Glacially- and tidally-influenced shallow marine sedimentation of the late Precambrian Port Askaig Formation, Scotland

Abstract

The late Precambrian Port Askaig Formation forms part of the thick succession of metasediments and volcanics of the Dalradian Supergroup of northwest Britain. The glacianegnic Port Askaig Formation is well exposed on the Garvellach Islands in western Scotland and consists of a series of thick and regionally extensive diamictites interbedded with sandstones, siltstones, dolomites and minor conglomerates. Diamictite facies are similar to glaciomarine diamicts described from the Late Cenozoic Yakataga Formation in the Gulf of Alaska, formed by settling of fine-grained suspended sediment and ice-rafting in relatively shallow water (< 250 m) . Two particularly distinctive diamictite units, the Great Breccia and the Disrupted Beds are interpreted as the product of downslope resedimentation events; it is significant that the Port Askaig Formation was deposited during a period of increasing tectonic activity in the Dalradian Basin. Thick and extensive sand sequences interbedded with the diamictite facies are interpreted as tidally influenced shallow marine shelf deposits; sands may have been derived from deltaic sources on the basin margin and transported into the basin during storms. The entire Port Askaig Formation appears to represent an overall shallowing upwards sequence punctuated by smaller scale transgressive (diamictite) and regressive (sandstone) events. Interpretation of the Port Askaig Formation as a succession of glacially and tidally-influenced shelf sediments has significant implications for the reconstruction of palaeoclimatic histories and regional palaeogeographies during late Precambrian time.