Passage Beds Research Articles

Need for re-apprehension of basin tectono-depositional set-up during initial stage of Himalayan orogeny from pedogenic evidences

The collision and suturing of Indian and Eurasian plates about 50Ma ago closed the Tethys Ocean, initiated Himalayan orogen and a foreland basin developed towards its south. The last phase of marine sedimentation in Indian sub-continent during Paleocene-Eocene is represented by Subathu Formation overlain by continental Dagshai sediments and nature of this transition, named as ‘Passage beds’ (sensu Bhatia and Mathur, 1965), is controversial. Further, it is poorly understood both in terms of depositional environment and age. Surprisingly, these beds show evidences of pedogenesis but no such palaeopedological studies have been reported so far. The degree and nature of pedogenesis is widely used in solving diverse geological problems in complex geological settings. Therefore, pedogenesis of these beds exposed in the Shimla hills of Subathu sub-basin has been worked out. Morphological and micromorphological studies divide them into older green/greenish-grey pedofacies (GP) and younger red/reddish-brown pedofacies (RP) units. Pedons are up to tens of centimeters thick. Structure largely comprises sub-angular to sub-rounded blocky peds. A suite of pedogenic features include burrows, root traces, infillings, mottling, cutans, segregations, and nodules which vary in dominance from GP to RP unit. Greenish-grey pedons are characterized by mottles, Fe-Mn oxide segregations whereas reddish-brown pedons by root traces commonly filled with carbonates, presence of carbonate segregations and cutans. Detailed field and laboratory studies at various local and regional exposures can reveal the nature and extent of pedogenesis which will be significant to enact depositional environment as well as stratigraphic position, of Passage beds co-relatable at different localities throughout length of the Himalaya from Pakistan to Nepal because of their distinctive lithology and stratigraphic position. Such studies bear global significance in demonstrating the use of palaeosols as a geologic archive in complex geological settings.

Sedimentary response to ignimbrite emplacement across a fluvial–shallow‐marine transition: Ordovician Mweelrea Formation, South Mayo Trough, Western Ireland

AbstractThe Ordovician Mweelrea Formation is part of the basin fill of the South Mayo Trough in western Ireland and records progradation of alluvial facies northwestward across shallow‐ and marginal‐marine Mweelrea ‘passage beds’ to marine Glenummera Formation facies. Early in Mweelrea Formation sedimentation, the first of a series of ignimbrites was emplaced, causing a disruption in this progradation. The preserved thickness of the ignimbrite is up to ca. 12 m, and the sedimentary response varied depending on the environment that was affected. Eastern exposures of the Mweelrea Formation are coarse grained and represent fluvial facies. Emplacement of the ignimbrite caused overlying sediment to become richer in feldspar as well as coarser grained; heavy‐mineral laminations are common here and in many supra‐ignimbrite exposures, but the depositional style was unchanged. The ignimbrite overlies decreasing thickness of fluvial sandstone towards the west to where it directly overlies shoreline and shallow‐marine passage beds. Here, sandstone that overlies the ignimbrite is fluvial, indicating that emplacement of the ignimbrite brought about an abrupt progradation. At the westernmost outcrops of Mweelrea Formation, the ignimbrite lies at the contact with the underlying marine Glenummera Formation. Marine sedimentation continued after emplacement of the ignimbrite, although a coarse conglomerate horizon immediately overlying the ignimbrite together with development of a delta suggests that sediment input was vastly increased. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sedimentology of the Passage beds between the Kubang Pasu Formation and Chuping Formation, Berseri, Perlis

Sedimentology of the Passage beds between the Kubang Pasu Formation and Chuping Formation, Berseri, Perlis

Biochronological continuity of the Paleogene sediments of the Himalayan Foreland Basin: paleontological and other evidences

The paleontological and field evidences presented in the paper demonstrate a biochronological continuity from the marine Subathu (Late Thanetian to Middle Lutetian) through the Passage Beds (Late Lutetian to Middle Bartonian) to the Dagshai and equivalent formations (Late Bartonian to Rupelian) of the Himalayan Foreland Basin, east of Hazara–Kashmir syntaxis. A similar continuity has also been demonstrated in the Sulaiman Range based on an assignment of Oligocene age to the Bugti vertebrate fauna, hitherto considered to be of Early Miocene age. Thus, the concept of a >10 Ma hiatus in the foreland basin based on 40Ar/ 39Ar dates of single detrital muscovite grains from the supposed basal Dagshai arenite is no longer tenable. While the occurrence of Cr-spinel and K–T boundary nannoplanktons in the Subathu Formation and Passage Beds indicate a westerly–northwesterly provenance, that of the radiolarian chert in the Dagshai and coeval formations indicates a northerly provenance from the Indus Suture Zone, coinciding with the first influx of the Himalayan detritus around 40 Ma.

Ammonites from the Pawpaw Shale (Upper Albian) in northeast Texas

The lower part of the Pawpaw Shale in northeast Texas yields an abundance of diminutive limonitic ammonites, the assemblage being: Tetragonites sp. juv., Engonoceras serpentinum (Cragin, 1900), Conlinites wrighti gen. et sp. nov., Cantabrigites wenoensis (Adkins, 1920), Neophlycticeras ( Neophlycticeras) sp., Neophlycticeras ( Paradolphia) occidentalis sp. nov., Stoliczkaia ( Stoliczkaia) clavigera Neumayr, 1875, Stoliczkaia ( Lamnayella) worthense (Adkins, 1920), Stoliczkaia ( Shumarinaia) asiatica Matsumoto and Inoma, 1975, Enigmaticeras riceae gen. et sp. nov., Flickia simplex Pervinquière, 1907, Ficheuria pernoni Dubourdieu, 1953, Ficheuria americana sp. nov., Anisoceras armatum (J. Sowerby, 1817), Hamites venetzianus Pictet, 1847, Mariella ( Mariella) worthensis (Adkins and Winton, 1920), Mariella ( Mariella) asper sp. nov., Lechites ( Lechites) comanchensis (Adkins, 1920), Worthoceras worthense (Adkins, 1920), and Scaphites hilli Adkins and Winton, 1920. This assemblage is correlated with the Mortoniceras ( Subschloenbachia) rostratum Subzone of the European sequence on the basis of the occurrence of that species in the underlying Weno Limestone, in the passage beds between the Pawpaw Shale and the succeeding Main Street Limestone, and the lower part of the Main Street. Some previous authors have interpreted the diminutive limonitic ammonites of the Pawpaw as being “dwarf” or “stunted”. The overwhelming majority of individuals are nuclei of much larger ammonites, with smaller numbers of adults of small species that occur in other facies and geographic locations, together with a smaller number still of paedomorphic dwarfs. The fauna is interpreted as a preservational one, where diagenetic pyrite formed in relatively small voids, either the early phragmocone chambers of larger ammonites, or the phragmocone and body chambers of genuinely diminutive species which oxidised to limonite during the weathering process.

A rare foraminiferal assemblage with new species of Nummulites and Globigerina from the Eocene-Oligocene transition strata of Cambay Basin, India

A foraminiferal assemblage comprising Nummulites longilocula n. sp., Globigerina dinodensis n. sp., Turborotalia sp. A, Chiloguembelina aff. C. cubensis, Nonionella cf. N. wemmelensis and Nonionella aff. N. pauciloba has been recovered from a stratigraphic interval between the last occurrence of Turborotalia cerroazulensis s. l. and the first occurrence of Cassigerinella chipolensis in an apparently continuous sequence of calcareous sediments exposed near Dinod village in Cambay Basin, Gujarat, India. The assemblage also includes sparingly occurring Nummulites retiatus, radiate Nummulites spp., discoidal Pellatispira spp., calcareous nannofossils and radiolaria; furthermore, the assemblage is found to be occupying a stratigraphic position between the last appearance of Discocyclina and the first appearance of Nummulites fichteli. Planktonic foraminiferal zones P17-P18 have been clearly demarcated in the sequence, and the new assemblage clearly denotes a distinctive passage from the older zone to the younger; thus a provisional P17-P18 transition Zone with an age range of latest Eocene to earliest Oligocene is assigned to it. The distinctive features and the new foraminiferal species of this assemblage, seemingly in contrast with the standard zonal boundary character, are described, and their bearing on the nature of the Eocene- Oligocene boundary in the Cambay Basin sequence is discussed. The assemblage, with its new foraminiferal data, lends further credence to several analogous records of foraminiferal transition found in similar passage beds occurring elsewhere.

δ13C values from the Cenomanian–Turonian passage beds of southern Tibet

A group of bituminous sediments of mid-Cretaceous (late Cenomanian–early Turonian) age are well exposed in the Tingri–Gamba basin of southern Tibet. The characteristics of microfossils and geochemistry in the strata show that paleoceanographic environmental changes took place in the Tethys–Himalayan Sea. The δ 13C profiles of southern Tibet are characterized by a low–high–low cycle. The maximum positive excursion of 2.0% occurs at the position just above the Cenomanian and Turonian boundary in Tingri and 2.74% occurs underneath the Cenomanian and Turonian boundary in Gamba. The mid-Cretaceous in southern Tibet is a short period of expansion of the Tethys–Himalayan Sea, which brought about local sea-level rise. The positive excursion of δ 13C coincides with both global and local sea-level rises. The correlation of the δ 13C spike and well-dated occurrence of layers rich in organic carbon indicate that intense orgC burial took place during the latest Cenomanian to earliest Turonian. The positive δ 13C excursion reflects the burial of total dissolved carbon. The positive excursion and excess carbon burial in southern Tibet are coincident with the oceanic anoxic event during the time.

The first report of the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic passage beds in the Eastern Tethyan Himalaya

A good exposure of Triassic-Jurassic strata, named the Germig section in the Lanongla area, south Tibet has been investigated recently. Non-marine conditions of the Upper Triassic represented by the Zhamure formation existed in most of south Tibet, but they terminated in the area by the Germig formation which represents a marine transgression from the Late Norian-Rhaetian to the Early and Middle Hettangian. It is reported for the first time that Triassic-Jurassic passage beds with ammonite evidence have been found in Tethyan Himalaya. The earliest Jurassic faunas exhibit affinity with those of Nevada, implying a trans-Pacific dispersal in the early stage of biotic recovery after the end-Triassic mass extinction.

Estudio palinológico del tránsito Pliensbachiense/Toarciense en la Rambla del Salto (Sierra Palomera, Teruel, España)

A palynological study carried out at the Pliensbachian-Toarcian passage beds of the Rambla del Salto section (Teruel province, E. Spain) has led to the identification of twenty-one taxa belonging to sorne different groups of Protoctista, gymnospenn and vascular criptogamme plants. The identified taxa show a wide stratigraphic range and have low biostratigraphic value. Two separate intervals are distinguished by their content in planktic elements. In both intervals palynologic associations are difficult to compare with other european basins. Recorded planktic taxa disappear at the Miiabile-Semicelatum Subzone transition (lower Toarcian). This might be related with the suboxie events which has been recognised elsewhere in some other areas in the basin.

The depositional history of the Hackness Coral-Sponge Bed and its associated sediments within the Passage Beds Member of the Coralline Oolite Formation (Corallian Group; Oxfordian) of North Yorkshire

SUMMARY The Passage Beds contain a varied assortment of terrigenous and carbonate sedimentary rocks in which there is the gradual upwards transition from predominantly terrigenous into predominantly carbonate sediment. From an initial widespread quartz-sand sheet covering most of the Cleveland Basin, terrigenous sedimentation later became confined to the southern margin of the basin while in the centre, shallow seas, minimal clastic clay input and substantial nutrient-transporting tidal currents enabled a coral reef to become established. Large amounts of reef-derived sediment were transported eastwards, forming a long ‘tail’ of coral–shell sand. Uplift and erosion of the reef in late Passage Beds times was followed by renewed subsidence. This produced a hardground which was colonised by thickets of a crinoid having pentalobate stem ossicles commonly referred to as ‘ Pentacrinus ’. The ‘ Pentacrinus ’ ossicles, along with further coral debris, were subsequently incorporated into a widespread sheet of ‘ Pentacrinus ’ biosparite.

Early Lutetian charophyta from the Shimla Hills, Lesser Himalayas

SummaryThree charophyte taxa—Raskyella feisti sp. nov., Stephanochara massieuxi sp. nov. and Stephanochara sp. cf. S. rochettiana (HEER)—are recorded from the red beds (Early Lutetian) of the Subathu Formation of Shimla Hills in the Lesser Himalayas. Both these genera are being reported for the first time from India.Biostratigraphically, the charophyte gyrogonites occur in Zone IX of Mathur (1978) and in the Passage Beds (sensu Bhatia and Mathur, 1965). The occurrence of charophytes in these beds along with brackish water foraminirera, ostracoda, mollusca and terrestrial vertebrates supports the contention that they were deposited in a tidal flat environment with periodic influx of freshwater. The assemblage, though new, shows affinities with European Eocene taxa.

The geology of Castlefields Mine, Dudley, and its effect on the stability of the mine roof

Abstract The mining of the Wenlock Limestone, which has taken place in the West Midlands during the last two hundred years, has resulted in a long and continuing history of subsidence and crownhole formation in a mainly urban area. In 1983, as part of a major study of the abandoned limestone mines, a programme of micro-seismic emission monitoring of rock falls and of rock paste infilling trials was started at the Castlefields Mine near Dudley. The mine is in Upper Wenlock Limestone with an overburden of approximately 22 m comprising about 1.5 m Passage Beds overlain by Lower Ludlow Shale. A number of stages of instability were observed, ranging from initial slabbing failure of the Passage Beds to extensive upward void migration through the Lower Ludlow Shale to within a few metres of the surface. The pattern of joints, and their condition, plays an important role in controlling the instabilities in a mine. Five joint sets, with varying degrees of dilation, movement and infilling, were identified in a survey of structural discontinuities in Castlefields Mine. One master joint set, characterized by uneven dilation and clay infilling, was found to exert a major influence on the position and development of roof instabilities within the mine. In this paper, the lithology, geological and mining history and structure of Castlefields Mine are described and their influence on mine stability discussed.

Depositional environments and paleogeography in the Albian Moosebar Formation and adjacent fluvial Gladstone and Beaver Mines formations, Alberta

The marine Moosebar Formation (Albian) has a currently accepted southerly limit at Fall Creek (Ram River area). It consists of marine mudstones with some hummocky and swaley cross-stratified sandstones indicating a storm-dominated Moosebar (Clearwater) sea. We have traced a tongue of the Moosebar southward to the Elbow River area (150 km southeast of Fall Creek), where there is a brackish-water ostracod fauna. Paleoflow directions are essentially northwestward (vector mean 318°), roughly agreeing with turbidite sole marks (329°) in the Moosebar of northeastern British Columbia.The Moosebar sea transgressed southward over fluvial deposits of the Gladstone Formation. In the Gladstone, thick channel sands (4–8 m) are commonly multistorey (up to about 15 m), with well developed lateral accretion surfaces. The strike of the lateral accretion surfaces and the orientation of the walls of channels and scours indicate northwestward flow (various vector means in the range 307–339°). The Moosebar transgression was terminated by construction of the Beaver Mines floodplain, with thick, multistorey sand bodies up to about 35 m thick. Flow directions are variable, but various vector means roughly cluster in the north to northeast segment. This indicates a major change in dispersal direction from the Gladstone and Moosebar formations.A review of many Late Jurassic and Cretaceous units shows a dominant dispersal of sand parallel to regional strike. This flow is mostly north-northwestward (Passage beds, Cadomin, Gladstone, Moosebar, Gates, Chungo), with the southeasterly dispersal of the Cardium being the major exception. Only at times of maximum thickness of clastic input (Belly River and higher units, and possibly Kootenay but there are no published paleocurrent data) does the sediment disperse directly eastward or northeastward from the Cordillera toward the Plains.

Storm-dominated shallow marine deposits: the Fernie–Kootenay (Jurassic) transition, southern Rocky Mountains

The transition from the Passage Beds of the Fernie into the lowermost part of the Kootenay Formation is exposed in 11 sections in the Crowsnest Pass to Banff area. Six distinct facies can be defined. Facies A (thin bedded turbidites) and facies B (thicker bedded turbidites) both have sole marks indicating north-northwestward flow. Facies C is the most important and consists of interbedded sandstones and shales, with sole marks indicating north-northwestward flow, and "hummocky cross stratification" as the characteristic internal sedimentary structure. It is interpreted to be formed by storm waves in depths below fair-weather wave base. Facies D contains low angle intersecting sets of parallel lamination (beach) and facies E is characterized by trough cross bedding (fluvial). Facies F consists of lenticular sandstones and shales, with coals. The facies occur in the sequence listed and indicate a northward prograding beach complex. Following intense storms, water driven toward the beach surges back seaward, entraining sand and developing into a density current. If deposition from the density current takes place in depths stirred by the storm waves, hummocky cross stratification is formed. In slightly deeper, quieter water the density current deposits a classical turbidite. Thus, the eastward-prograding Kootenay "delta" of previous interpretations now appears to be a northward-prograding beach complex fed by rivers, but with sand transported alongshore by waves. There is no evidence of tidal current activity, and shallow marine deposition is dominated by storms.

The lithostratigraphy of the upper Oxfordian and lower Kimmeridgian Beds of South Dorset, England

Studies of detailed sections have validated Blake's (1875) concept of Passage Beds between the Corallian Beds (Upper Oxfordian) and Kimmeridge Clay (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian) in South Dorset. Blake's (1875) term ‘Passage Beds’ is applied to a coherent group of dominantly arenaceous sediments straddling the Corallian Beds-Kimmeridge Clay boundary and these beds are included in the Upper Calcareous Grit, whose upper boundary is revised to include the arenaceous facies of the lower part of the Kimmeridge Clay (in Dorset). The lower junction of the Kimmeridge Clay is raised to include only the clays of the Aulacostephanus mutablis to Zaraiskites albani Zones in the lithostratigraphic unit—Kimmeridge Clay. The faunas of the Passage Beds are akin to those of the Corallian Beds and bear only slight resemblance to those of the Kimmeridge Clay.

SEDIMENTARY FACIES IN THE JURA-CRETACEOUS KOOTENAY FORMATION, CROWSNEST PASS AREA, SOUTHWESTERN ALBERTA AND SOUTHEASTERN BRITISH COLUMBIA

ABSTRACT The Kootenay Formation in the Crowsnest Pass area occupies part of an eastward-thinning, narrow, linear band of Jura-Cretaceous strata comprising part of the Rocky Mountains Foothills and Front Ranges of Alberta and British Columbia. The formation is divided into three main stratigraphic units -- a lower 'Basal Sandstone' member, a middle 'Coal-Bearing' member, and an upper 'Elk' member. The Basal Sandstone member, consisting of massive cliff-forming sandstone, is subdivided into two units, a newly recognized lower 'Unit B', formerly considered to be part of the Fernie Formation, and an upper 'Unit A'. The Coal-Bearing member comprises an interstratified sequence of siltstone, silty shale, mudstone, sandstone and conglomerate, with thin to thick seams of economically important low- to high-volatile bituminious coal. Fourteen major seams have been mined in the Fernie area of southeastern British Columbia, the amount varying with each seam. Coal seams generally become thinner and less numerous toward the east in the Alberta Foothills and Front Ranges. The Elk member consists of a thick, cliff-forming sequence of sandstone, siltstone, mudstone to shale, conglomerate and sparse, thin seams of coal. The conglomerate forms a thick and unusual lithofacies only in parts of the Fernie basin. The Kootenay Formation gradationally overlies strata of the 'Passage Beds' of the Fernie Formation, and is overlain disconformably, at most localities, by the Cadomin Formation of the Blairmore Group. It is postulated that Kootenay strata were deposited as part of a north-to-northeasterly prograding clastic wedge, in the epicontinental Jurassic-Cretaceous sea. Sandstone of the Basal Sandstone member formed part of an elongate interdeltaic beach-barrier island and delta-front sheet sand system. Strata of the Coal-Bearing member are characterized by sedimentary relationships typical of deltaic, interdeltaic and alluvial-plain depositional environments. The Elk member represents deposition mainly in an alluvial plain, with the conglomerate and associated strata of the Fernie area interpreted as part of an alluvial fan.

Permian of the offshore and coastal region of Durham and SE Northumberland

Recent bores indicate that the basal Permian (Yellow) Sands of N Durham were deposited largely sub-aerially as dunes 50 m or more high on an almost planar Coal Measures surface. Many of these were inundated by a placid sea and covered by the Marl Slate and Passage Beds. Continued subsidence allowed the succeeding lower Magnesian Limestone to accumulate more rapidly on the slopes of thinly covered dunes possibly with relative relief of 30 m and minor slumping occurred over wide areas. Uplift and tilting led to deepening of the basin to the east and partial erosion of the lower Magnesian Limestone and Marl Slate on land followed by reef development. Anhydrite deposits formed contemporaneously or rather later than the reef. Inshore in N Durham these crystallized discretely from sulphate-rich dolomite muds possibly partly in a sabhka environment with ratio of evaporite to dolomite increasing eastwards towards the basin, ultimately to form continuous, bedded deposits some distance from the present shoreline in N Durham but on shore near Hartlepool. Breccias formed contemporaneously with the evaporites partly due to crystallization pressure and later removal of sulphate.

8.—A Stratigraphical Revision of the Old Red Sandstone of North-eastern Caithness

SynopsisThe stratigraphy of the Old Red Sandstone between Latheron and Brough in north-eastern Caithness has been revised. Stratigraphical subdivision in this area is primarily based on variations in lithology but is supported by the recognition of distinct faunal assemblages. The terms Wick Flagstone and Thurso Flagstone are discarded both as Group and Formation names and in their place type sequences different from those given by the Survey are proposed on the basis of the more continuous exposure seen between Ellens Goe and Latheron in eastern Caithness and in the Ham/Scarfskerry area of northern Caithness. The revision has been facilitated by an analysis of the structure of the area which suggests that a variablec. east-west compression has been the dominant controlling factor in the development of the structure of Caithness.As a result of the revision the position of the Achanarras Fish Bed is now clear. The Passage Beds Group is no longer considered a meaningful subdivision as it is partly overlain by and partly overlies this Fish Bed. The John o' Groats Sandstone Group is thought to probably overlie the Caithness Flagstones conformably.The following major stratigraphical subdivisions are recognised:D. John o' Groats Sandstone Group.C. Upper Caithness Flagstone Group(c) Mey Subgroup(b) Ham-Scarfskerry Subgroup(a) Latheron Subgroup.B. Lower Caithness Flagstone Group (position of Achanarras Fish Bed)(d) Robbery Head Subgroup(c) Lybster Subgroup(b) Hillhead Red Bed Subgroup(a) Clyth Subgroup.A. Sarclet Group.A typographical device is used for formal description of formations and groups whose boundaries are truncated by faults.

The cuticle of a eurypterid

Dslingwater J. E.: The cuticle of a eurypterid. A description is given of the cuticular ultrastructure of Pterygotus (Pterygotus) ludensis Salter, 1859 from the ‘Passage Beds’ at Ludlow, Shropshire, England. Scanning electron microscope investigations revealed laminar units composed of fibrous elements, and fine perpendicular structures. The laminae resemble those of modern arthropod cuticles and some of the perpendicular elements may be pore-canals. Three main layers are described; it is not possible to equate these with the histochemical subdivisions of extant cuticles.

Discussion

Professor F. W. S hotton said there were many points, of varying significance, that he would like to discuss with Dr Audley-Charles but he would have to confine himself to a few. The Arden Sandstone in Warwickshire and its near environs is a useful divider of the Keuper Marl into a small upper part and a lower part about five times as thick, but he did not feel confident that this unit had been recognized with certainty in the thicker basin sequences. If he had heard Dr Audley-Charles aright, reference had been made to occasional conglomerates in the Keuper Marl taken to be equivalent to the Arden Sandstone and he seriously doubted the accuracy of such records which might be the driller's interpretation of desiccation breccias or dolomitic concretions; but details apart, he still doubted whether this horizon could be recognized over a large area. The Waterstones of E. Hull have been recognized by Professor Wills in north Worcestershire as three cyclothems, two in the Keuper Sandstone and an upper one, usually known as the 'Passage Beds', at the base of the Keuper Marl. Certainly Waterstones and Passage Beds are not synonymous terms. It has long been known that between the pre-dominantly arenaceous Keuper Sandstone and the argillaceous Keuper Marl there was a zone of oscillatory transition but it seemed most unlikely that the author had been able to recognize either a constant top or base; yet unless he had done so, the construction of isopachytes and the drawing of conclusions