The Carboniferous Rocks of the Edale Anticline, Derbyshire

Summary The Edale Shales, which both outcrop in Edale and were passed through in the upper 325 feet of a boring in that valley, consist of 150 feet of beds of Reticuloceras reticulatum (R 1 ) age, 100 feet of Homoceras (H) age, 220 feet of Eumorphoceras Bisulcatum (E 2 ) age, and 406 feet of E. pseucdobilingue (E 1 ) age. The faunas of the zones and subzones are described and comparison is made with those of Alport Dale to the north and Mam Tor and the Hope boring to the south near Castleton. It is shown that the upper beds (upper E 2 , H, R 1 ) in general retain their thickness southwards from Alport to Castleton, where they rest on the Carboniferous Limestone, thus overlapping the lower beds (E 1 and lower E 2 ). It is suggested that the greater part of this overlap takes place immediately north of the limestone massif. In a boring in the Edale Anticline the beds from 325 to 757 feet, the final depth of the boring, were of Upper Viséan age. Goniatites of the genera Neoglyphioceras and Goniatites occurred in the upper beds, and the zonal scheme based on goniatites was therefore used for the division of the upper part of the succession. Since most of the other fossils were brachiopods, corals being extremely rare, the allocation of the beds to the Dibunophyllum zones, D 1 , D 2 and D 3 , was made in part by comparison of the lithologicaI succession with those of other areas with more definite zonal faunas. The lithological succession and the zonal division adopted were aa follows :—