An investigation of the sediment dispersal operating to control lithofacies variability and organic carbon preservation in an ancient mud-dominated succession: a case study of the Lower Jurassic mudstone dominated succession exposed in the Cleveland Basin (North Yorkshire)

Abstract

AbstractIn this study the Cleveland Ironstone and Whitby Mudstone Formations have beeninvestigated to characterise: a) the evolving mudstone facies present in a basin that isgradually deepening and developing bottom water anoxia over time and b) what thefundamental geological controls were on this variability.Using detailed facies descriptions obtained from analyses of approximately 151 samplesobtained from combined optical, electron optical and geochemical methods 6 lithofacieshave been identified. These include: 1) sand and clay-bearing, silt-rich mudstones, 2) siltbearing,clay-rich mudstones, 3) clay-rich mudstones, 4) clay, calcareous nannoplankton-,and organic carbon-bearing mudstones, 5) fine-grained muddy sandstones, and 6) cementrichmudstones. Individually, the samples are highly heterogeneous and typically organisedinto thin beds (

Date of Award	31 Dec 2011
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Colin Hughes (Supervisor) & James Macquaker (Supervisor)