The Lower Lias of Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire, and the work of Leslie Bairstow

Abstract

Introduction 82 Leslie Bairstow 82 Biography 82 Bairstow's unpublished work 84 Geological maps 84 Geological structure of Robin Hood's Bay 93 Stratigraphical succession 93 Bed numbers 95 Detailed succession in Robin Hood's Bay 96 Lithostratigraphy 111 Staithes Sandstone Formation 111 Redcar Mudstone Formation 111 Exposures in Robin Hood's Bay now 114 Correlation with previous descriptions 114 Bairstow's ammonite collection 115 Systematic description of the ammonites and nautiloids 118 Family Juraphyllitidae 118 Family Lytoceratidae 118 Family Psiloceratidae 119 Family Schlotheimidae 119 Family Arietitidae 119 Subfamily Arietitinae 119 Subfamily Agassiceratinae 123 Subfamily Asteroceratinae 123 Family Echioceratidae 125 Family Oxynoticeratidae 129 Family Cymbitidae 132 Family Eoderoceratidae 132 Family Coeloceratidae 136 Family Phricodoceratidae 137 Family Polymorphitidae 137 Family Liparoceratidae 141 Family Nautilidae 144 Biostratigraphy 144 Acknowledgements 150 References 150 Rocks of Lower Liassic (Sinemurian and Lower Pliensbachian) age exposed in Robin Hood's Bay, near Whitby, north Yorkshire, are described from the mapping, stratigraphical descriptions and ammonite collections made by Mr Leslie Bairstow in the years 1927–1970, and preserved in the Palaeontology Department, The Natural History Museum, London. His large-scale map of the geology of the foreshore is published on five sheets at a scale of approximately 1:5000. The stratigraphical sequence from bed 418 at the base up to bed 600.5 at the top of the Lower Pliensbachian is 163.74 m thick, and consists of the Redcar Mudstone Formation, for which four members are formally defined – the Calcareous Shale (at the base), Siliceous Shale, Pyritous Shale and Ironstone Shale Members – overlain by the lower part of the Staithes Sandstone Formation. The lowest beds exposed by the lowest spring tides are Sauzeanum Subzone, Semicostatum Zone, in age; ammonites occur in all subzones, and the only uncertain boundary is that between the Masseanum and Valdani Subzones (Ibex Zone), where there are few characteristic ammonites. Bairstow's ammonite collection consists of more than 2360 specimens, all from recorded horizons, and is notably rich in Promicroceras , Asteroceras , Eparietites and Oxynoticeras from the Obtusum and Oxynotum Zones, Echioceratids, Eoderoceras and Apoderoceras from the Oxynotum, Raricostatum and Jamesoni Zones, and Liparoceratids from the Davoei Zone, making it a primary source for Sinemurian and Lower Pliensbachian ammonite biostratigraphy. The recently proposed selection of Wine Haven at the south-eastern end of the bay as the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Pliensbachian Stage (ie. the world standard definition), is supported by the sequence of ammonites across the Sinemurian/Pliensbachian boundary. All previously figured ammonites from Robin Hood's Bay are listed in a systematic section that includes the evidence on which the ammonite identifications in the paper are based, and 56 of the best preserved ammonites are figured. Eparietites bairstowi sp. nov. is proposed for an early species of Eparietites and a Sowerby Collection ammonite from the Aplanatum Subzone, Raricostatum Zone, in the bay, is designated neotype of Eoderoceras armatum (J. Sowerby).