correlation of NW European Purbeck-Wealden (non-marine Lower Cretaceous) as seen from the English type-areas. Cretaceous Research, 12, 511–526.Google Scholar
Anderson, F.W. (1967) Ostracods from the Weald Clay of England. Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 27, 237–269.Google Scholar
Arkell, W.J. (1947) The geology of the country around Weymouth, Swanage, Corfe and Lulworth. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 386 pp.Google Scholar
Black, M. (1971) Coccoliths of the Speeton Clay and Sutterby Marl. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 38, 381–424.Google Scholar
Black, M. (1980) On Chalk, Globigerina ooze and aragonite mud. Pp. 54–85 in: Andros Island, Chalk and Oceanic Oozes (Jeans, C.V. & Rawson, P.F., editors). Occasional Publication, 5, Yorkshire Geological Society.Google Scholar
Bloodworth, A.J. (1990) Mineralogy and petrography of borehole samples taken from landslipped Gault Clay, Shaftesbury, Dorset. British Geological Survey Technical Report WG/90/36, 17 pp.Google Scholar
Bristow, C.R. (1990) Geology of the country around Bury St Edmunds. Memoirs of the British Geological Survey, Sheet Memoir 189 (England and Wales), 99 pp.Google Scholar
Clements, R.G. (1993) Type-section of the Purbeck Limestone Group, Durlston Bay, Swanage. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeologial Society, 114, 181–205.Google Scholar
Cotterçon, A., Parant, B. & Flaceliére, G. (1975) Lower Cretaceous gas fields in Holland. Pp. 403–412 in: Petroleum and the Continental Shelf of North West Europe (Woodland, A.W., editor). Applied Sciences Publishers, Essex, UK, 501 pp.Google Scholar
Cowperthwaite, I.A., Fitch, F.J., Miller, J.G. & Robertson, R.H.S. (1972) Sedimentation, petrogenesis and radioisotopic age of the Cretaceous fullers' earth of Southern England. Clay Minerals, 9, 309–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deconinck, J.F. (1987) Minéraux argileux des faciés Purbeckiens: Jura suisse et française, Dorset (Angleterre) et Boulonnais (France). Annales Societé Géologique du Nord, 106, 285–297.Google Scholar
Deconinck, J.F. & Chamley, H. (1995) Diversity of smectite origins in Late Cretaceous sediments: examples of chalks from northern France. Clay Minerals, 30, 365–379.Google Scholar
Dines, H.G. & Edmunds, F.H. (1933) The geology of the country around Reigate and Dorking. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of England and Wales, Sheet 286, 204 pp.Google Scholar
Dixon, J.E., Fitton, F.J. & Frost, R.T.C. (1981) The tectonic significance of post-Carboniferous igneous activity in the North Sea basin. Pp. 121–137 in: Petroleum Geology of the Continental Shelf of North-West Europe (Illing, L.V. & Hobson, G.D., editors). Applied Science Publishers, Essex, UK, 521 pp.Google Scholar
Feist, M., Lake, R.D. & Wood, C.J. (1995) Charophyte biostratigraphy of the Purbeck and Wealden of southern England. Palaeontology, 38, 407–442.Google Scholar
Fletcher, T.P. (1977) Lithostratigraphy of the Chalk (Ulster White Limestone Formation) in Northern Ireland. Report of the Institute of Geological Sciences, 77/24, 33 pp.Google Scholar
Gale, A.S. (1995) Cyclostratigraphy and correlation of the Cenomanian Stage in Western Europe. Pp. 177–197 in: Orbital Forcing Timescales and Cyclostratigraphy (House, M.R. & Gale, A.S., editors). Special Publication, 85, Geological Society, London.Google Scholar
Gale, A.S., Huggett, J.M. & Gill, M. (1996) The stratigraphy and petrography of the Gault Clay Formation (Albian, Cretaceous) at Redcliff, Isle of Wight. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 107, 287–298.Google Scholar
Gallois, R.W. (1972) Annual Report of the Institute of Geological Sciences for 1971, 216 pp.Google Scholar
Gallois, R.W. (1988) Geology of the country around Ely. Memoirs of the British Geological Survey, Sheet Memoir, 173 (England and Wales), 116 pp.Google Scholar
Gallois, R.W. (1994) Geology of the country around King's Lynn and the Wash. Memoirs of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 145 and part of 129 (England and Wales), 210 pp.Google Scholar
Gallois, R.W. & Morter, A.A. (1982) The stratigraphy of the Gault of East Anglia. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 93, 351–368.Google Scholar
Gallois, R.W. & Worssam, B.C. (1993) Geology of the country around Horsham. Memoirs of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 302 (England and Wales), 130 pp.Google Scholar
Gaunt, G.D., Fletcher, T.P. & Wood, C.J. (1992) Geology of the country around Kingston upon Hull and Brigg. Memoirs of the British Geological Survey, Sheets 80 and 89 (England and Wales), 172 pp.Google Scholar
Goldring, R. (1996) The sedimentological significance of concentrically laminated burrows from Lower Cretaceous Ca-bentonites, Oxfordshire. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 153, 225–263.Google Scholar
Goldring, R. (1999) Sedimentological aspects and preservation of Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) bento-nites (fullers' earth) in southern England. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Palaeontologie, 214, 3–24.Google Scholar
Gray, D.A. (1965) The stratigraphical significance of electrical resistivity marker bands in the Cretaceous strata of the Leatherhead (Fetcham Mill) borehole, Surrey. Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 23, 65–115.Google Scholar
Griffith, A.E. & Wilson, H.E. (1982) Geology of the country around Carrickfergus and Bangor. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, Sheet Memoir, 29, 118 pp.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. (1984) Continental humid and arid zones during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Paleogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 47, 195–223.Google Scholar
Hallam, A., Grose, J.A. & Ruffell, A.H. (1991) Palaeoclimatic significance of changes in clay mineralogy across the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary in England and France. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology and Palaeoecology, 81, 173–187.Google Scholar
Hancock, J.M. & Rawson, P.F. (1992) Cretaceous. Pp. 131–139 in: Atlas of Palaeogeography and Lithofacies (Cope, J.C.W., Ingham, J.K. & Rawson, P.F., editors) Memoir 13, Geological Society of London.Google Scholar
Hart, M.B. (1987) Orbitally induced cycles in the Chalk facies of the United Kingdom. Cretaceous Research, 8, 335–348.Google Scholar
Hughes, N.F. & McDougall, A.B. (1990) New Wealden correlation from the Wessex basin. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 101, 85–90.Google Scholar
Jeans, C.V. (1968) The origin of the montmorillonite of the European Chalk with special reference to the Lower Chalk of England. Clay Minerals, 7, 311–329.Google Scholar
Jeans, C.V. (1978) Silicifications and associated clay assemblages in the Cretaceous marine sediments of southern England. Clay Minerals, 13, 101–126.Google Scholar
Jeans, C.V. (1980) Early submarine lithification in the Red Chalk and Lower Chalk of eastern England: a bacterial control model and its implications Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 43, 81–157.Google Scholar
Jeans, C.V. (1986) Features of mineral diagenesis in hydrocarbon reservoirs: an introduction. Clay Minerals, 21, 429–441.Google Scholar
Jeans, C.V. (1994) Clay diagenesis, overpressure and reservoir quality: an introduction. Clay Minerals, 29, 415–424.Google Scholar
Jeans, C.V. (1995) Clay mineral stratigraphy in Palaeozoic and Mesozoic red bed facies onshore and offshore UK. Pp. 31–55 in: Non-biostratigra-phical Methods of Dating and Correlation (Dunay, R.E. & Hailwood, E.A., editors). Special Publication, 89. Geological Society of London.Google Scholar
Jeans, C.V. (2006) Clay mineralogy of the Jurassic strata of the British Isles. Clay Minerals, 41, 187–307.Google Scholar
Jeans, C.V., Merriman, R.J. & Mitchell, J.G. (1977) Origin of the Middle Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous Fuller's earths in England. Clay Minerals, 12, 11–44.Google Scholar
Jeans, C.V., Merriman, R.J., Mitchell, J.G. & Bland, D.J. (1982) Volcanic clays in the Cretaceous of southern England and Northern Ireland. Clay Minerals, 17, 105–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeans, C.V., Long, D., Hall, M.A., Bland, D.J. & Cornford, C. (1991) The geochemistry of the Plenus Marls at Dover, England: evidence of fluctuating oceanographic conditions and of glacial control during the development of the Cenomanian-Turonian d13C anomaly. Geological Magazine, 128, 603–632.Google Scholar
Jeans, C.V., Wray, D.S., Merriman, R.J. & Fisher, M.J. (2000) Jurassic and Cretaceous volcanogenic clays in Jurassic and Cretaceous strata of England and the North Sea basin. Clay Minerals, 35, 25–55.Google Scholar
Jeans, C.V., Mitchell, J.G., Fisher, M.J., Wray, D.S. & Hall, I.R. (2001) Age, origin and climatic signal of English Mesozoic clays based on K/Ar signatures. Clay Minerals, 36, 515–539.Google Scholar
Jeans, C.V., Wray, D.S., Mitchell, J.G. & Ditchfield, P. (2005) Correlation between the basal part of the Lower Cretaceous Speeton Clay Formation, Yorkshire, and the Purbeck Limestone Group, Dorset: a bentonite tie line. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 55, 173–187.Google Scholar
Jukes-Browne, A.J. (1900) The Cretaceous Rocks of Britain. Volume 1: The Gault and Upper Greensand of England. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom, 499 pp.Google Scholar
Kimblin, R.T. (1992) The origin of clay minerals in the Coniacian Chalk of London. Clay Minerals, 27, 389–392.Google Scholar
Knox, R.W.O'B. (1991) Ryazanian to Barremian mineral stratigraphy of the Speeton Clay in the southern North Sea Basin. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 48, 255–264.Google Scholar
Knox, R.W.O'B. & Fletcher, B.N. (1978) Bentonites in the lower D beds (Ryazanian) of the Speeton Clay of Yorkshire. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 42, 21–27.Google Scholar
Knox, R.W.O'B., Ruffell, A.H. & Highley, D.E. (1998) Stratigraphy of the Late Aptian Lower Greensand around Nutfield, Surrey. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 109, 169–185.Google Scholar
Lake, R.D. (1975) The stratigraphy of the Cooden Borehole, near Bexhill, Sussex. Report of the Institute of Geological Sciences, 75/12, 23 pp.Google Scholar
Lake, R.D. & Holliday, D.W. (1978) Broadoak Borehole, Sussex. Report of the Institute of Geological Sciences 78/3, 12 pp.Google Scholar
Lake, R.D. & Shephard-Thorn, E.R. (1987) Geology of the country around Hastings and Dungeness. Memoirs of the British Geological Survey, Sheet Memoirs 320 and 321 (England and Wales), 81 pp.Google Scholar
Lake, R.D. & Thurrell, R.G. (1974) The sedimentary sequence of the Wealden Beds in boreholes near Cuckfield, Sussex. Report of the Institute of Geological Sciences, 74/2, 60 pp.Google Scholar
Lake, R.D., Young, B., Wood, C.J. & Mortimore, R.N. (1987) Geology of the country around Lewes. Memoirs of the British Geological Survey, Sheet Memoir 319 (England and Wales), 117 pp.Google Scholar
Lott, G.K., Fletcher, B.N. & Wilkinson, I.P. (1986) The stratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous Speeton Clay Formation in a cored borehole off the coast of northeast England. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 46, 39–56.Google Scholar
Lowry, C.J. (1987) Diagenesis in Selective Mesozoic Sandbodies of Southern England. PhD thesis, University of Reading, UK.Google Scholar
McCarty, D.K., Drits, V.A., Sakharov, B., Zviagina, B.B., Ruffell, A. & Wach, G. (2004) Heterogeneous mixed-layer clays from the Cretaceous Greensand, Isle of Wight, southern England. Clays and Clay Minerals, 52, 552–575.Google Scholar
Meyer, R. (1976) Continental sedimentation, soil genesis and marine transgression in the basal beds of the Cretaceous in the east of the Paris basin. Sedimentology, 23, 235–253.Google Scholar
Milbourne, R.A. (1963) The Gault at Ford Place, Wrotham, Kent. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 74, 55–79.Google Scholar
Millot, G., Camez, T. & Bonte, A. (1957) Sur la montmorillonite dans les craies. Bulletin du Service de la Carte Géologique d'Alsace et de Lorraine, 10, 25–26.Google Scholar
Milodowski, A.E. & Wilmot, R.D. (1985) Mineralogical and petrographic studies of Jurassic and Cretaceous sediments from southern England and their relevance to radioactive waste disposal. Mineralogical Magazine, 49, 255–263.Google Scholar
Milodowski, A.E., Martin, B.A. & Wilmot, R.D. (1982) Petrography of the Cretaceous core from the Harwell Research Site. Report of Institute of Geological Sciences, ENPU82–14, 80 pp.Google Scholar
Mitchell, S.F. (1995) Lithostratigraphy and biostratigra-phy of the Hunstanton Formation (Red Chalk, Cretaceous) succession at Speeton, North Yorkshire, England. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 50, 285–303.Google Scholar
Morgan, D.J., Highley, D.E. & Bland, D.J. (1979) A montmorillonite, kaolinite association in the Lower Cretaceous of south-east England. Pp. 301–310 in: Proceedings of the International Clay Conference 1978 (Mortland, M.M. & Farmer, V.C., editors). Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Morgan-Jones, M. (1977) Mineralogy of the non-carbonate material from the Chalk of Berkshire and Oxfordshire, England. Clay Minerals, 12, 331–344.Google Scholar
Mortimore, R.N., Wood, C.J. & Gallois, R.W. (2001) British Upper Cretaceous Stratigraphy. Geological Review Series 23, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough, UK, 558 pp.Google Scholar
Neale, J.W. (1974) Cretaceous. Pp. 225–243 in: The Geology and Mineral Resources of Yorkshire (Rayner, D.H. & Hemingway, J.E., editors). Yorkshire Geological Society, 405 pp.Google Scholar
Neumann, B.S. (1976) Lath-shaped montmorillonites in Surrey. Clay Minerals, 11, 3–12.Google Scholar
Osborne White, H.J. (1921) A short account of the geology of the Isle of Wight. Memoirs of the Geological Survey (England and Wales), 219 pp.Google Scholar
Owen, H.G. (1971a) Middle Albian stratigraphy in the Anglo-Paris Basin. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology, Supplement 8, 164 pp.Google Scholar
Owen, H.G. (1971b) The stratigraphy of the Gault in the Thames Estuary and its bearing on the Mesozoic tectonic history of the area. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 82, 187–207.Google Scholar
Owen, H.G. (1972) The Gault and its junction with the Woburn Sands in the Leighton Buzzard area, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 83, 287–311.Google Scholar
Owen, H.G. (1975) The stratigraphy of the Gault and Upper Greensand of the Weald. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 86, 475–498.Google Scholar
Pacey, N.R. (1984) Bentonites in the Chalk of central eastern England and their relation to the opening of the north-east Atlantic. Earth & Planetary Science Letters, 67, 48–60.Google Scholar
Parker, A. (1974) The clay mineralogy and some trace element contents of the Speeton Clay. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 40, 181–90.Google Scholar
Perrin, R.M.S. (1957) The clay mineralogy of some tills in the Cambridge district. Clay Minerals Bulletin, 3, 193–205.Google Scholar
Perrin, R.M.S. (1964) The analysis of chalk and other limestones for geochemical studies. Pp. 208–221 in: Analysis of Calcareous Materials. Monograph of the Society of Chemical Industry (London), 18, 481 pp.Google Scholar
Perrin, R.M.S. (1971) The Clay Mineralogy of British Sediments. Mineralogical Society (Clay Minerals Group), London, 247 pp.Google Scholar
Perrot, J. & van der Poel, A.B. (1987) Zuidwal – a Neocoman gas field. Pp. 325–335 in: Petroleum Geology of North West Europe (Brooks, J. & Glennie, K., editors). Volume 1, Graham & Trotman, London, 598 pp.Google Scholar
Pitman, J.J. (1978) Chemistry and mineralogy of some Lower and Middle Chalks from Givendale, East Yorkshire. Clay Minerals, 13, 93–100.Google Scholar
Poole, E.G. & Kelk, B. (1971) Calcium montmorillonite (fuller's earth) in the Lower Greensand of the Baulking area, Berkshire. Report of the Institute of Geological Sciences, 7/14. 6 pp.Google Scholar
Poole, E.G., Kelk, B., Bain, J.A. & Morgan, D.J. (1971) Calcium montmorillonite (fuller's earth) in the Lower Greensand of the Fernham area, Berkshire. Report of the Institute of Geological Sciences, 71/12, 64 pp.Google Scholar
Prior, S.V., Kemp, S.J., Pearce, J.M. & Inglethorpe, S.D.J. (1993) Mineralogy of the Gault Clay from the Arlesey & Klondyke Farm boreholes. British Geological Survey Technical Report, WG/93/17.Google Scholar
Radley, J.D. (1994) Stratigraphy, palaeontology and palaeoenvironment of the Wessex Formation (Wealden Group, Lower Cretaceous) at Yaverland, Isle of Wight, southern England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 105, 199–208.Google Scholar
Robertson, R.H.S. (1961) The origin of English Fullers' Earths. Clay Minerals Bulletin, 4, 282–287.Google Scholar
Robertson, R.H.S. (1986) Fuller's Earth: a history of calcium montmorillonite. Mineralogical Society Occasional Publication, Volturna Press, Kent, UK, 421 pp.Google Scholar
Ruffell, A.H. & Batten, D.J. (1990) The Barremian-Apt i an ar id phase in weste rn Europe. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology and Palaeoecology, 80, 197–212.Google Scholar
Ruffell, A.H., Hesselbo, S.P., Wach, G.D., Simpson, M.I. & Wray, D.S. (2002) Fuller's Earth (bentonite) in the Lower Cretaceous (Upper Aptian) of Shanklin (Isle of Wight, southern England). Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 113, 281–290.Google Scholar
Ruffell, A.H. & Rawson, P.F. (1994) Palaeoclimate control on sequence stratigraphic patterns in the late Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous, with a case study from Eastern England. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 110, 43–54.Google Scholar
Shephard-Thorn, E.R., Moorlock, B.S.P., Cox, B.M., Allsop, J.M. & Wood, C.J. (1994) Geology of the country around Leighton Buzzard. Memoirs of the British Geological Survey, Sheet Memoir 220 (England and Wales), 127 pp.Google Scholar
Sladen, C.P. (1980) The Clay Mineralogy of pre-Aptian Cretaceous Sediments in N.W. Europe. PhD thesis, University of Reading, UK.Google Scholar
Sladen, C.P. (1983) Trends in Early Cretaceous clay mineralogy in N.W. Europe. Zitteliana, 10, 349–57.Google Scholar
Sladen, C.P. (1987) Aspects of the clay mineralogy of the Wealden and Upper Purbeck rocks. Pp. 71–2 in: Geology of the country around Hastings and Dungeness (Lake, R.D. & Shephard-Thorn, E.R., editors). Memoirs of the British Geological Survey, Sheets 320 and 321 (England and Wales), 81 pp.Google Scholar
Sladen, C.P. & Batten, D.J. (1984) Source area environments of Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous sediments in south-east England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 95, 149–63.Google Scholar
Spears, D.A. (1979) Geochemical aspects of the Santonian Chalk of Ramsgate, England, and the origin of the chert and clay minerals. Mineralogical Magazine, 43, 159–164.Google Scholar
Swinnerton, H.H. (1935) The rocks below the Red Chalk of Lincolnshire. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, XCI, 1–46.Google Scholar
Swinnerton, H.H. (1941) Further observations on the Lower Cretaceous rocks of Lincolnshire. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, LII, 198–207.Google Scholar
Tank, R.W. (1962) Clay mineralogy of selected clays from the English Wealden. Geological Magazine, 99, 128–136.Google Scholar
Tank, R.W. (1964) X-ray examination of some clays from the London Platform. Geological Magazine, 101, 535–540.Google Scholar
Taylor, J.C.M. (1959) The clays and heavy minerals of the Shotover Ironstone series. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 71, 239–253.Google Scholar
Taylor, J.H. (1949) Petrology of the Northampton Sand Ironstone Formation. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 111 pp.Google Scholar
Taylor, J.H. (1963) Sedimentary features of an ancient delta complex: the Wealden rocks of south-east England. Sedimentology, 2, 2–28.Google Scholar
Taylor, K.G. (1990) Berthierine from the non-marine Wealden (Early Cretaceous) sediments of south-east England. Clay Minerals, 25, 391–399.Google Scholar
Taylor, K.G. (1992) Non-marine oolitic ironstones in the Lower Cretaceous Wealden sediments of southeast England. Geological Magazine, 129, 349–358.Google Scholar
Thurrell, R.G., Sergeant, G.A. & Young, B.R. (1970) Chamosite in Weald Clay from Horsham, Sussex. Report of the Institute of Geological Sciences, 70/7, 7 pp.Google Scholar
Weir, A.H. & Catt, J.A. (1965) The mineralogy of some Upper Chalk samples from the Arundel area, Sussex. Clay Minerals, 6, 97–110.Google Scholar
Whitaker, A. (1985) Atlas of onshore sedimentary basins in England and Wales: post-Carboniferous tectonics and stratigraphy. Blackie, Glasgow, UK, 71 pp.Google Scholar
Wiese, F., Wood, C.J. & Wray, D.S. (2004) New advances in the stratigraphy and geochemistry of the German Turonian (Late Cretaceous) tephrostratigraphical framework. Acta Geologica Polonica, 54, 657–671.Google Scholar
Wood, C.J., Batten, D.J., Mortimore, R.N. & Wray, D.S. (1997) The stratigraphy and correlation of the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary interval succession in Lincolnshire, eastern England. Freiberger Forschungsheft, C468, 333–346.Google Scholar
Woods, M.A., Wilkinson, I.P. & Hopson, P.M. (1995) The stratigraphy of the Gault Formation (Middle and Upper Albian) in the BGS Arlesey borehole, Bedfordshire. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 106, 271–280.Google Scholar
Worssam, B.C. & Ivimey-Cook, H. (1971) Stratigraphy of the Geological Survey Borehole at Warlingham, Surrey. Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 36, 1–111.Google Scholar
Wray, D.S. & Wood, C.J. (1998) Distinction between detrital and volcanogenic clay-rich beds in Turonian-Coniacian chalks of eastern England. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 52, 95–105.Google Scholar
Wright, V.P., Taylor, K.G. & Beck, V.H. (2000) The paleohydrology of Lower Cretaceous seasonal wetlands, Isle of Wight, southern England. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 70, 619–32.Google Scholar
Young, B.R. (1965) X-ray examination of insoluble residues from the Chalk. Appendix D in: The Leatherhead (Fetcham) borehole (by Gray, D.A.). Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 23, 110–114.Google Scholar
Young, B. & Morgan, D.J. (1981) The Aptian Lower Greensand fuller's earth beds of Bognor Common, West Sussex. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 92, 33–37.Google Scholar