RUSHTON, A. W. A., OWEN, A. W., OWENS, R. M. & PRIGMORE, J. K. 1999. British Cambrian to Ordovician Stratigraphy. Geological Conservation Review Series no. 18. xxi+435 pp. Peterborough: The Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Price £70.00 (hard covers). ISBN 1 86107 472 7.

Abstract

This weighty volume in the series (435 pp.) covers some of the most classic sites of Britain’s vast geological heritage. As the Cambrian and Ordovician systems were both founded in Britain, based on the pioneering work on these rocks begun as far back as the 1830s, this book has detailed descriptions of some of the most classic geological sites in the world, together with more recently discovered sites which are nevertheless important in understanding the nature of the Cambrian and Ordovician rocks and faunas of Britain. This is not a complete account of these rocks in Britain, since its purpose is to describe the sites selected for the Geological Conservation Review; and indeed does not include the important Ordovician volcanic rocks which are described in the preceding volume in the series. After a general introduction and an introduction to Cambrian stratigraphy, there follows a description of the Cambrian rocks in their type area of North Wales. This is followed by a chapter on South Wales and then one on England. However, since the Cambrian and Ordovician rocks of the northwest of Scotland are difficult to divide, we have to wait for Chapter 12 for the Cambro-Ordovician of the Hebridean Terrane and Chapter 13 for Cambrian and Ordovician of the Grampian Terrane and Highland Border Subterrane. For the Ordovician, this volume accepts, without question, the revisions of the Ordovician series by Fortey et al. (1995). …