XVIII.— Post-glacial sediments at Girvan, Ayrshire

Introduction The Post-glacial deposits of the Girvan neighbourhood form the low ground of the Firth of Clyde seaboard between Gallow Hill, one mile north of Girvan, and Ardwell, three miles south of the town, together with the flat expanse of ground at about 25 feet O.D. flanking the Water of Girvan between Enoch and Girvan railway station. The extent of the deposits mapped is substantially the same as that shown as the 25-foot raised beach deposits in the most recently published Geological Survey One-Inch map (Sheet 7, 1926), though there are slight differences in detail. In the Girvan area Post-glacial deposits were first mapped by the Geological Survey in 1867, and brief reference to their nature and extent was made in the accompanying Explanation of Sheet 7 (A. Geikie and J. Geikie, 1869, p. 15). A few years later, Forsyth (1883) examined what he called a “post-Tertiary clay” at Dipple, three miles north of Girvan, and a layer of “stratified post-glacial clay” on the north side of Girvan harbour. There is no record of further investigation since then. The present inquiry is the outcome of a routine soil survey of One-Inch Sheets 7 and 8 commenced in 1958 and carried out in conjunction with Mr. A. D. Walker of the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Aberdeen. In the course of the survey it became apparent that, although the top three feet or so of sediments north-west of Enoch (Fig. 1, localities 8-19) are of sand and thus resemble the This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract The author wishes to thank Professor T. Neville George for reading the manuscript and making valuable suggestions, Dr. W. W. Bishop for assistance in the field and discussion of the results, Dr. R. H. Cummings for information regarding the Foraminifera and Ostracoda, Mr. G. R. Coope for identifying the beetle remains, Mr. C. J. Brown and others from the Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen, for assistance in instrumental levelling. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the University Court of the University of Glasgow for grants towards defrayment of field expenses.