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Caithness Flagstone Group

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Type
  
Primary
  
Thickness
  
over 2000 m

Country
  
Named for
  
Underlies
  
Caithness Flagstone Group

Sub-units
  
Upper Stromness Flagstone Formation, Lower Stromness Flagstone Formation

Regions
  

The Caithness Flagstone Group is a Devonian lithostratigraphic group (a sequence of rock strata) in northern Scotland. The name is derived from the traditional county of Caithness where the strata are well exposed, especially in coastal cliffs.

Contents

Outcrops

These rocks are exposed, along the Moray Firth and along the eastern side of Sutherland and throughout Caithness, across Orkney and, to a rather lesser extent, in Shetland.

Lithology and stratigraphy

The Group comprises the Upper Stromness Flagstone Formation and the Lower Stromness Flagstone Formation laid down in the lacustrine Orcadian Basin during the Eifelian Stage of the Devonian Period.

It contains numerous rhythmnic sequences of mudstone, limestone, siltstone and sandstone of which there are 25 and 38 in the constituent lower and upper formations respectively. A conglomerate occurs at the base of the lower formation. A notable element is the Sandwick Fish Bed which defines the junction of the two formations and from which a diverse range of fish fossils have been recovered.

References

Caithness Flagstone Group Wikipedia


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