Notes on the Coast Sections between Hayburn Wyke and Filey

Abstract

The area to be visited during this Field Excursion consists entirely of beds belonging to the Middle and Lower Oolites. To the north of Hayburn Wyke are the Staintondale Cliffs, which are composed entirely of the Estuarine Series of the Lower Oolite, with the three marine divisions of the Eller Beck Bed, the Millepore Bed, and the Grey Limestone Series. The marine bands of the Millepore Beds and the Grey Limestone come to the shore on either side of Cloughton Wyke, where they form conspicuous reefs, which can be examined at low water. Between this point and Scarborough the coast is formed by the sandstones of the Upper Estuarine Series. At Scarborough the Middle Oolites first reach the coast and form the bold and prominent headland of the Castle Hill. This may be considered as one of the typical Oxfordian sections, nearly the whole of this series being exposed in a vertical cliff 250 feet in height. The summit of this cliff, with the exception of a thin covering of Boulder Clay, is capped by about 20 feet of Oolitic Limestone, representing the lower part of the Lower Limestone ; below this comes about 37 feet of Passage Beds very full of a small Ostrea, Gervillia aviculoides, and Pecten subfibrosus. These rest on 18 feet of soft sands with large calcareo-siliceous concretions forming the upper part of the Lower Calcareous Grit, the lower beds of which pass gradually down into the sandy shales of the Oxford Clay. By a fault …