The Peak Trough – a major control on the geology of the North Yorkshire coast

Although the Mesozoic sediments of the Cleveland Basin (North Yorkshire) have generally not been strongly faulted, several approximately N–S trending faults have been identified along the coast. New seismic data from adjacent coastal waters has allowed the offshore extension to the fault system to be examined for the first time. The coastal faults from Peak (Ravenscar) to Red Cliff (Cayton Bay) are shown to form part of a linked system defining a narrow graben only some 5 km wide, the Peak Trough. Faulting has been complex, with decollement levels apparently developed in weak layers at various horizons in the Triassic and Permian strata: fault geometries and regional considerations suggest that extension has been dominant. Movement occurred intermittently from Triassic to latest Cretaceous or early Tertiary times.