The lower part of the post-Variscan succession around Exeter, south Devon, England, comprises some 800 m of breccias, with subordinate sandstones and mudstones, which rest upon Devonian and Carboniferous rocks folded during the Variscan Orogeny and are overlain, disconformably, by the Aylesbeare Mudstone Group (Early Triassic?). These deposits comprise the most westerly of the early post-Variscan successions preserved onshore in northwest Europe and lie to the south of the Variscan Deformation Front; they are assigned to the Exeter Group (new term). Geochronological and palaeontological studies, in conjunction with detailed geological mapping, show that the constituent formations comprise a lower (Late Carboniferous(?)-Early Permian) sequence separated from an upper (Late Permian) sequence by an unconformity which represents an hiatus with a duration of at least 20 m.y. The lower sequence contains volcanic rocks dated at between 291 and 282 Ma (Early Permian) and pre-dates intrusion of the nearby Dartmoor Granite (280 Ma). In the overlying, palynologically-dated, Late Permian sequence, older breccias contain clasts of the Dartmoor Granite aureole rocks, and younger ones contain clasts of that granite. The lower sequence occurs mainly within the Crediton Trough, an east-west trending, partly fault-bounded, sedimentary basin that probably formed by extensional reactivation of a Variscan thrust. Breccias in this sequence formed largely on alluvial fans; the common occurrence of debris flows and a down-fan passage from gravity flows into fluvially deposited sediments is typical of deposition on semi-arid fans. The upper (Late Permian) sequence is more widespread but includes similar deposits overlain, at the top of the Exeter Group, by aeolian dune and interdune deposits. Correlation within the laterally variable facies associations which comprise these sequences has been achieved using a combination of sedimentary facies analysis, sedimentary geochemistry, and petrographical and geochemical clast typing. The stratigraphy revealed within the Exeter Group is broadly comparable with that recognized in the early post-Variscan Rotliegend successions elsewhere in Europe. This similarity may, however, be deceptive; the upper part of the Exeter Group may be coeval with the Zechstein, and apparently correlatable major unconformities in the group and the Rotliegend may reflect different events in the Variscan fold-belt and Variscan Foreland areas, respectively.

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The chronology of Permian strata in SW England is fragmentary and largely based on radiometric dating of associated volcanic units. Magnetostratigraphy from the c. 2 km of sediments in the Exeter and Aylesbeare Mudstone groups was undertaken to define a detailed chronology, using the end of the Kiaman Superchron and the overlying reverse and normal polarity in the Middle and Upper Permian as age constraints. The palaeomagnetic directions are consistent with other European Permian palaeopoles, with data passing fold and reversal tests. The end of the Kiaman Superchron (in the Wordian) occurs in the uppermost part of the Exeter Group. The overlying Aylesbeare Mudstone Group is early Capitanian to latest Wuchiapingian in age. The Changhsingian and most of the Lower Triassic sequence is absent. Magnetostratigraphic comparison with the Southern Permian Basin shows that the Exeter and Aylesbeare Mudstone groups are closely comparable in age with the Havel and Elbe Subgroups of the Rotliegend II succession. The Altmark unconformities in these successions appear similar in age to the sequence boundaries in SW England, indicating that both may be climate controlled. Clasts in the Exeter Group, from unroofing of the Dartmoor Granite, first occurred at a minimum of c. 8 myr after formation of the granite. Supplementary material: Additional sampling, magnetic fabric and palaeomagnetic data are available at http://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3283400

The Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds (BSPD) are a 20-30 m thick formation of conglomerates and subordinate sandstones which crop out along the western margin of the Wessex Basin. The formation has previously been interpreted as representing a major conduit for southerly-derived (Armorican) detritus and as signalling the start of early Triassic rifting. In this paper the role of the BSPB in the evolution of the Wessex Basin is reassessed.In the south of the outcrop, the lower portions of the BSPB are dominated by extensive (> 50m) sheets or narrow lenses of planar cross-bedded conglomerate (sets 1-3m thick). This reflects deposition from linguoid-shaped bars whose downstream margins were bounded by slipfaces. These accreted at anabranch confluences and as bank-attached bars in relatively confined and channelized gravel-bed streams. Most of the rest of the BSPB consists of couplets of horizontally-bedded conglomerate overlain by large-scale trough cross-bedded sandstone. This style of accretion represents deposition from relatively low-relief gravel bars and large sand dunes in substantial but poorly confined channels. Towards the top of the BSPB in the central parts of the outcrop, there is a change to thinner-bedded units with more lenticular and ribbon-like geometries. This represents deposition in smaller and more flashy streams.The BSPB was deposited either on a braidplain or by an antecedent 'wet' alluvial fan. In both settings, the BSPB streams were exotic, draining basins to the south of the Wessex Basin. This implies that the BSPB did not necessarily develop in response to differential subsidence and rifting within the Wessex Basin.