Rates of Sedimentation in the Upper Carboniferous of Britain

Rate of sedimentation of the Gastrioceras cancellatum marine band (Namurian) is deduced from evidence of shell size, population density, and features of the enclosing sediment. Slowest sedimentation apparently coincided with stagnant water conditions. But in a non‐marine succession (Coal Measures) containing trees fossilised upright and rooted in position of growth, the rate of sedimentation (on the evidence of sediments and fossils) is found to be unrelated to degree of water turbulence (sediments and geochemistry). The upright trees were apparently overwhelmed rapidly by sediments deposited from a succession of floods characterised by a wide range of water turbulence.