Ulster White Limestone Group Explained

Ulster White Limestone Group
Type:Group
Period:Maastrichtian
Prilithology:limestones
Otherlithology:flint, marl, conglomerates
Region:Northern Ireland
Country:United Kingdom
Subunits:Post Larry Bane Chalk Subgroup, Pre-Larry Bane Chalk Subgroup
Underlies:Palaeogene basalts / Quaternary deposits
Overlies:Hibernian Greensands Group
Thickness:Highly variable dependent on the basin, up to 120 m in composite
Extent:throughout Northern Ireland

The Ulster White Limestone Group is a late Cretaceous lithostratigraphic group (a sequence of rock strata) in Northern Ireland. The name is derived from the characteristic chalk rock which occurs particularly along the Antrim coast. The strata are exposed on or near to both the northern and eastern coasts of Antrim and also between Portrush and Dungiven within County Londonderry. Further outcrops occur between Belfast and Lurgan and between Dungannon and Magherafelt. The current names replace an earlier situation where the present group was considered to be a formation and each of the present formations was considered a 'member'. Several other stratigraphic naming schemes were in use during the nineteenth century and much of the twentieth century.[1] This group and the underlying Hibernian Greensands Group are the stratigraphical equivalent of the Chalk Group of southern and eastern England.

Stratigraphy

There is an unconformity (non-sequence) at the base of the Boheeshane Chalk Formation.

Notes and References

  1. Hopson, P.M., 2005 A Stratigraphical Framework for the Upper Cretaceous Chalk of England and Scotland with Statements on the Chalk of Northern Ireland and the UK Offshore Sector, British Geological Survey Research Report RR/05/01 (downloaded from www.bgs.ac.uk)