Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-2rsb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-13T08:43:21.825Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Facies variations in the Devonian limestones of eastern South Devon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Colin T. Scrutton
Colin T. Scrutton
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, The University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The Middle and Upper Devonian limestone successions at Torquay and in the Lemon Valley SW of Newton Abbot are described. Lithostratigraphic units are proposed for the Torquay succession. The compositions of the coral faunas in both successions are outlined and contribute, together with the other available faunal evidence, towards a broad internal dating of these limestone sequences. Successions elsewhere in the limestones of eastern South Devon are briefly outlined. On the basis of this evidence facies variations from the margin towards the centre of the carbonate platform in eastern South Devon are demonstrated and interpreted as reflecting the development of barrier reefs along parts at least of the platform margin in Givetian times. The character of the reef-complex, named the Tor Bay Reef-Complex, is briefly compared with Devonian reefs elsewhere.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 114 , Issue 3 , May 1977, pp. 165 - 193
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Anniss, L. G. 1927. The geology of the Saltern Cove area, Tor Bay. Q. Jl geol. Soc. Lond. 83, 492–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braithwaite, C. J. R. 1966. The petrology of Middle Devonian Limestones in South Devon, England. J. sedim. Petrol. 36, 176–92.Google Scholar
Braithwaite, C. J. R. 1967. Carbonate environments in the Middle Devonian of South Devon, England. Sedim. Geol. 1, 283–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braithwaite, C. J. R. 1973. Reefs: just a problem of semantics? Bull. Am. Ass. Petrol. Geol. 57, 1100–16.Google Scholar
Champernowne, A. 1879. Notes on some Devonian Stromatoporidae from Dartington, near Totnes. Q. Jl geol. Soc. Lond. 35, 67–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Champernowne, A. 1889. On the Ashprington Volcanic Series of South Devon. Q. Jl geol. Soc. Lond. 45, 369–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dearman, W. R. 1964. Wrench-faulting in Cornwall and South Devon. Proc. Geol. Ass. 74, 265–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dineley, D. L. 1961. The Devonian System in South Devonshire. Fld Stud. 1, 121–40.Google Scholar
Dumestre, A. & Illing, L. V. 1968. Middle Devonian reefs in Spanish Sahara. In International Symposium on the Devonian System, vol. 2 (ed. Oswald, D. H.), pp. 333–50. Calgary.Google Scholar
Elliott, G. F. 1961. A new British Devonian alga, Palaeoporella lummatonensis, and the brachiopod evidence of the age of the Lummaton Shell-Bed. Proc. Geol. Ass. 72, 251–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heckel, P. H. 1974. Carbonate buildups in the geologic record: a review. In Reefs in Time and Space (ed. Laporte, L. F.), pp. 90–154. Tulsa.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
House, M. R. 1963. Devonian ammonoid successions and facies in Devon and Cornwall. Q. Jl geol. Soc. Lond. 119, 1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
House, M R. 1964. A new goniatite locality at Babbacombe and its problems. Proc. Ussher Soc. 1, 125–6.Google Scholar
House, M. R. 1971. Devonian faunal distributions. In Faunal Provinces in Space and Time (ed. Middlemiss, F. A., Rawson, P. F. and Newall, G.), pp. 77–94. Liverpool.Google Scholar
House, M. R. & Butcher, N. E. 1973. Excavations in the Upper Devonian and Carboniferous rocks near Chudleigh, South Devon. Trans. R. geol. Soc. Corn. 20, 199–220.Google Scholar
House, M. R. & Selwood, E. B. 1966. Palaeozoic palaeontology in Devon and Cornwall. In Present views of Some Aspects of the Geology of Cornwall and Devon (ed. Hosking, K. F. G. and Shrimpton, G. J.), pp. 45–86. Penzance.Google Scholar
Jukes-Browne, A. J. 1906. The Devonian limestones of Lummaton Hill, near Torquay. Proc. Geol. Ass. 19, 291–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jukes-Browne, A. J. 1913. The Devonian limestones of Dartington, and their equivalents at Torquay. Proc. Geol. Ass. 24, 14–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klovan, J. E. 1964. Facies analysis of the Redwater reef complex, Alberta, Canada. Bull. Can. Petrol. Geol. 12, 1–100.Google Scholar
Krebs, W. 1974. Devonian carbonate complexes of Central Europe. In Reefs in Time and Space (ed. Laporte, L. F.), pp. 155–208. Tulsa.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lecompte, M. 1956. Quelques précisions sur le phénomène récifal dans le Dévonien de l'Ardenne et sur le rhythme sédimentaire dans lequel il s'intègre. Bull. Inst. r. Sci. nat. Belg. 32, 21, 1–39.Google Scholar
Lecompte, M. 1962. Faciès marins et stratigraphie dans le Dévonien de l'Ardenne. Annls Soc. géol. Belg. 85, 17–57.Google Scholar
Lecompte, M. 1970. Die Riffe im Devon der Ardennen und ihre Bildungsbedingungen. Geologica et Palaeontologica 4, 25–70.Google Scholar
Lloyd, W. 1933. The geology of the country around Torquay (2nd edn). Mem. geol. Surv. Engld & Wales, x+169 pp. London.Google Scholar
Matthews, S. C. 1970. Conodonts from the Lummaton Shell Bed (Middle Devonian, Torquay). Proc. Ussher Soc. 2, 170–2.Google Scholar
Middleton, G. V. 1954. The Middle and Upper Devonian of selected areas of South Devon. xx+299 pp. Ph.D. Thesis, Imperial College, London.Google Scholar
Middleton, G. V. 1959. Devonian tetracorals from south Devonshire, England. J. Paleont. 33, 138–60.Google Scholar
Middleton, G. V. 1960. Spilitic rocks in south-east Devonshire. Geol. Mag. 97, 192–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Playford, P. E. 1968. Devonian reef complexes in the northern Canning Basin, Western Australia. In International Symposium on the Devonian System, vol. 2 (ed. Oswald, D. H.), pp. 351–64. Calgary.Google Scholar
Playford, P. E. 1969. Devonian carbonate complexes of Alberta and Western Australia: a comparative study Rep. geol. Surv. West. Aust. 1, 1–43.Google Scholar
Playford, P. E. & Lowry, D. C. 1966. Devonian reef complexes of the Canning Basin, Western Australia. Bull. geol. Surv. West. Aust. 118, 1–150.Google Scholar
Richter, M. D. 1965. Stratigraphy, igneous rocks and structural development of the Torquay area. Rep. Trans. Devon. Ass. Advmt Sci. 97, 57–70.Google Scholar
Riddolls, B. W. 1970, Devonian and Carboniferous geology south and west of Newton Abbot, Devon. x+226 pp. Ph.D. Thesis, Exeter.Google Scholar
Sanderson, D. J. & Dearman, W. R. 1973. Structural zones of the Variscan fold belt in SW England, their location and development. J. geol. Soc. Lond. 129, 527–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scrutton, C. T. 1965. The ages of some coral faunas in the Torquay area. Proc. Ussher Soc. 1, 186–8.Google Scholar
Scrutton, C. T. 1967. Marisastridae (Rugosa) from south-east Devonshire, England. Palaeontology 10, 266–79.Google Scholar
Scrutton, C. T. 1968. Colonial Phillipsastraeidae from the Devonian of south-east Devon, England. Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Geol.) 15, 181–281.Google Scholar
Scrutton, C. T. 1969. Corals and stromatoporoids from the Chudleigh Limestone. Proc. Ussher Soc. 2, 102–6.Google Scholar
Scrutton, C. T. 1975. Preliminary observations on the distribution of Devonian rugose coral faunas in south-west England. In Drevnie Cnidaria, vol. 2 (ed. Sokolov, B. S.), pp. 131–40. Novosibirsk.Google Scholar
Scrutton, C. T. 1977. Reef facies in the Devonian of eastern South Devon, England. Mem. Bur. Rech. géol. minier, 89, 125–35.Google Scholar
Selwood, E. B. 1965. Dechenellid trilobites from the British Middle Devonian. Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Geol.), 10, 317–33.Google Scholar
Selwood, E. B. 1966. Thysanopeltidae (Trilobita) from the British Devonian. Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Geol.), 13, 191–220.Google Scholar
Smythe, D. K. 1973. Structure of the Devonian limestone at Brixham. Proc. Ussher Soc. 2, 617–25.Google Scholar
Taylor, P. W. 1951. The Plymouth Limestone. Trans. R. geol. Soc. Corn. 18, 146–214.Google Scholar
Tsien, H. H. 1971. The Middle and Upper Devonian reef-complexes of Belgium. Petrol. geol. Taiwan 8, 119–73.Google Scholar
Tsien, H. H. 1974. Palaeoecology of Middle Devonian and Frasnian in Belgium. In International Symposium on Belgian Micropalaeontological Limits, Publ. 12 (ed. Bouckaert, J. and Streel, M.), 53 pp. Brussels.Google Scholar
Ussher, W. A. E. 1890. The Devonian rocks of South Devon. Q. Jl geol. Soc. Lond. 46, 487–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ussher, W. A. E. 1903. The geology of the country around Torquay. Mem. geol. Surv. Engld & Wales, iv+142pp. London.Google Scholar
Ussher, W. A. E. 1913. The geology of the country around Newton Abbot. Mem. geol. Surv. Engld & Wales, iv+149 pp. London.Google Scholar
van Straaten, P. & Tucker, M. E. 1972. The Upper Devonian Saltern Cove Goniatite Bed is an intraformational slump. Palaeontology 15, 430–8.Google Scholar
Webby, B. D. 1966. Middle-Upper Devonian palaeogeography of North Devon and West Somerset, England. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimat. Palaeoecol. 2, 27–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whidborne, G. F. 1888–1907. A monograph of the Devonian fauna of the south of England, part 1, 1–344; part 2, 1–222; part 3, 1–247. Palaeontogr. Soc. (Monogr.), London.Google Scholar
Worth, R. N. & Champernowne, A. 1884. Excursion to South Devon. Proc. geol. Ass. 8, 458–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wray, J. L. 1968. Upper Devonian algae from Western Australia. In International Symposium on the Devonian System, vol. 2 (ed. Oswald, D. H.), pp. 849–54. Calgary.Google Scholar
Wray, J. L. 1970. Upper Devonian calcareous algae: a comparison of floras from Alberta and Western Australia (Abs). Progr. a. Mtgs Geol. Soc. Am. 1970, 726.Google Scholar
Wray, J. L. & Playford, P. E. 1970. Some occurrences of Devonian reef-building algae in Alberta. Bull. Can. Petrol. Geol. 18, 544–55.Google Scholar