Palaeoenvironmental significance of marine and terrestrial Tertiary sediments on the NW Scottish shelf in BGS borehole 77/7

BGS borehole 77/7, located to the north of Scotland, drilled through Quaternary deposits into Neogene and Palaeogene sediments before terminating in Lewisian basement. The pre-Quaternary rocks have been analysed using a variety of petrological, geochemical and bio-stratigraphical techniques. The basement comprises amphibolite schist, and has a deeply weathered surface which, it is argued, is likely to have developed during the early Eocene. Overlying terrestrial lignitic deposits are palynologically dated as upper Oligocene; they were deposited in a forest swamp environment at a time of hinterland uplift, and are comparable with sediments of similar age and character found in basins along the length of western Britain. Following a rise in sea level, marine conditions prevailed during the Miocene, as recorded by glauconitic siltstones which are of a facies that is extensively developed on the outer shelf and slope NW of Scotland.

Publication Details

  • Type

    Journal Article

  • Title

    Palaeoenvironmental significance of marine and terrestrial Tertiary sediments on the NW Scottish shelf in BGS borehole 77/7

  • Year

    1997

  • Author(s)

    Evans, D., Morton, A.C., Wilson, S., Jolley, D.W. and Barreiro, B.A.

  • Journal

    Scottish Journal of Geology

  • Volume

    33

  • Issue

    1

  • Page(s)

    31-42

  • URL

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/sjg33010031

  • People

Charity and Education