Deposition, Diagenesis and Structures of the Cheese Bay Shrimp Bed, Lower Carboniferous, East Lothian

Synopsis The laminated dolomites and mudstones in the Lower Carboniferous succession containing the Cheese Bay Shrimp Bed are interpreted as the deposits of a thermally stratified freshwater lake or brackish lagoon in which clastic/organic laminites accumulated. Drainage systems in the area were probably disrupted by volcanic activity, and seismic activity strongly affected the semi-consolidated sediments to produce a variety of pull-apart, fold, fault and sediment injection structures. During diagenesis intense dolomitisation of the laminites and associated sediments took place.