DEVONIAN OF ENGLAND, WALES AND SCOTLAND

B.J. BLUCK, P.D.W. HAUGHTON, 1 M.R. HOUSE,2 E.B. SELWOOD 3 AND LP. TUNBRIDGE 4

ABSTRACT

In Late Silurian-Early Devonian time a major uplift in Scandinavia-Greenland may have provided sediment for sinistral strike-slip basins in
Scotland, alluvial coastal plains in Wales and may have sourced the thick marine elastics with ORS tongues in southern Britain and the Ardennes. By the
Middle Devonian, lacustrine ORS in the Orcadian basin, non-sequences in central and south Scotland and Wales, carbonates in Devon and argillites in
Cornwall indicate the end of the early paroxysmic erosional cycle. In Wales and the Bristol Channel region there is evidence of more local tectonism, with
episodes of coarse clastic sedimentation. Basal volcanics show intra-plate rather than oceanic affinities. Evidence of marine transgressions, culminating
in the Frasnian, is present in Southwest England and in the subsurface of East Anglia, as in the Ardennes, and marine carbonate facies reached well north
in the North Sea in the Middle Devonian. Late tectonism is recognized in Scotland and there was a renewal of clastic sedimentation around the Bristol
Channel area. Famennian regressional facies are indicated. In Cornwall progressive obduction from the south, suggested by the Lizard ophiolite complex,
gave melange deposits and turbidites to more northerly basins: this culminated in olistostromes and gravity faults in the Early Carboniferous, thus
modifying the old view that the complex tectonics of the south resulted solely from a Late Carboniferous Armorican Orogeny.

INTRODUCTION In Wales Silurian marine sedimentation generally

The Devonian rocks of the United Kingdom were
deposited in a spectacular variety of sedimentary regimes
and tectonic settings, and a variety of post-depositional
processes have affected them. North of a line joining the
Bristol Channel and the Thames estuary Devonian rocks are
almost wholly in non-marine terrestrial facies that were
deposited in shelf and fault-bounded basin areas, and their
relations to underlying rocks affected by the Caledonian
orogeny can be elucidated. By contrast, to the south of this
line deposits were laid down in the geosynclinal tract of
marine sedimentation which stretched from Cornwall east
to the Ardennes and Rhenisches Schiefergebirge (Figure 1),
where the relations to earlier rocks are less clear, but com-
monly rather conformable. This contrast in development of
the system posed problems to early geologists, some of
which were resolved when, in 1839, Sedgwick and
Murchison proposed the Devonian System. A fascinating
account of this early period is given full-length treatment in
Rudwick (1985) and a briefer review (Rudwick 1979).
The development of the Devonian in the area may be
summarized as follows. In Northeast Scotland and the
Shetland Islands (the Orcadian Basin) thick sequences of
ORS alluvial and lacustrine rocks with rare volcanics rest
with marked unconformity on earlier metamorphic and
igneous complexes, but the succession is itself disjunct and
several depositional episodes are recognized. On the other
hand, in the area of the Midland Valley of Scotland and the
Cheviot Hills, or Caledonian Cuvette, while there is also a
basal unconformity, volcanics are well developed and there
is a marked unconformity representing the absence of the
Middle Old Red Sandstone: the elastics of the Upper Old diversity and widespread occurrence. They include igneous
Red Sandstone grade up conformably into the Lower Car- rocks of the late Caledonian magmatitic phase, meta-
boniferous.
grades up conformably into alluvial deposits of the Lower
Old Red Sandstone of Early Devonian age. There is then a
marked hiatus: the Upper Devonian rocks are represented
by the local Upper Old Red Sandstone, and in southern
Wales there are marine intercalations and conformity with
the overlying Carboniferous. In the concealed areas of East
Anglia and the London Basin Upper Devonian rocks simi-
larly transgress over Lower Devonian of Ardennes types,
and there is similarly a Famennian regression. Marine Mid-
dle Devonian is known north to the Argyll field in the
central North Sea graben.
South of the line of the supposed Variscan front, from
South Wales to the Boulonnais and southern Ardennes, a
more complete Devonian record is preserved, with thick
arenitic sequences of Lower Devonian age followed by an
Eifelian deeper marine facies and a Givetian carbonate shelf
in South Devon, and basinal argillites in North Cornwall.
The maximum transgression was reached in the Frasnian
(Figure 1). Evidence indicates that more complex regimes
associated with plate margins lie to the south.
Broad reviews of the Devonian literature are available
for the British Isles as a whole (Goldring et at., 1968, House
et al., 1977), for Scotland (Mykura, 1983) for Wales (Allen,
1974a, 1979), for the concealed areas (Butler, 1981) and for
Southwest England (Sellwood and Durrance, 1982). This
contribution emphasizes the paleogeographical rela-
tionships.
SCOTLAND
Scottish Devonian rocks are remarkable for both their
morphic rocks of the late uplifting Moine and Dalradian,

'University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ.

2
University of Southampton, S09 5NH.
3
University of Exeter, EX4 4QE.
"Plymouth Polytechnic, PL4 8AA, U.K.

Copyright 2009 by the Canadian

305 Society of Petroleum Geologists.
Memoir 14 (1988)
 306 Bluck, et al.

related to syn-orogenic processes. Metamorphic rocks in

some regions in the north of Scotland were cooling in Devo-
nian time.
The whole view that the rocks of the Old Red Sandstone
formed as a result of a major tectonic phase of the Caledo-
nian which included orogenic uplift of the adjacent base-
ment and the syn-orogenic intrusion of the ubiquitous
plutons has been challenged by Bluck (1978, 1984). Pre-
Devonian Scotland, in this view, is now considered to have
been situated on the southern (destructive) margin of the
Laurentian continent, along which a variety of terranes
were migrating. Most of these terranes are thought to have
been Laurentian in provenance, and may have migrated to
the northeast along the continental edge. The early terranes
might have included the Moine and Dalradian and if so,
these would have probably accreted in Late Proterozoic or
Early Cambrian times; the terranes south of the Highland
Boundary Fault probably accreted in Ordovician, Silurian
and possibly Devonian times. These include the terranes of
the Highland Border Complex, the Midland Valley, the
Ballantrae Complex and the Southern Uplands. The rele-
vance of the Devonian interval to this time of terrane dis-
placement is the subject of this investigation in Scotland.

IGNEOUS ROCKS

The distribution of the main masses of Devonian igne-

- ous rocks (Fig. 2) clearly shows their concentration in the
region of the Midland Valley, the Grampian Highlands and
the Southern Uplands. Late Silurian to Early Devonian
granitoids are generally high-level intrusions, some with
preserved associated lavas and evidence of cauldron subsi-
dence as at, for example, Glen Coe. The chemistry of the
plutonic rocks has been the subject of much discussion
(Halliday et al., 1985). They are characterized by relatively
high abundances of Na, Sr and Ba, spacial variations in Nd
values, and a variable pattern of inherited zircons over
Figure 1. The British Isles, outlining the main structural regimes of Early
Devonian sedimentation. Scotland. On the assumption that all granitoids are gener-
ated at the same crustal level, these variations point to areal
changes in the composition of the deep lithosphere and
and varied deposits of the many sedimentary basins. It is lower crust over Scotland (Halliday et al., 1985).
significant, even to present-day interpretations, that Old Lavas are fairly abundant in the Scottish Old Red Sand-
Red Sandstone rocks of the north of Britain are charac- stone; they reach their greatest development in the Midland
terized by some of the finest exposed unconformities, two Valley, where they are thought to be 3 km thick in the Ochil-
of which were so perceptively interpreted by Hutton. Sidlaw block (Francis et al., 1970). Abundant lavas also
The relationship between Old Red Sandstone rocks and occur in the areas of metamorphic rock to the north in the
the Caledonian orogen has been discussed at some length by Lome Plateau and adjacent areas, where they range in
many workers. There has been the opinion that all the rock composition from basalts-andesites-rhyolites, are gener-
types are related in the sense that they belong to a single ally gently dipping and reach up to 800 m in thickness, but
orogenic phase, so that the sedimentary sequences are syn- are 1,200 m thick in Glen Coe. They overlie conglomerates
orogenic, having developed in the basins which formed at and breccias, and overlap them to rest on Dalradian base-
the same time as the adjacent basement terranes were being ment. These lavas are probably connected with the high
uplifted (Bryni, 1964, Allen and Crowley, 1982) and provid- level intrusions of Ben Nevis, Glen Coe and possibly Etive,
ing the source of the debris. The granites and fairly volu- and all of these intrusions have been dated as cooling at c.
minous andesitic rocks have a disputed relationship to 400 Ma (Fig. 2); the lavas have been dated at c. 410 Ma. by
subduction. Thirlwall (1981, 1983) thought them to have Thirlwall (in Clayburn et al., 1983).
formed during subduction, and they are therefore possibly The origin of the Old Red Sandstone lavas has been a
Devonian of England, Wales and Scotland 307

OLD RED SANDSTONE CARBONIFEROUS

360
^ 3
I-':'-^l SEDIMEfNTARY] Upper
ROCKS
[V 7 ] VOLCANIC J
GRANITOIDS Middle
( w i t h a g e in M a )

Lower

SILURIAN

NORTH
SEA

0 km 50
I

Figure 2. Distribution of Old Red Sandstone igneous rocks in Scotland, together with the present-day outcrops of Old Red Sandstone sediments
and the Time-scale (Harland etal., 1982). MT, Moine Thrust; GGF, Great Glen Fault; HBFZ, Highland Boundary Fault Zone; SUF, Southern Upland
fault; LP, Lome Plateau Lavas; O-S, Ochil-Sidlaw Lavas; GH, Grampian Highlands; MV, Midland Valley; SU, Southern Uplands.
308
matter of speculation. Thirlwall (1983), on the basis of
composition and areal variations in composition, has
related them to a subduction zone dipping to the west.
Sanders et al., (1987) compare them with the lavas erupted
after subduction had ceased along the Pacific margin in
Mexico, and this interpretation fits the geological evidence
better since subduction of Iapetus is thought to have
stopped by Devonian time.
METAMORPHIC ROCKS
Some of the basement regions of Scotland were still
cooling during Late Silurian-Devonian time. The data,
mainly collected from K-Ar ages (Fig. 3), range down to 385
Ma (Middle Devonian on the time scale of Harland et al.,
1982). These young Caledonian ages are characteristically
found in the Grampian Group and Moine rocks of the
northern parts of Scotland; the main southern belt of
Dalradian rocks had cooled at an earlier time. It is possible
to estimate only roughly the depth of cover that existed at
the times shown. Given a geothermal gradient of 25 C/km
and a blocking temperature of c. 500 C for muscovite and
c. 250-350 C for biotite, then between c. 10-20 km of cover
existed over North Scotland during the Ludlow-Middle
Devonian interval. The nature of the detritus supplied by
this uplift is likely to have included some second cycle
material, much of which is probably quartz-rich not only
because of the recycling but also because the rocks in the
provenance area are quartz-rich in both the Moine and
Grampian rock assemblages.
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
The sedimentary basins in the Scottish sector fall into
two main areas: those resting on the old metamorphic foun-
dation, which includes the southern part of the Dalradian
block, where contemporary uplift stages are not present;
and the Moine and Grampian (i.e., Lower Dalradian in the
north Grampian Highlands, see Fig. 4) blocks, where con-
temporary uplift stages are present, and basins formed in
the zone of more recent or active terrane accretion (such as
the Midland Valley and the Southern Uplands) where the
visible basement is of relatively low-grade metamorphic or
unmetamorphosed rocks. By far the thickest sequences
occur in the Midland Valley, where they are associated with
abundant contemporary volcanic rocks.
1. Basins of the Midland Valley
There are three sedimentary basins in Midland
Scotland; two are Late Silurian-Early Devonian in age and
the third is Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous (Fig. 4).
The most northerly of these older basins is the Strathmore
basin, which comprises, according to Armstrong and Pat-
terson (1970), up to 9 km of mainly boulder-bearing con-
glomerate. These conglomerates are interstratified with the
lavas of the central Midland Valley, the Ochil-Sidlaw vol-
canic ridge. The Strathmore basin was previously thought
Bluck, et al.
to have been laterally filled with coarse conglomerate from
the northwest and axially filled from the northeast (Bluck,
1978), however the fill is now seen to be far more complex.
The early conglomerates rest unconformably on the High-
land Border Complex and were derived from a variety of
directions which range from the east, and south to west;
later conglomerates along the northern belt have a dispersal
from the northwest (Bluck, 1984). Moreover, there is no
longer a single basin in sequence along the Strathmore Old
Red Sandstone sequence. Haughton and Bluck (1988) have
demonstrated that at least two basins existed in the north-
east, south of Stonehaven; and there are two basins recog-
nized in the southwest between Callender and the Clyde.
The reversal of paleoflow which occurred along this
north margin of these two basins may have been associated
with southerly migration of the basin axis during develop-
ment of the basin and, possibly, the emplacement of a
metamorphic complex to the north. The axial flow in the
upper parts of the Strathmore basin or basins is known to be
Emsian in age, but also probably extends down into the
Siegenian. This axial flow almost certainly existed during
the earliest phase of conglomerate deposition in the south-
west, when it probably flowed north of the present outcrops
exposed in the Strathmore Syncline. This is not to be seen in
the northeast Midland Valley, where both margins of an
early sub-basin are preserved (Haughton and Bluck, 1988)
and sediments from both margins interfinger in the centre
of the basin, showing little evidence of a major fine grained
axial system. Later, when there was coarse lateral fan depo-
sition from the northwest, the flow was roughly along the
axis of the present Strathmore Syncline. At this later time
there is evidence for very large river systems in the Scottish
region, some depositing bars which were more than 15 m
thick (Bluck, in press). These river systems are thought to
have drained the Scandian mountains of Norway and
Greenland.
The southern outcrops of the Lanark basin are not as
well known as those of the northern, Strathmore region,
and include conglomerates, sandstones and volcanic rocks,
the age of which are quite uncertain. They probably include
some rocks of Late Silurian age. The earliest prominent
phase of deposition began with a conglomerate charac-
terized by greywacke clasts which do not appear to have
been derived from a major local block of greywacke rocks in
the Southern Uplands to the immediate south. Their disper-
sal is also confusing and is the subject of study at the present
time. These conglomerates are followed by sandstones,
lavas and conglomerates with abundant lava clasts. The
sandstones show, in some places at least, a prominent axial
flow. Deposition probably took place in small and localized
basins, but during later intervals where prominent axial
flow dominated the record (as with the Strathmore basin).
The dominant clast and sand grain lithology in both
sandstones and conglomerates is igneous, and, in particu-
lar, volcanic. From the evidence already discussed with
respect to the distribution of igneous rocks, it is clear that
Devonian of England, Wales and Scotland 309

BIOTITE CARBONIFEROUS
K-Ar ages in Ma
o MUSCOVITE
Upper
374
Middle

387
Lower

408
SILURIAN

fJ

OLD RED SANDSTONE

SEDIMENTARY!
CROCKS
V VOLANIC

Figure 3. Distribution of metamorphic rocks which have late Silurian-Devonian cooling ages and the Old Red Sandstone sedimentary basins. See
Figure 2 tor explanation of abbreviations.
310 Bluck, et al,

UPPER OLD RED SANDSTONE

LOWER OLD RED SANDSTONE

LOWER OLD RED SANDSTONE

(VOLCANICS)

|\\| MOINE

[ 1 DALRADIAN

LS late Silurian
ED early ^
MD middle >Devonian
LD late J
C carboniferous

Midland Valley
Basin (UORS)

Figure 4. Distribution of sedimentary and volcanic rocks along with main paleoflow data. Abbreviations as for Figure 2. R, Reay; B, Berridale.
Devonian of England, Wales and Scotland
the sequences are intra-volcanic; and if these volcanic rocks
are seen as an arc complex, then these basins are seen as
inter-arc basins.
Old Red Sandstone rocks, again of uncertain (but prob-
ably Late Silurian) age, rest unconformably on lower Pal-
eozoic rocks of the Southern Uplands. These include
greywacke-bearing conglomerates of the "Great Con-
glomerate" which has clasts of greywacke, quartzite and
granite and a sequence of andesitic lavas and associated
volcanogenic sediments. This conglomerate is cut by a series
of dykes which have yielded A 4 0 /A 5 0 of 400 ma, thus dating
the conglomerate older than this and probably 410-400 ma
(Rock and Rundle, 1986). The importance of these outcrops
principally lies in their dating of the planation of at least the
Ordovician and Early Silurian parts of the Southern
Uplands.
Unconformably overlying the Pridoli-Emsian Old Red
Sandstone are rocks referred to as Upper Old Red Sand-
stone. These rocks are of uncertain age, but are known to
pass upwards into the Lower Carboniferous rocks of the
Midland Valley. Rocks of Upper Old Red Sandstones are,
on the whole, finer grained and more mature than those of
Lower ORS. They accumulated in a sedimentary basin (the
Midland Valley Basin, Fig. 4) and are thickest and coarsest
in the northwest of the Midland Valley, where their
accumulation began with coarse grained deposits and ended
with mature sandstones and caliche. The predominant dis-
persal was to the east, in which direction the whole sequence
fines. This Upper Old Red Sandstone basin comprises sedi-
ments which are sometimes first cycle. At the top of the
sequence these sediments had a provenance in the local
Dalradian, whereas at the base their provenance lay in a
metamorphic block of uncertain affinities.
2. Basins on the metamorphic basement to the north
There are a number of small sedimentary basins in the
metamorphic regions north of the Highland Boundary
Fault (Fig. 4), together with a major lacustrine basin, the
Orcadian Basin. These rest on Late Proterozoic rocks which
have been metamorphosed to grades up to granulite facies.
Since the basins uncomformably overlie this basement in
many places it is evident that they were formed either during
the late stages of, or post uplift. The age ranges of the
sediments within these basins are not precisely known in
most cases; a summary is given in Figure 4. One of the
largest basins occurs in the southwest of the metamorphic
belt at Oban. Here the lavas, which are already some dis-
tance up in the sequence, have been dated at c. 410 Ma
(Clayburn et al., 1983), thus dating conglomerates which
occur beneath them as probably Silurian in age. Deposition
in most of the other basins is thought to have begun in Early
* Devonian time, and, in some it extended through Middle
and Late Devonian times.
The sedimentary fill of these basins is quite variable, but
most begin with breccias and conglomerates with a prove-
nance in the underlying and surrounding basement. Some
311
basins, particularly those south of the Highland Boundary
Fault have influxes of very well rounded, coarse quartzite
clasts, the source of which has been enigmatic. However, a
provenance in a pre-existing conglomerate formation is
certain whatever may have been their ultimate source.
Almost all of these sequences pass upwards into finer sedi-
ments dominated by sandstones and sometimes including
caliche deposits. They therefore indicate a decrease in local
relief and the development of a regional low area. In the
instance of Caithness, north of the Great Glen Fault, a
widespread Middle Devonian lake developed (Fig. 6). This
lacustrine area may have originally extended some way to
the south, as one of its prominent fish beds (the Achanarras
Fish Bed) is thought by Westoll (1977) to occur south of the
Great Glen Fault in the region south of the Moray Firth
(Fig. 4). This same fish bed can also be used as a marker
horizon to demonstrate the lake to have been transgressive
northwards onto the local basement: at Berridale there is
some 2500 m of sediment below the fish bed, whereas at
Reay the fish bed is almost on basement. These lacustrine
sediments are cyclic in lithologies, comprising carbonates,
fine sandstones, siltstones and black shales; the cycles have
been attributed to changes in lake level due to fluctuations
in climate (Donovan et al., 1974,1980). The Achanarras fish
bed has been the subject of a study by Trewin (1986).
One of the many paradoxes of the Old Red Sandstone is
that the Orcadian basin should be dominated by fine
grained sediment, yet lie adjacent to the basement with
some of the youngest uplift ages (Fig. 3). The earliest sedi-
ments in the Orcadian basin are certainly coarse grained,
but these comprise a small proportion of the total strat-
igraphic thickness. On the other hand, thick sequences of
exceptionally coarse sediment occur in the Midland Valley,
yet most of the radiometric ages related to cooling in the
adjacent metamorphic block are substantially older than
the sediments in the basin.
EFFECT OF THE SCANDIAN UPLIFT
The Scandian event in the Norwegian Caledonides is
now well documented (Stephens and Gee, 1985). There was
a major collisional event which emplaced a nappe sequence
onto cratonic Baltica, so that a thick crustal sequence
evolved which was uplifted in Late Silurian to mid-Devon-
ian time. The extent of this uplift is only now being recog-
nized in a series of age dates taken from the basement of the
North Sea, Scandinavia, Greenland and Scotland. This area
of Scandian uplift (Fig. 5) was one where there were sub-
stantial mountain chains (Cuthbert et al., 1983) which must
have yielded considerable volumes of sediment. The
drainage pattern in the existing basins is outlined in Figure
5, suggesting convergence on the axial zone of the orogen
(although, as Torstvik et al., 1987 have pointed out, some of
these basins are possibly allochthonous). Bluck (in press)
has recorded very large alluvial bars in the Scottish Midland
Valley and it may well be that part of their Scottish Old Red

Figure 5. Axial paleoflow data in relation to the distribution of the
Scandian uplift.
Sandstone sequence had a source in the uplifted areas of
Scandinavia.
NORTHERN ENGLAND AND NORTH WALES
Red beds on Anglesey, North Wales, have generally
been referred to the Lower Old Red Sandstone (Allen 1965)
and comprise red mudstones, pebbly sandstones, intrafor-
mational conglomerates and dolomitized pedogenic lime-
stones not dissimilar to some facies farther south in Wales.
On the borders of the Lake District a 15,000 m sequence
forms the Mell Fell Conglomerate which has been taken to
Bluck, et al.
be Lower Devonian in age; it rests with great unconformity
on Ordovician rocks. Somewhat similar is the Polygenic
Conglomerate on the eastern side of the Vale of Eden (Wes-
toll, 1977). In the border country with Scotland Old Red
Sandstone sedimentary facies of probably Late Devonian
age occur in the Langholm, Cheviot and St Abbs Cove
areas; these apparently overlie the Cheviot Volcanic Group
which may exceed 1000 m in thickness. The Cheviot "gra-
nite", dated as 391 Ma (Fig. 2), forms part of the widespread
Caledonian intrusive activity.
These are all the presently remaining scraps of a much
more widespread Early Devonian volcanic and alluvial fan
succession of undoubtedly considerable thickness that were
formed over Northern England and probably reduced to
base level by late Lower Devonian time. During the erosive
phase they would have contributed significantly to the
widespread alluvial plains farther south.
CONCEALED DEVONIAN ROCKS OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND
A N D THE N O R T H SEA
SOUTHERN ENGLAND
As might be expected from the distribution of Devonian
rocks in Wales, Devon and Cornwall on the one hand, and
the Boulonnais and Ardennes on the other (Fig. 7), Devo-
nian rocks are to be expected between these outcrop areas
and there are now many borehole records to confirm their
presence (Whittaker, 1986). However, since Mesozoic
basins were centred in the Weald and Wessex, in the south-
ern areas Devonian rocks lie at considerable depth and have
rarely been penetrated. In the area of London and East
Anglia, Devonian rocks, where present, are at most a few
hundred metres below the surface; in the area of London
and southern East Anglia, lower Paleozoic rocks are known
to underlie them. The evidence is not clear in other regions
but, following Cope (1987), a Precambrian metamorphic
basement (termed Pretannia), on which the Devonian was
deposited, may lie to the south.
Devonian successions have been elucidated especially
using palynological methods (Mortimer and Chaloner,
1972, Chaloner and Richardson, in House et al., 1977) and
macrofossils (Butler, 1981). In East Anglia geophysical
methods combined with borehole information have enabled
the limits of the concealed Devonian to be mapped (Allsop,
1985). Some attempts have been made to interpret the over-
all structure of the Paleozoic rocks at depth (Sellwood and
Scott, 1986, Allsop and Jones, 1981).
Wills (1976) produced subsurface maps showing Devo-
nian occurrences for southern England, in which a major
unconformity of Upper Devonian rocks on Lower and some
Middle Devonian levels was invoked. The unconformity
was interpreted as corresponding to the Dittonian/Breco-
nian break in Wales.
The earliest Devonian is known from the Little Mis-
senden borehole. Middle Devonian, often in terrestrial or
mixed facies, occurs in the Bolney, Bushey, Harmonsole,
Devonian of England, Wales and Scotland 313

Lff?

MIDDLE DEVONIAN
LOWER DEVONIAN tiCA, UPPER DEVONIAN

Dodman Nappi

Figure 6. Generalized reconstruction of Devonian paleogeography during the Devonian, a, Lower Devonian, b, Middle Devonian, c, Upper
Devonian.

Figure 7. Map showing the relations of the Devonian rocks of southern Britain to the Ardennes and Rhenish Schiefergebirge.

Tatsfield and other boreholes (Fig. 7). Upper Devonian
records are more widespread and have been documented in
the Ashwell, Bolney, ?Brightling, Little Chiswell, Mere-
vale, Turnford and Wyboston boreholes by faunas in which
Cyrtospiriferis recognized. Butler (1981), in reviewing these,
gave a Frasnian date as most probable and suggested a
Frasnian northward limit for marine facies (shown on Fig.
7). However, the Assise de Fromelennes of the Belgian
sections, where Cyrtospirifer enters, is now referred to the
Middle Devonian, following decisions of the Devonian
314
Subcommission and the transgression could have com-
menced within the varcus Zone, comparable to the situation
better documented in North Devon by Orchard (1979). Old
Red Sandstone facies with the fish Holoptychius and Both-
riolepis in the Noke Hill and Northbrook boreholes (Butler,
1981) suggest later regressional facies, as in North Devon
and the Ardennes.
NORTH SEA
Boreholes associated with hydrocarbon exploration in
the central North Sea have given evidence of marine Devo-
nian at the latitude of Edinburgh. In the Hamilton Brothers
Well 30/24-3, in the Argyll Field 320 km southeast of
Aberdeen, marine Devonian was encountered below some
140 m of "upper Old Red Sandstone" at -3038 m subsea,
with ostracod-bearing Middle Devonian shales below and
dolomitic limestones with corals at -3072 m subsea (Pen-
nington 1975). Other records are shown by Ziegler (1982) in
the Auk field and he gives a paleogeographic reconstruction
in which a marine trough, extending in Middle Devonian
time north-northwest from the Rhenish Basin, could have
brought marine influence close to the classic Old Red Sand-
stone facies of Scotland (Donovan 1980).
SOUTH WALES AND W E L S H BORDERLANDS
The Old Red Sandstone in Southern Britain developed
from Late Silurian to Early Carboniferous time as a south-
ward prograding clastic wedge derived largely, but not
exclusively (Simon and Bluck, 1982; Allen and Crowley,
1983; Tunbridge, 1986), from Caledonian highlands in Cen-
tral and North Wales, and accumulated in a rapidly subsid-
ing basin. Within this basin sub-basins and local clastic
wedges developed. In particular, the Pembroke (Southwest
Dyfed) subbasin shows a different evolution from the main
basin.
The main control on basin subsidence was probably
Rheic or Proto-Tethyan subduction (Leeder, 1982; Barker
and Gayer, 1985), but the influence of late Caledonian
strike-slip movements seems to have been important in
generating localized, fault-related coarse elastics
(Tunbridge, 1986).
The Old Red Sandstone in Wales and the Welsh Bor-
derland is divisible into two major units. The Lower Old
Red Sandstone extends from Late Silurian to ? early Emsian
and comprises a broadly upwards coarsening clastic series,
with a thickness of 2-4 km, which developed under the
influence of latest Caledonian tectonics. A number of sedi-
mentary episodes can be recognized within the Lower Old
Red Sandstone (Allen, 1979). The Upper Old Red Sandstone
is a much thinner (usually less than 0.3 km) post-Caledo-
nian succession which developed after a period of Middle
Devonian uplift and transpressive tectonism.
The lithostratigraphical nomenclature of the Old Red
Sandstone across the area, although well documented
(Allen, 1974a, 1979; Allen and Williams, 1978; House, et al.,
Bluck, et al.
1977), is complicated with many local formation names. For
stratigraphic details, readers are referred to Allen (1974a,
1979), Allen and Williams (1978) and House et al., (1977).
The account which follows is an overview of the evolution
of a complex and still incompletely understood clastic basin
fill.
Old Red Sandstone deposition began in Late Silurian
(Pridoli) time with deposition of the condensed bone bed
horizon at the base of the Ludlow Bone Bed. This event
marks a shallow marine transgression following latest
Lulovian regression (Allen, 1985) and was followed by shal-
low marine, wave influenced shelf sand shoals of the Down-
ton Castle Sandstone and intertidal sediments of the
Temeside Shales (Allen, 1985,1974a). These shallow marine
sediments are restricted to the northwestern Welsh Bor-
derland area of the basin. To the south the basal Old Red
Sandstone developed in a coastal mudflat facies. These
mudflats were incised by sinuous channels, flowed mainly
from the northwest and carried sands rich in high-grade
metamorphic detritus. These sands were probably derived
from a northern British or more distant source, perhaps fed
to the southern British area via the Central Scottish major
fluvial network (Allen, 1974b; Simon and Bluck, 1982; Allen
and Crowley, 1983). In western Wales a distinct sub-basin
developed at about the same time as the early Ludlow shelf
sediments extended over east and central Wales. In the
Pembroke Peninsula, north of Milford Haven, between the
Musslewick and Ritec Faults, the earliest Old Red Sand-
stone sediments are recorded in the muddy fluvial sediments
of the Red Cliff Formation. These sands were derived from
a southerly source (Allen and Williams, 1978; Allen, 1985)
and were followed by coarser, felsic-rich sands (Albion
Sands Formation). These thin northwards and were depos-
ited by braided rivers which flowed from the southeast. The
same area subsequently received localized alluvial fan sedi-
ments (Lindsway Bay Formation) which prograded from
the north, thickening southwards over the Musslewick
Fault, from ?pre-Cambrian sources north of the Benton
Fault. These localized, fault influenced clastic wedges were
buried by later Downtonian intertidal and coastal mudflat
facies similar to those developed across the main basin. In
the Pembroke Peninsula, south of the Ritec Fault, the Red
Cliff, Albion Sands and Lindsway Bay Formation were not
deposited. There Old Red Sandstone sedimentation proba-
bly started later, with deposition of a coarse alluvial fan
conglomerate (Freshwater East Formation (Williams, Allen
and Marshall, 1982)) above Wenlockian strata. Succeeding
sediments are of coastal mudflat facies, similar to those
north of the Ritec Fault, and can be satisfactorily correlated
by the use of regionally extensive tuff horizons (Allen and
Williams, 1981). Dunne (1983) has shown good evidence for
continued fault activity during much of Lower Old Red
Sandstone sedimentation in the southwestern Welsh region.
The first episode of Old Red Sandstone sedimentation,
dominated in most places by metamorphic rock detritus,
came to an end in mid-Gedinnian time, when, in the greater
Devonian of England, Wales and Scotland
part of the basin a major change in facies and sandstone
provenance occurred, preceded by the development of a
series of major pedogenic carbonates, the most notable of
which is the regionally persistent Psammosteus Limestone
(Allen, 1974b, 1985; Ball and Dineley, 1961; Williams, etai,
1982; Tunbridge, 1983b). Following this major period of
sediment starvation the source for the Lower Old Red
Sandstone changed from distant, high-grade metamorphic
terranes to sources dominated by lithic sandstones,
quartzites and acid volcanics, probably comprising lower
Paleozoic and Precambrian rocks of Central and North
Wales (Allen, 1975; Allen and Crowley, 1983). In the area
north of the Ritec Fault and west of the Carreg-Cennen
Disturbance there is no trace of the Psammosteus Lime-
stone or its local correlatives; in this area sedimentation
continued across the Downtonian-Dittonian boundary
without a major break (Cope, 1979; Allen and Williams,
1978). It may be that the Carreg-Cennen and Ritec faults
acted as a partial sediment trap at that time.
Following the Downtonian to Dittonian transition, sed-
imentation in the main basin is marked by a major upwards
coarsening alluvial sequence of middle Gedinnian to middle
Emsian age (Richardson and Rasul, 1979). The lower parts
of this succession show a sandstone:mudstone ratio of
40:60, but in the highest parts the proportion of sandstone
increases to 80% or 90%, marking a change from sandy
flood sediments cutting an extensive muddy floodplain to
sandy braided stream networks (Allen, 1979, 1985;
Tunbridge, 1981b). Within this alluvial plain local uplifts
generated a number of short-lived coarse clastic wedges
(Allen, 1975; Williams, Allen and Marshall, 1982;
Tunbridge, 1986). These conglomerates are geographically
restricted and can be related to fault lines within the basin.
Their generation may be linked to latest Caledonian trans-
pressive movements (Tunbridge, 1986; Woodcock, 1987).
Lower Old Red Sandstone sedimentation probably
came to an end at some time during mid to late Emsian, as
the youngest Lower Old Red Sandstone beds with reliable
biostratigraphic data yield a mid-Emsian age (Richardson
and Rasul, 1979). The Middle Old Red Sandstone is absent
in South Wales, and, during this period, a number of struc-
tures developed in the Lower Old Red Sandstone and lower
Paleozoic (Allen, 1974b). Active uplift occurred in the
Eifelian, with Lower Old Red Sandstone being reworked
southwards to form the Hangman Sandstone clastic wedge.
This third episode of Old Red Sandstone sedimentation
marks an end to Caledonian-related clastic sedimentation
in South Britain. Woodcock (1987) matches late Caledonian
tectonics in Central Wales to this Eifelian episode.
Upper Old Red Sandstone sedimentation occurred in
two separate episodes. The first, represented by the Plateau
Beds (Lovell, 1978) is restricted to central South Wales.
Here the lower Plateau Beds comprise supratidal, tidal flat
and subtidal sandstones and mudstones, followed by
aeolian and flood sands of the upper Plateau Beds. This
interval is thought to be of late Frasnian or early Famennian
315
age (Allen, 1974a; Webby, 1966). A second episode of Upper
Old Red Sandstone sedimentation was more widespread. In
the Pembroke Peninsula the Skrinkle Sandstones represent
a late Famennian to Early Carboniferous succession (Wil-
liams, Allen and Marshall, 1982; Marshall, 1978). The
Skrinkle Sandstone is fluviatile in its lower part, passing to
an upper lagoonal and barrier beach complex. Correlatives
in central Wales and the Welsh Borders represent mainly
fluviatile sands, terminated by Early Carboniferous marine
conditions.
SOUTHWEST ENGLAND
Since the review for the last Calgary Symposium was
prepared (Goldring et al., 1968), great progress has been
made in the understanding of the Devonian system in
Southwest Britain. Many aspects of this work have been
summarized by Dineley (1986), who quotes an extensive
literature. In this paper, the authors, unable to give detailed
stratigraphic accounts, chose to introduce results within the
framework of simple but undoubtedly incomplete models.
For a review of stratigraphic details readers are referred to
H o u s e d al, (1977).
With the exception of parts of south Cornwall, it is
generally agreed that Devonian sedimentation in Southwest
England was initiated on continental crust forming the
southern borderland of the Caledonian Continent. Initially,
thick continental sedimentation extended across the region
towards an ocean lying farther south. The progressive
northward onlap of marine sediments, which began in late
Siegenian time, was accompanied by differential subsidence
of the shelf; extensional basins were developed and filled
sequentially from south to north, ahead of an advancing
deformation front.
Devonian rocks in the region are currently disposed
north and south of the Culm Trough (Figs. 1, 7). To the
north thick continental sequences, derived from the adjoin-
ing continental land mass, are intercalated with near-shore
marine deposits in complete sequences; to the south, off-
shore and basinal marine sediments appear in a much more
complex tectonic setting.
NORTH DEVON
The oldest rocks exposed in North Devon are the Lyn-
ton Beds (Simpson, 1964; Scrutton, 1978; Evans, 1983;
Edmunds, Whittaker and Williams, 1985). Some 400 m are
exposed and the age indicated by a brachiopod fauna is late
Emsian (Evans, 1983). The rocks comprise mainly wavy and
lenticular bedded, bioturbated, heterolithic, very fine sand-
stones and cleaved mudstones, together with wave rippled
and hummocky cross-bedded fine sandstones which were
deposited on a wave dominated shelf in water depths
between storm wave and fair weather wave base. In general
the formation shows a deepening from its lower horizons to
the middle part of the succession, followed by a gradual
upwards passage to sandy shoreline conditions at the transi-
316
tion to the overlying Hangman Sandstone Group
(Tunbridge, 1983a). The Lynton Beds may be regarded as a
northern equivalent to the Meadfoot Beds of South Devon
and represent part of a late Siegennian to Emsian trans-
gressive event.
A matrix supported conglomerate is found within the
Lynton Beds, lying close to the western side of the East Lyn
Fault (Edmunds, Whittaker and Williams, 1985), named the
Lyn Conglomerate (Tunbridge, 1986). This contains clasts
of bioturbated sandstone up to 30 cm long and was formed
by submarine debris flows produced by the sliding of sedi-
ment down a local fault scarp. Tunbridge (1986) regards this
syn-sedimentary fault as a splay from the important Bristol
Channel fault system.
Middle Devonian, latest Caledonian uplift in South
Wales generated a major clastic wedge in North Devon,
recorded in the Hangman Sandstones (Tunbridge, 1983a,
1985,1986), which are over 1,500 m thick. The lowest beds
(Hollowbrook Formation) represent sandy shoreline condi-
tions (Tunbridge, 1983a), followed by sandy sheetflood and
clay playa facies which were derived from the reworking of
Lower Old Red Sandstone sediments in South Wales
(Tunbridge, 1981a, 1985, 1986). Following a short, mud-
dominated interval (Tunbridge, 1980), nearby uplift to the
north along the line of the Bristol Channel fault system shed
coarse elastics (Rawns Formation) into the area (Tunbridge,
1986). Marine transgressive conditions (Sherrycombe and
Little Hangman Formations) mark an end to terrestrial
conditions, as mid-Devonian rising sea levels stemmed the
flood of elastics, allowing deposition of barrier island and
shoreface sands and muds.
The Ufracombe Slates follow (Edmunds, Whittaker and
Williams, 1985; Holwill, 1962; Holwill et al., 1969; Webby,
1966). These are of Givetian age and some 545 m thick,
comprising four formations. The lowest (Wild Pear Slates)
comprise cleaved, bioturbated mudstones and thin sand-
stones which represent a return to deposition near to and
below storm wave base. The Lester Slates and Sandstones
contain calcareous cross-bedded sandstones, siltstones and
bioclastic limestones which indicate a shallowing that per-
mitted deposition between fair weather and storm wave
base. The overlying Combe Martin Slate comprises cleaved
wavy and lenticular bedded mudstones and hummocky
cross-bedded, very fine sandstones, together with three
limestone members (Edmunds, Whittaker and Williams,
1985; Holwill et al., 1969; Holwill, 1962). Recent studies
have shown these sediments represent the deposits of a
storm-worked shelf, with sand shoals and patch reefs. Ooid
banks developed in front of the reefs, and lagoonal lime
muds were deposited on the landward side of the reef net-
work. The highest formation of the Ufracombe Slates (Ken-
tisbury Slate) comprises further hummocky cross-bedded
and bioturbated heterolithic storm deposits.
A deepening is marked at the onset of the fine grained
delta front deposits of the Morte Slates. These cleaved,
graded siltstones are mostly devoid of burrows, are now
Bluck, et al.
believed to be only 600 m thick and have an impoverished
Frasnian fauna (Edmunds, Whittaker and Williams, 1985).
More proximal deltaic facies are preserved in the overlying
Pickwell Down Sandstone. This formation is some 1,200 m
thick and, on the basis of a fish fauna, is deduced to be of
early Famennian age (Selwood and Durrance, 1982). The
succession is a broadly upwards coarsening one, comprising
in the lower parts a series of deltaic sequences, and at higher
levels a sandy fluvial succession. The deltaic sequences
comprise laminated siltstones which pass upwards to thinly
bedded, very fine grained flaser bedded and wave-ripple
cross-bedded grey sandstones and then to planar cross-
bedded and parallel laminated fine to medium grained
sandstones. Such sequences are 10-15 m thick and represent
wave influenced delta front and mouth bar environments.
The higher parts of the succession are cross-bedded and
parallel laminated purple and green sandstones which form
stacked, upwards fining sequences, each 2-3 m thick. These
represent low sinuosity river deposits. Unlike the terrestrial
elastics of the Hangman Sandstones, the Pickwell Down
Sandstone cannot at present be demonstrated to be the
product of sourceland tectonics. Instead, the sands can be
related to early Famennian regression (House et al., 1977;
C l a y t o n s al., 1986).
The Pickwell Down clastic episode is terminated at the
transition to the Upcott Slates, a 250 m thick series of green-
grey siltstones which represent coastal mudflat deposits.
The late Famennian LL biozone (Clayton et al., 1986) Baggy
Sandstones follow (Goldring, 1971), representing a separate
clastic pulse. The Baggy Sandstones include distributary
channel sandstones and a wide range of wave-worked delta
mouth bar and delta front sandstones and mudstones.
Northward migration of the shoreline from North Devon
toward South Wales in Late Devonian to Early Car-
boniferous time is recorded in North Devon in the Pilton
Shale LE biozone (Clayton et al., 1986) and in South Wales
by the development of the fluvial and barrier-beach com-
plexes of the Skrinkle Sandstone (Williams, Allen and Mar-
shall, 1982). Miospore data (Clayton et al., 1986) suggests
that the transgression reached the South Welsh area close to
the base of the VI biozone in the Carboniferous.
SOUTH D E V O N A N D C O R N W A L L
Devonian deposits are represented here in a southerly
derived nappe and thrust terrane in which it is recognized
that the depositional history was much influenced by early
structures and penecontemporaneous tectonism. Intrashelf
extensional basins (South Devon Basin, Trevone Basin),
probably initiated in early mid-Devonian time, have been
recognized which show different histories from an earlier
basin with oceanic associations lying farther to the south.
This Gramscatho Basin, now seen in South Cornwall, prob-
ably originated (Holder and Leveridge, 1986) immediately
seaward of the shelf.
Devonian of England, Wales and Scotland 317

1. Lower Devonian Shelf and Thomas, 1986) as critical to the later history of the shelf;
particularly in the development of major intrashelf basins.
Across the region the shelf appears to share a common
early history which was marked initially by the southward 2. Middle and Upper Devonian Intrashelf Basins
spread of continental deposition. The Dartmouth Slate
Formation, occurring at the lowest stratigraphic level, con- Devonian shelf and intrashelf basin sediments currently
sists of red and green slate with intraformational conglome- appear in a complex tectonic setting in which broadly coeval
rates, sandstones and siltstones. In addition to fluvial cycles successions are present in an upward sequence of pro-
comparable to those of the Lower Old Red Sandstone of the gressively farther travelled nappes. Palinspastic reconstruc-
Welsh Borderland, Dineley (1966) recorded lagoonal and tions are not yet possible but it is possible to relate the major
intertidal facies. Fish faunas provide the only means of facies in a simple model (Figs. 6b, 8, 9) which serves with
correlation, but the fish are poorly preserved and the cor- modifications for much of Southwest England.
relation in need of revision. The base of the system is not The active northern basin margin is indicated by shelf-
exposed, but a report (Dineley, 1986) of traquairaspids in basin transition facies and by penecontemporaneous vol-
South Devon suggests that beds range well down into the canic activity. Since comparable facies are not observed to
Gedinnian. Taxon ranges (Althaspis leachi, Rhinopteraspis the south a half graben is illustrated, in which movements
cornubica, Dineley, 1984) appear to indicate upward pas- along deep seated faults not only allowed the development
sage through the Siegenian, possibly into lowest Emsian of the basin but also provided pathways for volcanism. The
(Blieck, 1982). thick spread of northerly derived shelf sediments that char-
acterized the Lower Devonian was interrupted by basin
By late Siegenian time much of the shelf was affected by
subsidence in early mid-Devonian time. To the north of the
a marine transgression that introduced the Meadfoot
basin active shelf sedimentation is shown to have continued
Group. The main transgression was evidently diachronous;
throughout the Devonian, but to the south the shelf was
in East Cornwall late Siegenian ages have been reported
starved of clastic sediment and extensive carbonate com-
both from a marine incursion at the top of the Dartmouth
plexes were established. There reefoid associations devel-
Slate (Evans, 1981) and from the base of the Meadfoot
oped through the greater part of the Middle Devonian and
Group (Evans, 1980a), whereas eastwards into South Devon
locally persisted into the middle Frasnian. At the same time
the Meadfoot Group is dated as mid-Siegenian to Emsian
limestone turbidites were dispersed northwards into the
(Evans, 1980b). The Meadfoot Group is a shallow water,
basin, which was also receiving thick volcaniclastic sedi-
mixed clastic sequence in which an earlier argillaceous facies
ment at its northern margin.
(Meadfoot Beds) has been distinguished from a more
arenaceous facies (Staddon Grits). In the former, sedimen- By late Frasnian time the reefs had ceased to grow,
tary features documented by Richter (1967) indicate a sub- though not obviously because of sudden submergence.
tidal high energy environment. Pound (1983) argues for a Locally reef tops stood in shallow water, sometimes even
storm dominated shelf; a view consistent with observations exposed, through much of the Late Devonian (Orchard,
in South Cornwall (Holder and Leveridge, 1986). 1975,1978). During this time topographic highs on the car-
The Staddon Grits form a lenticular development bonate complex generated condensed cephalopod lime-
towards the top of the sequence, which thickens westwards stones while former lagoons and back reefs accumulated
into Cornwall (Dineley, 1961). Thick sandstones charac- thin argillites carrying thick-shelled brachiopod and bivalve
teristic of the unit appear in late Siegenian time in Cornwall, faunas normally associated with situations much nearer
near the Siegenian/Emsian boundary about Plymouth shore. On the southern margin of the basin nodular lime-
(Evans, 1985), and in late Emsian time in equivalent stones were deposited within purple and green argillites
lithologies in Torquay (Evans, 1985). which bear evidence of reworking of conodont faunas from
The Staddon Grits of Plymouth are interpreted (Pound, the adjoining shelf. At the southern margin of the shelf
1983) as a fluvially dominated, low wave-energy deltaic there is some evidence for the northward onlap of Upper
deposit locally derived from fault blocks to the north. Devonian flyschoid and paralic sediments ahead of an
Although such an interpretation is likely to characterize the advancing deformation front.
whole outcrop of the Staddon Grits, contemporaneous Two major intrashelf basins have been quoted; the
elastics (Porthowan Formation), recognized in South South Devon Basin (Selwood and Thomas, 1986) and the
Cornwall mark rapid subsidence at the shelf margin and the Trevone Basin (Matthews, 1977); sediments from these are
onlap of deep water deposits from the Gramscatho Basin currently juxtaposed along the strike by wrench faulting.
(see below). The complex facies recognized have inevitably generated
In a regional setting Pound (1983) links the generation many local lithostratigraphic terms; these have been corre-
of ephemeral fault blocks at the close of the Lower Devo- lated with considerable success by rich faunas (conodonts,
nian to movements on east-west trending synsedimentary Austin et al., 1985; ammonoids, House, 1963, 1975; and
fault zones. The operation of such faults, first proposed by ostracods, Gooday, 1975, 1978). Generalized stratigraphic
Matthews (1977) have come to be recognized (e.g., Selwood relationships are presented in Figs. 8-10.
318
Figure 8. Diagram illustrating possible relationships between the Devonian rocks of North Wales and North Devon with those of South Devon.
South Devon Basin
East of Dartmoor (Figs. 6b, 7,8) the South Devon Basin
conforms closely to the facies model. The main difference
lies in the presence of an intrabasinal rise at Chudleigh
(House and Butcher, 1963) generated by a thick volcanic
pile. This came to support a succession of carbonates dis-
tinct from those of the carbonate platform to the south, and
a complete but much reduced Upper Devonian succession.
The adjoining basinal argillites vary from dark grey and
often finely laminated (Middle Devonian) to predominantly
purple, green and homogeneous (Upper Devonian). The
influence of carbonate rises is marked by Middle Devonian
limestone turbidites and Upper Devonian nodular lime-
stones on the slope rises (Selwood et al., 1984).
The carbonate facies on the platform to the south of the
basin include the limestone sequences of the Newton Abbot
Limestone Group (Selwood et al, 1984) and Torquay Lime-
stone Group (Scrutton, 1977a, b). These occur in both
parautochthonous and highly disrupted allochthonous
Bluck, et al.
CULM
BASIN
sequences. Nevertheless, Scrutton and co-workers have
evolved an interpretation which is consistent with less
deformed Devonian reef complexes elsewhere. From
mounded crinoidal limestones (e.g., Denbury Crinoidal
Limestone) deposited on outershelf argillites, the carbonate
platform deposits built up rapidly to shallow water. Reefoid
structures which fringe the platform to the north are recog-
nized in the coastal sections about Torquay. At the lowest
stratigraphic levels the Eifelian Daddyhole Limestone
(Goodger et al., 1984) includes intertidal, lagoonal and fully
marine facies which form the foundation for the biohermal
Walls Hill Limestone. The establishment of this barrier
generated back-reef conditions (Chercombe Bridge Lime-
stone) in the interior platform. Regression of the barrier in
later Givetian time, marked by shell beds (Barton Lime-
stone) capping the reef, caused bioclastic limestones (East
Ogwell Limestone) to spread northwards over the platform
interior. Local small bioherms were developed before final
submergence in late Frasnian time. Condensed nodular
limestones and thin shales complete the Upper Devonian
succession.
Devonian of England, Wales and Scotland
Within the parautochthon north of the basin only
Upper Devonian outer shelf slates are currently exposed.
These bear occasional thin, probably storm generated sand-
stones of northern derivation. Faunas are uncommon, but
thin limestones carry a restricted brachiopod fauna proba-
bly representing opportunistic elements which colonized the
sea floor from time to time.
Westwards along the strike (Fig. 8) the volcanic pile and
its associated carbonates disappear rapidly and the
sequence is fully argillaceous. Local thin sandstones devel-
oped within the Upper Devonian slates could well be the
precursors of southerly derived flysch (Cotehele Forma-
tion; Isaac et al., 1983) which flooded into the basin in
Dinantian time (Chandler and Isaac, 1982).
The carbonate platform maintained its identity in this
area, though reefoid associations carried through from the
east were almost certainly discontinuous. The limestones
about Plymouth (Taylor, 1951; Orchard, 1975; Chandler and
McCall, 1985) have been less fully investigated than those
about Torquay, but facies are evidently closely comparable.
Within the allochthon displaced across the basinal deposits
the Petherwin Limestone Formation (Stewart, 1981) was
possibly detached from the upper part of the carbonate
complex. It includes condensed Famennian cephalopod
limestones formed on topographic highs on the reef,
together with their lateral equivalent, an unusual shallow
SOUTH CORNWALL
Figure 9. Diagram illustrating the possible relationship between Devonian rocks of South Cornwall and those of North Cornwall. For details see text.
319
water limestone and argillite facies. The latter consists of
thinly bedded, shelly limestones and greenish-grey argillites
with rich macrofossils, including thick-shelled brachiopods
and bivalves typical of the inner shelf, together with cono-
dont faunas belonging to the shallow water scaphignathid
biofacies. It is believed that former lagoonal areas of the
reef supported this facies into earliest Carboniferous time,
though by mid costatus Zone time a Palmatolepis-
Bispathodus biofacies fauna indicates substantial sub-
mergence.
The northern margin of the basin, which currently
appears through windows in the allochthon in this area, is
revealed as the same Upper Devonian outer shelf facies as
that recognized to the east. At its northern limit it carries
rise carbonates (Whitelady Formation; Isaac et al, 1983).
Possibly these formed on a structural bulge linked to basin
development in the south. It was to the north of this feature
that the later Culm Basin developed.
Trevone Basin
Details of the Trevone Basin are best exposed on the
North Cornwall coast (Figs. 7,9). Three distinct successions
of mid to Late Devonian age have been recognized. From
north to south the Northern, Pentire and Trevone succes-
sions are interpreted as transitional outer shelf to fully
basinal facies. At the lowest level within the Northern Suc-
NORTH CORNWALL
Pentewan
Line
Gravel
^Caverns
'^NCong I.
V
%tes
Pentire
Pillow
&A Lavas
 320
cession the Jacket's Point Formation (Selwood and
Thomas, 1986) is dominated by thick successions of rapidly
sedimented greenish-grey mudrocks identical to those rec-
ognized on the northern shelf elsewhere. However, they are
distinguished by abundant sandy tempestites, slumps and
intraformational conglomerates. The last two demonstrate
sedimentary instability directly relating to steepening of
slopes and are often associated with volcanic rocks. A posi-
tion high on the shelf/basin margin is indicated.
The Pentire Succession (Gauss and House, 1972) shows
evidence for gross tectonic instability during its accumula-
tion. It is dominated by a thick succession of volcanic rocks,
the accumulation of which caused much soft sediment
deformation. Penecontemporaneous deformation persisted
upwards through the sequence and is particularly marked in
the Gravel Caverns Conglomerate, where pebbles indicate
considerable erosion of shallow water source rocks. The
facies of the Pentire Succession were developed lower on the
shelf/basin slope than the Northern Succession.
The Trevone Succession (Gauss and House, 1972) is
fully basinal. In the Middle Devonian a thick sequence of
dark grey slates with silty laminae has been interpreted
(Beese, 1982) as a facies representing inner-, outer- and off
turbidite fan environments in an outer basin. In early Fras-
nian time deposition was interrupted by limestone turbidites
(Marble Cliff Limestone) with a southwest provenance
(Tucker, 1969). By late Frasnian time purple and green slates
(Polzeath Slates, Beese, 1984) which include finely lami-
nated distal turbidites and rare sandy tempestites had
appeared. Such slates are represented at the top of all suc-
cessions in the Trevone Basin.
Except for the limestone turbidites in the basin there is
no evidence for the presence of a carbonate platform on the
shelf flanking the basin to the south. Rather, the outer shelf
argillite deposition appears to have persisted into the Lower
Carboniferous. These beds, now occurring in the Tredorne
Nappe (Selwood and Thomas, 1986), were apparently
stripped from the shelf, leaving behind only older parts of
the succession in the parautochthon (Holder and Leveridge,
1986). The provenance of these outer shelf argillites is prob-
lematical; a northern source would imply that the Trevone
Basin was not so continuously developed as to starve this
part of the shelf of sediment. A southerly source is, how-
ever, much more likely, as paralic facies (Boscastle Nappe;
Selwood et al., 1985) of Famennian to earliest Namurian age
were developed to the south. These beds are syntectonic; the
northward progress of the Carrick Nappe (Holder and
Leveridge, 1986) could have produced source uplands with
sand escaping across a locally filled foredeep onto the
southern margin of the shelf (Figs. 9,10).
3. Lower(?)-Upper Devonian Ocean Basin Development
Gramscatho Basin
The evolution of South Cornwall has recently been
reviewed by Holder and Leveridge (1986), who note the
Bluck, et al.
controversy centred on the interpretation of the melange
that forms the northern boundary of the Lizard Complex
and Dodman phyllites. The view that the Lower Devonian
sequences disconformably overlie on Ordovician succession
(e.g., Sadler 1973) has given way to a wildflysch interpreta-
tion, involving thick basinal deposits that now appear in
allochthonous and parautochthonous successions.
Within the Carrick Nappe (Fig. 9) interbedded sand-
stone turbidites and dark grey slates of the Gramscatho
Group indicate deep sea fan environments. An upward
progradation from outer- through mid-fan (Portscatho
Formation) to inner-fan regimes (Carne Formation) was
interrupted by some 500 m of hemipelagic sediments (Pen-
dower Formation) including radiolarian cherts, turbidite
limestones and locally manganiferous slates. The infre-
quent appearance of sandstones at this level suggests that
the basin was temporarily shielded from the uplifted sedi-
ment source that contributed overall thicknesses in excess of
6.7 km to the basin.
Tectonic instability, indicated by slumping and sliding
in the uppermost Gramscatho G r o u p , gained full
expression in the Roseland Breccia Formation. Some 1.5 km
of wildflysch is developed, including extrabasinal olistoliths
of shelf sediments of Lower Devonian, Silurian and
Ordovician age, together with metamorphic and igneous
rocks comparable to those found in the Brioverian and
Paleozoic sequences of Armorica.
Throughout the succession paleontological data is
sparce and its interpretation as olistostromic and turbiditic
sequences hazardous. In dating basin deformation as Fam-
ennian, Holder and Leveridge (1986) argue for a Frasnian
age for the Roseland Breccia Formation; however, Frasnian
palynomorphs from the Portscatho Formation (Gall et al.,
1985) would suggest (if the succession is correct) a younger
date. Though Lower Devonian is suspected, there is no
positive evidence that basin-fill deposits range lower than
the middle Eifelian.
The end of basin extension is probably signalled by the
onlap in mid-Devonian time of the basinal Gramscatho
Group (Porthowan Formation) and later by the Mylor Slate
Formation (Figs. 9,10), over the bounding outer shelf (par-
autochthonous Dartmouth Slate Formation and Meadfoot
Group) lying to the north. Wildflysch developed at the top
of the Mylor Slate Formation is not older than Famennian
(Turner*?/ al., 1979).
4. Tectonic Setting
The nature of the overall tectonic setting of the Variscan
rocks of Southwest Britain is disputed; this uncertainty
reflects current thinking on the foldbelt as a whole. Argu-
ments have centred on the origin of the Gramscatho Basin.
Holder and Leveridge (1986) favor classical subduction with
a south dipping subduction zone located in the English
Channel. They suggest that closure of a major branch of the
Rhenohercynian Ocean was effected in Upper Devonian
time and that this was accompanied by large scale piggy-
Devonian of England, Wales and Scotland 321

A. GENERALISED FACIES RELATIONSHIPS

N

B. EAST OF DARTMOOR
Early Namurian

C. DARTMOOR TO BODMIN MOOR

South Devon Basin

PARALIC RISE BASIN

v Shallow water Argillites Lagoonal Black Shale
o
& Sst.
O C
Fluviatile & Intertidal * 1
Cephalopod Limestone Chert
OUTE:R SHELF SHELF-BASIN
SHELF TRANSITION Purple & Green Shale
Argillites Undivided Flysch

1 Carbonates
V V
Volcanics RISE-SLOPE

ft?*^ Limestone T u r b i d i t e s
Nodular Limestone & Argillites

Figure 10. Schematic diagrams showing generalized facies relationships and development in three N-S sections prior to the first Variscan
deformation in Southwest England. Vertical and horizontal sections are not true scale. UC Upper Carboniferous; LC Lower Carboniferous; UD
Upper Devonian; MD Middle Devonian; LD Lower Devonian. The approximate settings of selected lithostratigraphic units are indicated: 1 ,
Dartmouth Slate and Meadfoot Group; 2, Nordon Slate; 3, Kingsteignton Volcanic group; 4, Newton Abbot Limestone Group; 5, Torquay Limestone
Group; 6, Chercombe Bridge Limestone & East Ogwell Limestone; 7, Luxton Nodular group; 6, Chercombe Bridge Limestone and East Ogwell
Limestone; 7, Luxton Nodular group; 8, Gurrington Slate; 9, Kate Brook Slate; 10, Plymouth Limestone Group; 11, Petehrwin Limestone; 12, Milton
Abbot Volcanic Group; 13, Brendon Formation; Cotehele Sandstone; 15, Trevose Slate; 16, Pentire pillow lavas and slates, Gravel Caverns
Conglomerate, Jacket's Point Formation; 17, Polzeath Slate; 18, Tredorn Slate; 19, Boscastle Formation; 20, Gramscatho Group Meadfoot Slate.
322
back overthrusting of southerly derived flysch across the
northern continental margin.
Barnes and Andrews (1986), on the other hand, believe
that the Gramscatho Basin opened as a local pull-apart
structure in a dextral transform system which developed
during the Devonian closure of the Massif Central Ocean.
They argue that final closure of this ocean, at the end of the
Devonian, generated crustal compression in the Rhenoher-
cynian zone which led to the start of northward thrusting
movements in Early Carboniferous time. This view is not
inconsistent with the extensional back arc setting of Ziegler
(1984) for the northern Variscides.
In both interpretations for South Cornwall the Gram-
scatho Basin is interpreted as fully oceanic, and the Lizard
Complex as an obducted slice of oceanic crust. Conceivably
the Gramscatho Basin differs only in scale from the smaller
intershelf basins described in this paper. In these too, dex-
tral shear is now being quoted (Pound, 1983; Tunbridge,
1986) as a significant component in formation. Chandler
and Isaac (1982) have also indicated that crustal thinning
may also have allowed the brief development of oceanic
crust.
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