The Cove Marine Bands in East Lothian and their Relation to the Ironstone Shale and Limestone of Redesdale, Northumberland

Abstract

Study of the fauna from a newly discovered fossiliferous outcrop of the Cove Lower Marine Band in Thornton Burn, East Lothian, has led to the correlation of this horizon with the Redesdale Ironstone in Northumberland and has thereby demonstrated the first palaeontological link between the Upper Calciferous Sandstone v in S.E. Scotland and the Lower Limestone Group in N.E. England. The collection of D x fauna made from the Thornton Burn outcrop includes goniatites, brachiopods, lamellibranchs, and crinoids. The discovery of Beyrichoceratoides redesdalensis (Hind) gives the first definite indication of the presence of B zone in the Scottish Carboniferous. Faunal lists and descriptions of some of the more interesting species are included in this paper as well as descriptions of the crinoids collected which are given in the succeeding paper by James Wright. I.

Lithostratigraphy of the Dinantian Inverclyde and Strathclyde Groups, Cockburnspath Outlier, East Lothian – North Berwickshire

“…These Macgregor Marine Bands can be correlated over much of Lothian and Fife, documenting the first major marine incursion in the Scottish Lower Carboniferous (Wilson 1989). An Asbian (B) age is indicated by the presence of Beyrichoceratoides redesdalensis (Wilson 1952).…”

“…The marine bands in the lower unit are exposed in a number of places around Thornton village [NT 738 734]. H. H. Wilson (1952) considered all of these localities to correlate with the Cove Lower Marine Band, although R. B. Wilson (1974) suggested that both of the Cove Bands might be present.…”

“…Wilson (1974) suggested that both of the Cove Bands might be present. The Linkhead Limestone which crops out on the shore about 2 km north of Cove [NT 7585 7355] is thought to be the equivalent of the Cove Upper Marine Band (Clough et al 1910;Wilson 1952;Neves et al 1973). The middle unit of the member (the Cove Harbour Sandstone) is not clearly exposed elsewhere in the outlier, although Clough et al (1910) suggest that it might be present in the Dunglass Burn.…”

IV. Cyrtoctenus gen. nov., a large late Palaeozoic Arthropod with pectinate Appendages

“…The provenance is too incomplete to be sure from which bed in the Carboniferous succession east of Cove, East Lothian, the specimen was obtained, but it probably came from below the outcrop of the Scremerston Coals (see Clough et al 1910, p. 44) since in a later paper Salter (1866, p. 73) says that the specimen came from "a bed below the coal beds of Cockburnspath Cove". A good Dj fauna, including goniatites, was obtained from the Cove Lower Marine Band (H. H. Wilson 1952) which Wilson correlated with the Dun Limestone of Berwick and the Redesdale Ironstone. Beds below the Scremerston Coals must therefore probably lie in S 2 and fall within the lower middle Visean.…”

Palaeoclimatic significance of calcretes in the Dinantian of the Cockburnspath Outlier (East Lothian–North Berwickshire)

“…More important, it is also the last indication of semi-arid conditions for some 185m of compacted rock section (Kip Carle Member -upper part of the Cove Harbour Member; Andrews and Nabi 1994), probably representing most of the Asbian stage. Palaeosols in Asbian aged rocks above and below the Asbian B Cove Marine Bands (Wilson 1952;Fig. 9) are represented by sideritic mudstones, seatearths and coals, all indicating warm humid and waterlogged conditions.…”