Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-pwrkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-12T23:17:34.114Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Structure, generation and preservation of upward fining, braided stream cycles in the Old Red Sandstone of Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

B. J. Bluck
B. J. Bluck
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A sequence of upward fining cycles contain braid bar structures in the coarse member. Bars, medially placed in the stream are recognised either by radiating large foresets or by identifying bar tail sediments with converging dips to their foresets. Lateral bars are recognised by the growth of major sandstone sheets oblique to the direction of channel trend and over slough mudstone. The fine member contains structures which indicate a direction of flow in the same direction as the channel, suggesting that only the unlevéed part of the floodplain is preserved.

The direction of transport for the Old Red Sandstone sediments is perpendicular to the direction of bar accretion. This is accounted for by assuming the section dealt with to be on the NNW margin of a cone which builds outward to the NE, and where the river building the cone swings from one side to the other. An upward increase in cycle thickness within the section is possibly the result of an increase in the size of the cone and the consequent amalgamation of the coarse members.

Keywords

Bar headbar taillateral barsmedial barslithosomeaccretion direction
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 71 , Issue 1 , 1980 , pp. 29 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1980

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

Allen, J. R. L. 1964. Studies in fluviatile sedimentation: six cyclothems from the Lower Old Red Sandstone, Anglo-Welsh Basin. SEDIMENTOLOGY 3, 163–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. 1965a. Fining-upward cycles in alluvial successions. GEOL J 4, 229–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. 1965b. The sedimentation and palaeogeography of the Old Red Sandstone of Anglesey, North Wales. PROC YORKSHIRE GEOL SOC 35, 139–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. 1970a. Studies in fluviatile sedimentation: a comparison of fining upward cyclothems, with special reference to the coarse upward member composition and interpretation. J SEDIMENT PETROL 40, 298–323.Google Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. 1970b. Physical process of sedimentation. London: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. 1974. Studies in fluviatile sedimentation: implications of pedogenic carbonate units, Lower Old Red Sandstone, Anglo-Welsh outcrop. GEOL J 9, 181–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. & Friend, P. F. 1968. Deposition of the Catskill fades, Appalachian region: with notes on some other Old Red Sandstone Basins. In Klein G.de, V. (ed.) Late Paleozoic and Mesozoic Continental Sedimentation, northeastern North America, 21–74. SPEC PAP GEOL SOC AM 106.Google Scholar
Belt, E. S. 1968. Carboniferous continental sedimentation, Atlantic Provinces Canada. In Klein G. de, V. (ed.) Late Paleozoic and Mesozoic Continental Sedimentation northeastern North America, 127–76. SPEC PAP GEOL SOC AM 106.Google Scholar
Beutner, E. V., Flueckinger, L. A. & Gard, T. M. 1967. Bedding geometry in a Pennsylvanian channel sandstone. BULL GEOL SOC AM 78, 911–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1967. Deposition of some Old Red Sandstone conglomerates in the Clyde area: a study in the significance of bedding. SCOTT J GEOL 3, 139–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1971. Sedimentation in the meandering river Endrick. SCOTT J GEOL 7, 93–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1974. Structure and directional properties of some coarse Icelandic valley sandurs. SEDIMENTOLOGY 21, 533–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1976. Sedimentation in some non-sinuous Scottish rivers. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 69, 425–56.Google Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1978. Sedimentation in a late orogenic basin: the Old Red Sandstone of the Midland Valley of Scotland. In Bowes, D. R. & Leake, B. E. (eds) Crustal evolution in northwestern Britain and adjacent regions, 249–78. GEOL J SPEC ISSUE 10.Google Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1979. Structure of coarse grained braided stream alluvium. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 70, 181–221.Google Scholar
Bluck, B. J. In press. Evolution of a strike slip fault controlled basin, Upper Old Red Sandstone, Scotland. In Reading, H. G. and Ballance, P. F. (eds) Sedimentation in oblique slip mobile zones. SPEC PUBL INT ASSOC SEDIMENTOL 4.Google Scholar
Boersma, J. R. 1967. Remarkable types of mega-cross stratification in the fluvial sequence of a sub-Recent distributary of the Thine, Amerongen, Netherlands. GEOL MIJNBOUW 46, 217–35.Google Scholar
Born, S. M. & Ritter, D. F. 1970. Modern terrace development near Pyramid Lake, Nevada, and its geologic implication. BULL GEOL SOC AM 81, 1233–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, C. V. 1967. Lamina, lamina set, bed, bedset. SEDIMENTOLOGY 8, 7–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, C. V. 1976. Reservoir geometry of a fluvial sheet sandstone. BULL AM ASSOC PETROL GEOL 60, 1009–20.Google Scholar
Cant, D. J. & Walker, R. W. 1976. Development of a braided fluvial facies model for the Devonian of Battery Point Sandstone, Quebec. CAN J EARTH SCI 13, 102–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Church, M. 1972. Baffin Islands sandurs; a study of Arctic fluvial processes. BULL GEOL SURV CAN 216.Google Scholar
Coleman, J. M. 1969. Brahmaputra River: channel processes and sedimentation. SEDIMENT GEOL 3, 129–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collinson, J. D. 1970. Bed forms of the Tana River, Norway. GEOGR ANN 52, 31–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costello, W. R. & Walker, R. G. 1972. Pleistocene Sedimentology, Credit River, Southern Ontario: A new component of the braided river model. J SEDIMENT PETROL 42, 389–400.Google Scholar
Doeglas, D. J. 1962. The structure of sedimentary deposits of braided rivers. SEDIMENTOLOGY 1, 167–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliot, R. E. 1965. A classification of subaquaeous sedimentary structures based on rheological and kinematical parameters. SEDIMENTOLOGY 5, 193–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gole, C. V. & Chitale, S. V. 1966. Inland delta building activity of the Kosi River. PROC AM ASSOC CIV ENG: J HYDRAUL DIV HY–12, 111–26.Google Scholar
Jackson, R. G. 1976. Depositional model of point bars in the Rower Wabash River. J SEDIMENT PETROL 46, 579–94.Google Scholar
Johnson, K. G. & Friedman, G. M. 1969. The Tully clastic correlatives (Upper Devonian) of New York State: A model for recognition of Dune(?), tidal, nearshore (Bar and Lagoon) and offshore sedimentary environments in a tectonic delta complex. J SEDIMENT PETROL 39, 451–85.Google Scholar
Kelling, G. 1968. Patterns of sedimentation in Rhondda beds of South Wales. BULL AM ASSOC PETROL GEOL 52, 2369–86.Google Scholar
Leopold, L. B. & Wolman, M. G. 1957. River channel patterns; braided, meandering and straight. PROF PAP US GEOL SURV 282–B, 39–85.Google Scholar
McGowen, J. H.Garner, L. E. 1970. Physiographic features and stratification types of coarse grained point bars; modern and ancient examples. SEDIMENTOLOGY 14, 77–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKee, E. D. & Weir, G. W. 1953. Terminology of stratification and cross stratification. BULL GEOL SOC AM 64, 381–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miall, A. D. 1976. Palaeocurrent and palaeohydraulic analysis of some vertical profiles through a Cretaceous braided stream deposit, Banks Island, Arctic Canada. SEDIMENTOLOGY 23, 459–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moody-Stuart, M. 1966. High and low sinuosity stream deposits, with examples from the Devonian of Spitzbergen. J SEDIMENT PETROL 36, 1102–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ore, T. H. 1964. Some criteria for recognition of braided stream deposits. CONTRIB GEOL UNIV WYOMING 3, 1–14.Google Scholar
Reineck, H. E. & Singh, I. B. 1975. Depositional sedimentary environments. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Rust, B. R. 1972. Structure and process in a braided river. SEDIMENTOLOGY 18, 221–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, J. 1972. Sedimentation in ice contact environment, with examples from Shropshire (England). SEDIMENTOLOGY 18, 23–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, N. D. 1970. The braided stream depositional environment: comparison of the Platte River with some Silurian clastic rocks, North-Central Appalachians. BULL GEOL SOC AM 81, 2993–3014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, N. D. 1972. Some sedimentological aspects of planar cross stratification in a sandy braided river. J SEDIMENT PETROL 42, 624–34.Google Scholar
Thompson, D. B. 1970. Sedimentation of the Triassic (Scythian) Red pebbly Sandstones in the Cheshire Basin and its margin. GEOL J 7, 183–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorarinsson, S. 1956. The thousand years struggle against ice and fire. Reykjavik: Bokavge Menningarsjads.Google Scholar
Williams, P. F. & Rust, B. R. 1969. The sedimentology of a braided river. J SEDIMENT PETROL 39, 649–79.Google Scholar