The Vale House Flints Member, a flint-rich unit of the Burnham Chalk Formation of the Northern Province, East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, UK

Abstract

Summary: Many flint bands represent significant correlation markers in the lithostratigraphy of the Chalk Group. In the Chalk Group of the English Northern Province (Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, north Norfolk), such bands can be traced with certainty from Flamborough Head in East Yorkshire southwards across the Humber estuary into south Lincolnshire; some have also been recognized in the Trunch Borehole in north Norfolk. Many have been formally named. A unit of flint-rich chalk containing bands with varied and distinctive features is described from the Burnham Chalk Formation ( Plesiocorys ( Sternotaxis ) plana Zone) of North Lincolnshire and traced to other sites in Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire. Although very distinctive and a potentially mappable unit, no formal name has previously been attributed to it. It is here named the Vale House Flints Member. Correlation with beds in north Norfolk, including the relevant section from the Trunch Borehole, and beyond is postulated. It appears that though conditions were different in widely separate areas and gave rise to regionally distinct lithostratigraphical sequences, some elements persist across Province boundaries and can be traced from one into another. In particular, the relationships between this flint-rich unit of the Northern Province and those of the Turonian Flint Maximum and the Chalk Rock Member of more southerly areas are discussed.