The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Staithes Sandstone Formation

Computer Code:	STA	Preferred Map Code:	Sta
Status Code:	Full
Age range:	Pliensbachian Age (JE) — Pliensbachian Age (JE)
Lithological Description:	Silty sandstone, more or less argillaceous, typically intensely bioturbated and/or showing bedding structures of many types.
Definition of Lower Boundary:	Gradational contact with underlying mudstones of the Redcar Mudstone Formation, but defined at base of "Oyster Bed" (highly fossiliferous calcareous and ferruginous sandstone), which apparently persists as a continuous horizon throughout the Cleveland Basin.
Definition of Upper Boundary:	Upward transition from sandstone/siltstone to shaly mudstone with scattered sideritic nodules of the Cleveland Ironstone Formation.
Thickness:	To c. 30 m.
Geographical Limits:	Cleveland Basin, North Yorkshire.
Parent Unit:	Lias Group (LI)
Previous Name(s):	Sandy and Micaceous Beds [Obsolete Name and Code: Use STA] (-3048) Staithes Beds [Obsolete Name and Code: Use STA] (-2449) Marlstone Series [Obsolete Name and Code: Use STA] (-3694) Staithes Formation [Obsolete Name and Code: Use STA] (-3695) Sandy Series [Obsolete Name and Code: Use STA] (-4901) Cleveland Sand Formation [Obsolete Name and Code: Use STA] (-1200)
Alternative Name(s):	none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Type Area	North Yorkshire Coast.
Type Section	Coastal exposures at Staithes harbour between Cowbar Nab [NZ 783 191] and Penny Nab [NZ 788 189] (Howarth, 1955; Hesselbo and Jenkyns, 1995).
Reference Section	Coastal exposures between Robin Hood's Bay and Hawsker Bottoms, North Yorkshire (between Ness Point [NZ 960 065] and Clockcase Nab [NZ 955 071], including Castle Chamber) (Hesselbo and Jenkyns, 1995).
Reference(s):
Fox-Strangways, C, and Barrow, G. 1915. The geology of the country between Whitby and Scarborough (2nd edition). Memoir of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom.
Hemingway, J E. 1974. Jurassic. 161-233 in Rayner, D H and Hemingway, J E (eds), The geology and mineral resources of Yorkshire. (Leeds: Yorkshire Geological Society.)
Phillips, J. 1829. Illustrations of the geology of Yorkshire, or a description of the strata and organic remains. Part I, the Yorkshire Coast. (York.)
Young, G and Bird, J. 1822. A geological survey of the Yorkshire coast: describing the strata and fossils occurring between the Humber and the Tees, from the German ocean to the plain of York. First edition. (Whitby: Clark.)
Chowns, T M. 1968. Environmental and diagenetic studies of the Cleveland Ironstone Formation of north-east Yorkshire. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Simpson, M. 1855. The fossils of the Yorkshire Lias described from nature, Whittaker, London and Reed, Whitby.
Hesselbo, S P and Jenkyns, H C A, 1995. A comparison of the Hettangian to Bajocian successions of Dorset and Yorkshire. 105-150 in Taylor, P D (Editor). Field geology of the British Jurassic (London Geological Society).
Howarth, M K, 1955. Domerian of the Yorkshire coast. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.30, 147-175.
Waters, C N, Smith, K, Hopson, P M, Wilson, D, Bridge, D M, Carney, J N, Cooper, A H, Crofts, R G, Ellison, R A, Mathers, S J, Moorlock, B S P, Scrivener, R C, McMillan, A A, Ambrose, K, Barclay, W J, and Barron, A J M. 2007. Stratigraphical Chart of the United Kingdom: Southern Britain. British Geological Survey, 1 poster.
Howard, A S, 1985. Lithostratigraphy of the Staithes Sandstone and Cleveland Ironstone formations (Lower Jurassic) of north-east Yorkshire. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.45, 261-275.
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
E043 E034 E035 E044 E042 E052 E054 E062 E055 E065 E064

• Another Query ?