Evidence of submarine erosion in the Lincolnshire Limestone of Northamptonshire

Abstract

The area described lies at the southern extremity of the lenticular Lincolnshire Limestone formation. Here an erosion interval separates Lower and Upper Lincolnshire Limestone, and the latter is largely preserved in discontinuous channels or elongated basins cut in the underlying beds. These channels have a generally consistent E.N.E.-W.S.W. trend and occupy a belt 2–3 miles wide running parallel to the present south-eastern limit of the main mass of the formation. The succession and lithology of the limestones and the nature of the junction between the lower and upper divisions are described. The form of the channels indicates that they have their origin in submarine rather than subaerial erosion, and it is suggested that they are the result of tidal or current action. Their direction bears a general parallelism to the trend of movements that controlled the sedimentation and erosion of Inferior Oolite times in this area. The economic bearing of the Lincolnshire Limestone channels on the working of ironstone and on water supply problems is briefly discussed.