Other Kimmeridge Field Guides

|Kimmeridge Bay and Introduction to Kimmeridge Clay
Kimmeridge Clay Fossils
Kimmeridge - West of Kimmeridge Bay to Gad Cliff
Kimmeridge - East - Hen Cliff, Yellow Ledge and Cuddle
Kimmeridge - Blackstone, Oil Shale at Clavell's Hard
Kimmeridge - Burning Beach, Burning Cliffs and the Lyme Volcano
Kimmeridge - Rope Lake Head to Freshwater Steps
Kimmeridge - Egmont Bight to Chapman's Pool
Kimmeridge Clay at Black Head, Osmington Mills Pool
Kimmeridge - Bibliography - Start
Kimmeridge - Bibliography Continued

Purbeck Formation - Bibliography
Isle of Portland and Portland Group - Bibliography
Kimmeridge and Kimmeridge Clay - Bibliography
Osmington Mills and Corallian - Bibliography
Lias and Lyme Regis - Bibliography

• The Dinosaur Encyclodaedia - Ornithopsis. The Dinosaur Encyclopaedia, Version 4.0, 1999, HyperWorks Reference Software... Ornthopsis (Bird face), Family: Brachiosauridae. Comments: A medium sized brachiosaurid, Ornithopsis was originally considered as a synonym of Pelorosaurus... (continues).
• Dinodata, Dinosaurs - Ornithopsis manseli
• Bibliography and Index of Dorset Geology, by Jo Thomas and Paul Ensom, Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1989. First published in 1989 by The Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1XA. Adapted for the World Wide Web in 2002 by John Palmer. © DNHAS, J. Thomas and P. C. Ensom, 1989 and 2002. [This is a key publication for finding papers on Dorset geology up to 1989.]

General Kimmeridge Clay References

(Click here for divided bibliography with sections on specific topics )
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Abineri , K.W. 1989. Photomicrographs of cellulose peels from the Mesozoic rocks of Dorset. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 100, 161-174.
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Aigner , T. 1980. Biofabrics and stratinomy of the Lower Kimmeridge Clay ( Upper Jurassic, Dorset, England). Neues Jahrbuch fur Geologie und Palaontologie, Abhandlungen, 159, 324-338.
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Allen , J.R.L. and Fulford, M.G. 2004. Early Roman mosaic material in southern Britain, with particular reference to Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum): a regional geological perspective. By J.R.L. Allen and M.G. Fulford, with a palaeontological note by N.J. Morris. Britannia. [71% of tesserae from Insula IX, Silchester is Kimmeridge Clay dolomite, usually with the typical minute lenticles of kerogen in a matrix of microsparite dolomite. Similar dolomite is present at Fishbourne, near Chichester, in some cases with fish bones and scales. Burnt mudrock with the ammonite Pectinatites is also present there so there no question about the use of Kimmeridge Clay material at this site. Kimmeridge Clay ferroan dolomite is also present at Eccles Villa (Kent), Angmering Villa, West Sussex, sites at London, Caerleon (Gwent) (with fish bones and scales again), and Norden (Corfe Castle, Dorset). Various dolomite tesserae samples tested showed dolomite percentages ranging from 77% to 92%.]
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Anderson , F.W. 1932. Phasal deposition in the Middle Purbeck Beds of Dorset. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1931, 379-380. [Early report of cyclicity in the Purbecks as shown by ostracod faunas. This is the start of F.W. Anderson's work. Extract: "Three phases may be recognised in the lower half of the Middle Purbeck. The beginning of each phase is marked by fresh-water deposits, grey marls and shell limestones containing Paludina, Unio, Cyrena and fresh-water Ostracods. Throughout the phase there was a gradual shallowing of the water and increase in salinity; towards the end deposition decreased and cherty limestones (shell breccias) are the typical deposit. Limneaa, Planorbis and Corbula are characteristic of this brackish water stage..."][Not on the Kimmeridge, but on the Purbeck. It has a relevance in terms of cyclostratigraphy.]
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Anonymous, 1827. The Burning Cliff, Dorset. Pp. 381-383 in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement and Instruction, Saturday, June 9, 1827. No. 257, Price 2d. This was reproduced by this journal from "The Topographer", No. XXII, and that article, in turn, comes from the "Gentleman's Magazine". Extract: "Public curiosity having been strongly excited by the extraordinary phenomenon of the appearance of a volcanic eruption on Holworth Cliff, we copy the following scientific observations and interesting particulars, in illustration of this singular operation of nature, from the Gentleman's Magazine of this month. Holworth Cliff forms the southern boundary of a farm called South Holworth, (anciently written Oleworth, Holeworth, and Holwerde,) the property of J. J. Lambert, Esq. of Dorchester; it is situate about two miles eastward of Osmington, and forms a very prominent object from Weymouth Bay.
This cliff is composed of a blue slaty lime-stone [Kimmeridge Clay], somewhat similar to the Charmouth Cliff, [Lower Lias Shales] but exhibiting a more advanced state of decomposition, yet bearing a much stronger and closer affinity to the Kimeridge coal [the Kimmeridge Blackstone , an oil-shale], and indeed may be fairly considered as the connecting link between them. This stone, which is used as an article of fuel by the neighbouring poor, is inflammable, and of a strong bituminous and sulphureous nature; it burns free, and produces a very brilliant light, but emits at first, and until the gaseous particles are all evaporated, a very oftensive smell; it afterwards continues to burn for a long time pleasantly, and notwithstanding the disagreeable effluvia arising from its first, igniting, it does not appear that any injurious effect has ever attended by the use of it [actually the ash is carcinogenic]. It does not burn entirely to ashes, but leaves a substance like burnt slate [reddish], which is, after a time, reduced to powder, on being subjected to the action of Lhe atmosphere. It is worthy of remark, that blocks of this stone which have been exposed to, and washed by, the salt water, burn better than what is recently taken from the cliff." [continues]
For the full article see the Burning Cliff webpage.
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Arkell, W.J.

The late Dr William Joscelyn Arkell of Oxford University, famous expert on and author of many publications on the Jurassic System. From a painting commissioned by Shell Oil Co. for an International Symposium on the Jurassic System. The photograph was kindly provided by the late Professor Michael House, the well-known Dorset Jurassic author (see his guide to the Dorset Coast ) and once a research student of Dr Arkell.
Arkell, W.J. 1933 (reprinted 1970). The Jurassic System in Great Britain. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 681 pp. A classic work.

Arkell, W.J. 1935a. On the Lower Kimmeridgian ammonite genera, Pictonia, Rasenia, Aulacostephanus and Ataxioceras. Geological Magazine, 72, 246-257.

Arkell, W.J. 1935b. The Portland Beds of the Dorset mainland. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 46, 301-347.

Arkell, W.J. 1947 (reprinted 1953). The Geology of the Country around Weymouth, Swanage, Corfe and Lulworth. (Explanation of Sheets 341, 342, 343, with small portions of Sheets 327, 328, 329) With contributions by C.W. Wright and H.J. Osborne White. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, H.M.S.O., London, 386 pp. (This is the standard geological memoir on the area, now out-of-date but with essential basic information. It is still, year 2000, in print.)

Arkell, W.J. 1956. Jurassic Geology of the World. xv + 806 pp. 46 pls. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Arkell, W.J. and Callomon, J.H. 1963. Lower Kimmeridgian ammonites from the Drift of Lincolnshire. Palaeontology, 6, 219-245.
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Astin , T.R. 1986. Septarian crack formation in carbonate concretions from shales and mudstones. Clay Minerals, 21, 617-632. By the Rev. Dr Tim Astin.

Astin, T.R. and Scotchman, I.C. 1988. The diagenetic history of some septarian concretions from the Kimmeridge Clay, England. Sedimentology, 35, 349-368. Abstract: The concretions were buried in the Late Jurassic to about 130 m, and in the Late Cretaceous to about 550 m, with uplift between. Oxygen isotopes show that the concretion grew throughout the first burial, with septarian veins forming from about 30 m depth onwards. Later septarian veins formed between about 200 and 500 m during the second burial. Synchronous formation of septarian fractures and fibrous calcite matrix shows that the Kimmeridge Clay became overpressured during the later stages of both burials.
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Austen , J.H. 1856. The Kimmeridge coal money. Purbeck Papers, read at Creech Grange, November 20th 1856. By John H. Austen. With plates and figures. The paper has been reproduced in Legg (1984, pp. 10-17). Example extract: In the first place however, I propose discribing these relics, in their different varieties. In form they are circular, with bevelled and moulded edges, measuring in diameter from three inches and a half to cne inch, and in thickness, from nearly one inch to three eighths of an inch. These measurements apply to the flat varieties only. It is evident, from the accuracy with which the circle is universally preserved, and from the regularity and sharpness of the mouldings, that they were turned in a lathe. They have on one side, two or three, and occasionally, four round holes, or one square hole, for the purpose of fixing them to the chuck, and on the other side a small hole made by the front centre of the lathe. In some instances they are perforated with a single square hole, showing that the piece may be fixed on a square arbor. In most specimens the greatest circumference is found nearest the side by which it was attached to the chuck, so that the bevil on the outside is longer than that on the inside; in some few however, the greatest circumference is in the centre of the thickness of the piece, and the bevels equal. I have never yet met with a specimen in which the largest bevel, and consequently the greatest work, was,on the side next the chuck. Fragments of the shale are frequently found under the same circumstances as the "Coal Money," which show the marks of cutting tools, as if prepared for the lathe. At Encombe I have found such pieces measuring from four to five inches in diameter, by an inch in thickness. Upon a piece which Mr. Miles obtained from the cliff at Worbarrow, were "traced with mathematical exactness, circles and various angles: the centres of the circles were evident, as if the point of the compass had indented the material." I have frequently found pieces of rings, or rather armlets, armillae, apparently about two inches and a quarter in diameter: they are of the same material, and the inner curve will be found to agree with the circumference of the most frequent sized pieces of "Coal Money." Mr. Sydendam mentions an instance of a "perfect ring being dug up in the formation of a drain, the inner diameter of which was an inch and a quarter, and the thickness three eighths of an inch, making a total diameter of two inches. I have occasionally found flat circular pieces of shale rudely cut by some sharp instrument into an irregular form of four or five inches, with central perforations varying from half an inch to one, and two inches, in diameter. Another specimen which I have, is the half of an amulet of three inches and a half in diameter, having a central hole of five eighths of an inch, the sides of which as well as the circumference of the specimen, are smoothly rounded. The armlets do not appear to have been turned direct out of the coal whilst in its rough state: the piece was first cut and fashioned into a circular form, the holes for the chuck chiseled or drilled out, and then in this state, applied to the lathe. The difference in the varieties of the" Coal Money" arises from two causes; first, the different kinds of chucks of the lathe used, and secondly the number of rings cut off one piece; the usual form supplying only one, whilst from that of a conical, two or more have been taken." [continues]
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Baird , R.A. 1986. Maturation and source rock evaluation of Kimmeridge Clay, Norwegian North Sea. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 70, 1-11.
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Barker , D. 1966. Ostracods from the Portland Beds of Dorset. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology, 11, 447-457, pls. 1-6.
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Bather , F.A. 1911. Notes on crinoid plates from the Penshurst Boring. In: Summary of Progress for 1910, Memoirs of the Geological Survey, p. 78.
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Bellamy , J. 1977. Subsurface expansion megapolygons in Upper Jurassic dolostone (Kimmeridge, U.K.), Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 47, 973-978. By Jon Bellamy. Abstract: Megapolygons with thrusted margins occur within the lowermost dolostone of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic), at the type locality in southern England. Unlike similar features previously described, these structures did not develop at, or near, the sediment surface but at a considerable depth of burial. They formed at a time when the adjacent shales were already compacted but prior to tectonic jointing and faulting. Features distinguishing them from similar near-surface structures include sigmoidal thrust planes, complete lack of penecontemporaneous erosion, absence of internal sediments and association with localized deformation of surrounding, compacted sl'diments. Diagenetic growth of dolomite is proposed as the mechanism that gave rise to expansion.

Bellamy, J.R.W. 1980. Carbonates within Bituminous Shales of the British Jurassic - Their Petrography and Diagenesis. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Southampton. 276pp. By Jon Richard Winter Bellamy. Supervisor: Dr Ian West. With much XRD data, various graphs and monochrome photographs from the field and from thin-sections. Abstract in full: Bituminous shales containing enigmatic carbonate lithologies, such as calcite nodules, beef lenses and dolomite beds, form a significant portion of the southern England Jurassic succession. The highly kerogenous Kimmeridge Clay is the thickest such shale. Samples of its carbonates collected from Dorset and elsewhere in the UK were studied using thin and ultra-thin sections, XRD, SEM and AA. The bituminous Oxford Clay and Lias were also sampled...Primary calcite was largely supplied by calcareous plankton and molluscs. During early diagenesis, as a result of bacterial activity, magnesian calcite precipitated within a metre or so of the sediment surface as nodules and scattered minute crystals, forming in abundance during periods of reduced sedimentation. Calcium and magnesium ions were supplied by diffusion from the sediment surface. Ferrous iron, scarce in the calcite, was scavenged from pore water to form pyrite. Processes occurring within basinal sediments of the Santa Barbara Basin, California, where pore waters display high Mg/Ca ratios and alkalinities, are suggested as a model for the early diagenesis in the Jurassic bituminous shales. ..During deeper burial diagenesis other carbonate lithologies evolved. Each of these possess characteristic crystal fabrics that developed in response to overburden pressure as the carbonates formed or were altered. These fabrics can be evaluated using a simple XRD technique. Ferroan and non-ferroan elongate-calcite ('beef') formed at depths of up to hundreds of metres by a process of vertically displacive crystal growth. Both the long axes and c-axies of its crystals tend to be orientated perpendicular to bedding. Ferroan dolomite with the same fabric formed in a similar fashion, minor laterally displacive crystal growth giving rise to distinctive, large-scale polygonal thrust patterns in some beds. Both derived their carbonate largely from the breakdown of organic matter. Other dolomite formed by replacing magnesian calcite and as a cavity-filling cement. Magnesium in this carbonate could have been derived from the diagenetic alteration of unstable magnesian calcite and dolomite, algal organic matter and clays...The diagenetic history of the carbonates within the Jurassic bituminous shales provides a model applicable to other marine bituminous shales.
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Berlin , S. and Brosse, E. 1992. Petrographical and geochemical study of a Kimmeridgian organic sequence. Revue de L'Institut Francais du Petrole, 47, 711-725.
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Byorklykke , K., Dypvik, H. and Finstad, K. G. 1975. The Kimmeridgian shale, its composition and radioactivity. In: Jurassic Northern North Sea Symposium, Norwegian Petroleum Society, Stavanger.
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Blake , J.F. 1875. On the Kimmeridge Clay of England. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 31, 196-237. By the Rev. J.F. Blake. M.A., F.G.S. (read January 13, 1875). [See particularly p. 198-199 "Section on the Coast at Kimmeridge, between Chapman's Pool and Hen Cliff. This lists from top downward 43 units. There is a summary of the fauna, in old terminology. Towards the end there is long faunal list and there are figures of 16 species of molluscs. Note that the paper considers the Kimmeridge Clay over a wide area of England and is not as detailed on the Kimmeridge coast section, as might be expected. There is some detail on the "Kimmeridge Passage-Beds" of the Weymouth area, including Ringstead Bay and Osmington Mills.]

Blake, J.F. 1880. On the Portland rocks of England. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 36, 189-236.

Boussafir , M., Gelin, F., Lallier-Verges, E., S. Derenne, S., Bertrand, P. and Largeau, C. 1995. Electron microscopy and pyrolysis of kerogens from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, UK: Source organisms, preservation processes, and origin of microcycles. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 59, Issue 18, September 1995, pp. 3731-3741.
Abstract:
Recent studies revealed short-term cyclic variations (microcycles) in total organic carbon (TOC) and the hydrogen index (HI) in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, an organic-rich deposit considered to be a lateral equivalent of the main source rocks of the North Sea. In addition, three different types of organic matter that all appear to be amorphous when observed by light microscopy (AOM) were recognized. Together, these AOM types account for over 80% of total kerogen and their relative abundances show large variations along each microcycle. In the present work, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations were carried out on samples (whole kerogens, kerogen subfractions only comprising a single type of AOM, selected rock fragments) corresponding to typical points within a microcycle and obtained via high resolution sampling. The nature and the relative abundances of the products generated by Curie-point Py-GC-MS and off-line pyrolyses of isolated kerogens were also determined for two selected samples corresponding to the beginning and the top of the microcycle. Combination of such ultrastructural observations, including some semiquantitative studies, and the analysis of pyrolysis products allowed (1) determination of the ultrastructural features of the three AOM types thus providing what we believe to be the first example of correlations between light microscopy (palynofacies, in situ maceral analysis) and TEM observations on “amorphous” fossil materials; (2) identification of the source organisms and elucidation of the mode of formation of the different AOM types in the Kimmeridge Clay; (3) explanation of the variations in their relative abundances taking place along a microcycle and establishment of tight correlations with TOC and HI changes; and (4) explanation of the origin of the microcyclic variations in kerogen quantity (TOC) and quality (III) occurring in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. Interrelationships between primary productivity, sulphate reduction intensity, and lipid "vulcanization" likely played a major role in the control of such variations.
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Brannon , P. 1860. The Illustrated Historical and Picturesque Guide to Swanage and the Isle of Purbeck with a Clear Digest of the Geology and a Minute Description of the Coast from Bournemouth Bay to White Nore. Published by R. Sydenham, London, Longman and Company. 106pp. By Philip Brannon, Archt. C.E. etc., 12 Portland Terrace, Southampton, 2nd Edition. Local publisher was Mr. Richard Sydenham of Poole.
See p. 75 and 76 for information on the historic alum, salt and glass works of Kimmeridge. In the early 17th century Sir William Clavell constructed a cobb or stone pier like that of Lyme Regis from the point of Hen Cliff, Kimmeridge. This was to partially enclose Kimmeridge Bay for the shipping of minerals. "It is described as one hundred and fify feet long, sixty broad, and fifty high, but unfortunately Sir William was not only impoverished by this expenditure, but in involved in ruinous losses by vexatious litigants on the alum patent rights and so compelled to desist from his enlighted efforts. In 1745 a violent storm threw the pier into ruins, which neglect and subsequent wash have now almost obliterated, and even in 1748, ruined buildings and heaps of ashes were the only remains of the work". [The "cobb" was very short compared to the Cobb at Lyme Regis.It is suprising that the cobb was apparently 50 feet high, but does this mean the height from the bottom of Kimmeridge Bay, under the water? Even if this is the case the height would appear to have been much greater than that of the Lyme Regis Cobb.]
See also the section on: Mineral Oil, Paraffin, and Gas (p. 37-38), produced from Kimmeridge oil shale.
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Brodie, P.B. 1853. Notice of the occurrence of an elytron of a coleopterous insect in the Kimmeridge Clay at Ringstead Bay, Dorset. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, vol. 9, 51-52.

Brodie, W.R. 1876. Notes on the Kimmeridge Clay of the Isle of Purbeck. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, London, vol. 4, 517-518.
Abstract - the complete article: "The Kimmeridge Clay commences below St. Alban's Head, where it is overlaid by Portland Oolite and Purbeck Limestone. Beds of a grey-coloured limestone containing marine shells, oysters, and ammonites, immediately underlie the Portland Beds. These may be the Upper Passage-beds or the uppermost beds of the Kimmeridge Clay shales. They continue from St. Alban's Head, through Chapman's Pool, and extend towards Encombe Park. They are lost sight of inland, but reappear on Gadcliff several miles to the estward.
At Chapman's Pool, in paper-shales, the following fossils have been obtained :- Jaws of small saurians, belemnites large and small, Coccoteuthis latipinnis, Owen, several species of squids, and marine shells.
Eastward of Encombe Park occur remains of fish and Crustacea in black pyritous shales, which give an offensive odour. At Encombe Point we find Pliosaurus grandis, spine of Hybodus, and other fish remains, cuttle fishes, and ammonites. In black oolitic shales [this reference to oolitic is strange!], at the same locality, in beds running out to sea, jaws of reptiles and fish differing from those found at other points, Saurian vertebrae, three species of Pterodactyle resembling those from the Dorsetshire Lias, zoophytes and fruits.
Three or four miles to the westward is Kimmeridge Bay, where the paper-shales and the black bituminous shales are again met with. Not very far from Gadcliff, at the termination of the outcrop of the Kimmeridge Clay, Coccoteuthis latipinnis, figured and described by Professor Owen, was first discovered by the author, who also claims to have first found remains of cuttle fish in the Oolites of that part of England. At this place there have been found a jaw with teeth of a crocodilian reptile (in the thin shale beds), operculum associated with ammonites, reptilian bone described by Owen (Pal. Soc. Vol. for 1875), several species of ammonites, and fossil wood.
At Bucknowle, south-west of Corfe Castle, we find black earth with pottery, human bone, and flint implements, covering a thin seam of loam, which reposes on a deposit containing stones from a distance, flint implements, burnt wood, etc. The flints in the lowermost deposit are of the largest form, and differ much from those in the uppermost bed. Land, freshwater, and marine shells occur, along with remains of deer, ox, bear, lion, and fox. A limestone implement has also been found. Remains of elephant, deer, and ox have been found in gravel in Encombe Park. North of this locality a section shows the presence of the following beds :-
Middle Chalk, with flints.
Upper Greensand.
Gault, with fossils.
Lower Greensand, with fossils.
Wealden Beds.
Upper Purbeck or Middle Wealden.
Marble beds [i.e. Purbeck Marble], with freshwater turtles, Cypris, and Unio.
[end of article]
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Bristow , C.R. 1993. Recent work of the British Geological Survey in Dorset. Proceedings of Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1992, 114, 207-214. Includes list of Geological Survey open file reports on many Dorset topics. Yeovil Sheet 312, Wincanton, 297, Shaftesbury 313, Ringwood 314, Sidmouth, 326, Bridport 327, Dorchester 328, Bournemouth, 329, Fleet and Weymouth 341 and 342 and Swanage 343. Much Corallian and Kimmeridge data. Also borehole lists for Dorset.
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Brodie , W.R. 1876. Notes on the Kimmeridge Clay of the Isle of Purbeck. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 4, 517-518.
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Brookfield , M.E. 1973a. The Palaeoenvironment of the Abbotsbury Ironstone (Upper Jurassic) of Dorset. Palaeontology, vol. 16, part 2, pp. 261-274. Abstract: The Abbotsbury Ironstone represents a rare sandy facies of the Lower Kimmeridgian in Britain. Palaeoecological studies show that it consists of of three facies deposited in an offshore beach or barrier bar environment. The main control on the fauna is thought to be the degree of water agitation.

Brookfield, M. E. 1973b. Palaeogeography of the Upper Oxfordian and Lower Kimmeridgian (Jurassic) in Britain. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 14, 137-167. Abstract: A series of maps with descriptive notes illustrate the palaeogeographic changes in the British Isles during the Upper Oxfordian and Lower Kimmeridgian. The division between the stages marks no sharp faunal or sedimentological change, as hitherto assumed. The passage is a gradual change from shallow water carbonates, through delta-influenced conditions to open shelf environments, spanning the top three zones of the Oxfordian and lower three zones of the Kimmeridgian. The common stratigraphic sequences in all basins indicate a common overall control on sedimentation. The relative importance of sea-level changes, climate and tectonic movement cannot be separated and may be interconnected.

Brookfield, M.E. 1973c. The life and death of Torquirhynchia inconstans (Brachiopoda, Upper Jurassic) in England. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 13, 241-259. Abstract: Torquirhynchia inconstans, a rhynchonellid brachiopod, shows a curious asymmetric commissure. This is interpreted as an adaption to life in tidal environments. Types of preservation, growth line, and size frequency analysis indicate that the population analyzed consists of dominantly mature individuals, which by analogy with recent brachiopod populations is a primary feature of the original population, and not due to selective destruction, selective transport, or selective predation of smaller individuals. The possible functions of the asymmetry of Torquirhynchia inconstans are considered, and it is concluded that the brachiopod was adapted to life in tidal environments, a conclusion supported by sedimentological evidence. Asymmetric brachiopods are considered to have developed from colonies of partly asymmetric, variable brachiopods by selection of extreme variants.

Brookfield, M.E. 1973d. The Palaeoenvironments of the Upper Oxfordian - Lower Kimmeridgian Sediments in Dorset, England. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Reading University, 550 pp.

Brookfield, M.E. 1978. The lithostratigraphy of the upper Oxfordian and lower Kimmeridgian Beds of south Dorset, England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 89, 1-32.
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Brown , D.S. 1983. Discovery of a specimen of the plesiosaur Colymbosaurus trochanterius (Owen) on the Isle of Portland. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 105, 170.
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Bruce , P. 1989. Inshore along the Dorset Coast. First Edition, Boldre Marine, Lymington. 115p + charts. Paperback. By Peter Bruce. There was a second edition in 1996. [Useful for local names and coastal detail for the eastern Dorset coast.]

Bruce , P. 2001. Inshore along the Dorset Coast. Third Edition, Boldre Marine, Lymington. 134pp. Paperback. ISBN 1-871680-26-3 By Peter Bruce. Price was £14.95. From the back cover blurb: This is a book for seafarers and landsmen who have reason to visit the exceptionally beautiful and interesting east Dorset coast. It covers the area from Christchurch Bay to Portland Bill and gives in detail all the nautical lore, delights, tidal streams and history that most people would ever want to know. Every bay, every landing place and every feature has been surveyed in detail and researched to provide expert local knowledge. Furthermore the text is richly illustrated by superb aerial and sea level colour photographs which add considerably to the value of this unique book for those who venture on the water in any kind of craft, or for those who are curious about marine aspects of the coastline. [This book is very useful for local names and coastal detail for the eastern Dorset coast. This edition has very good colour photographs, many of them aerial photographs. ]
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Buchel , D. 1993? Etude prétrographique quantitative, à différentes échelles, de la pyrite dans des roches riches en matière organique: série supérieure des argiles kimméridgiennes du Dorset (Sud de l'Angleterre). Listed as Bückel, Damien and Steinberg, Michel but apparently a Doctoral Thesis (two names given; one might be the supervisor). Université de Paris 11, Inist Identifier : Th. doct. ; 93 PA11 2442 INIST shelf number : T 92849 Publisher : France.
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Buckland , W.A. and De la Beche, H.T. 1836. On the geology of the neighbourhood of Weymouth and the adjacent parts of the coast of Dorsetshire. Transactions of the Geological Society of London, series 2, vol.4, pp. 1-46.
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Buckman, S.S. 1922-26. Type Ammonites. (commenced as "Yorkshire Type Ammonites" but extended to Dorset forms etc.), London. See particularly: Buckman, S.S. 19922-6. Kimmeridge - Portland Chronology. In Type Ammonites, part 4, 226-45, part 6, 9-16, 24-40. Sydney Silverman Buckman, born in 1860 at Cirencester, Gloucestershire, later lived at Bradford Abbas, and wrote his first paper at the age of 18 on the Astartes of the Inferior Oolite. He worked on the ammonites of the whole British Jurassic System and greatly advanced ammonite zonal stratigraphy and ammonite palaeontology and taxonomy. Later in life he was prone to excessive subdivision of ammonite taxons. See Arkell (1933), Chapter 1, for discussion of Buckman's work.
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Burns, S. J. (1998) Can diagenetic precipitation of carbonate nodules affect pore-water oxygen isotope ratios? Journal of Sedimentary Research, 68, 100–103
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Calkin, J.B. 1955. "Kimmeridge Coal-Money": the Romano-British shale armlet industry. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 75, 45-71. By J. Bernard Calkin, M.A. F.S.A. Example extract: "Introduction: This paper is mainly concerned with the methods of production of lathe-turned shale armlets, in so far as these are revealed by a study of the debris on workshop sites in the Isle of Purbeck. In a letter to the Gentleman's Magazine of March 1768 , the distinguished Dorset antiquary, the Rev. John Hutchins, Rector of Wareham, described a narrow bed of bituminous shale, which occurred in the cliffs at Kimmeridge, known as Kimmeridge coal. This material was used locally, he says, as a fuel, for which purpose it could be purchased at 6d. a tun. He then went on to mention "a remarkable curiosity called coal-money". This consisted of round discs of shale from 1 to 3 inches in diameter and a quarter inch thick, and having 2 or 4 shallow holes on one side, which he thought might have been for 'fixing them in the turning-press'. These discs were to be found at the top of the cliffs and in the fields around Kimmeridge. Antiquarians affirmed that they were British antiquities, but whether amulets or money was not agreed. After pointing out that amulets were generally of a different form and of a different material, Hutchins concluded rather reluctantly that probably they were some ancient form of money. Intrigued by this description some half a century later, Mr. W. A. Miles, at that time also residing at Wareham, decided to make some personal investigations. In his paper on Kimmeridge Coal Money published in 1826 he tells how, upon receiving some specimens found at Worbarrow, he 'immediately took a chaise and repaired for a week to the Bay of Worthbarrow, in order to prosecute his researches'. There and also at Kimmeridge he found the coal-money associated with fragments of ancient pottery. Having correctly observed that the discs must have been made on a lathe and that certain worked flints on the Kimmeridge site were actually lathe tools, he proceeded to weave a grand romance about the existence of a Phoenician or Carthaginian colony at Kimmeridge, where pottery was manufactured from the local clay, and fired with the Kimmeridge coal. He then suggested that the traders prospered so well by bartering their wares among the natives that they decided to express their gratitude to the deity, in this instance Hercules, by offering him pieces of imitation money. So obsessed was Miles with this theory, that upon discovering at Tyneham a huge circular block of stone 2 ft. thick and 7 ft. in diameter, he suggested that it was an immense piece of coal-money, which had served as a Phoenician altar. [continues]
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Callomon , J.H. & Cope, J.C.W. 1971. The stratigraphy and ammonite succession of the Oxford and Kimmeridge clays in the Warlingham Borehole. Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 36, 147-176.

Callomon, J.H. & Cope, J.C.W. 1995. The Jurassic geology of Dorset. In (Taylor, P.D.; ed.) Field Geology of the British Jurassic. Geological Society, London, 51-103.
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Canfield D. E., Lyons T. W., and Raiswell R. (1996) A model of iron deposition in euxinic Black Sea sediments. American Journal of Science, 296, 818–834.
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Chambers , M.H., Lawrence, D.S.L., Sellwood, B.W. and Parker, A. 2000. Annual layering in the Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay Formation, UK, quantified using an ultra-high resolution SEM–EDX investigation, Sedimentary Geology, 137 (2000), pp. 9–23.
Abstract:
This paper reports the results of an ultra-high resolution investigation of the geochemistry of the Late Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay Formation (KCF) using scanning electron microscope/energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX). Sub-millimetre banding is revealed in which each band (approximately 112 microns thick) comprises a couplet of coccolith-rich and coccolith-poor sediment. Major element analysis reveals that regularly-spaced peaks in the relative amount of calcium are associated with coccolith-rich bands. It is argued that each couplet represents an annual layer, the calcium peaks corresponding to an annual bloom of coccolithophorids. There is also a broad correlation between the calcium/aluminium ratio and the ratios of sodium/aluminium, phosphorus/aluminium and potassium/aluminium to calcium/aluminium ratios. We tentatively suggest that there may be a link here, sodium, phosphorous, and potassium today being key nutrients for coccolith productivity. Aluminium is taken as representing the background terrigenous (clay) fraction. If each banded couplet is indeed annual and if the thickness of such bands were to be representative of the KCF as a whole, then the post-compactional thickness is broadly in agreement with sedimentation rates of 100 microns per year calculated by Oschmann (1990). This study confirms the view that the KCF in southern England accumulated in a predominantly anoxic environment that favoured the preservation of organic material within the bottom sediment. Bundles of bands, clustering in groups of about 8–10 are tentatively related to short-term changes in insolation (possibly sun-spot cycles).
[sample from near Grey Ledge]
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Channel Coastal Observatory .
[Large-scale, vertical, aerial photographs of the Wessex Coast are available free for downloading to persons who register with this organisation. You may need some time to understand the system and download the appropriate pictures. You will need ER viewer software (available free on the internet) to see the pictures which are in ECW format, but they can afterwards be converted to other formats. They are excellent images and well-worth examining. Highly recommended website!]
"Welcome to the website of the South-East strategic regional coastal monitoring programme. The Channel Coastal Observatory is the data management and regional coordination centre for the Southeast Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme. The programme provides a consistent regional approach to coastal process monitoring, providing information for development of strategic shoreline management plans, coastal defence strategies and operational management of coastal protection and flood defence. The programme is managed on behalf of the Coastal Groups of the Southeast of England and is funded by DEFRA, in partnership with local Authorities of the southeast of England and the Environment Agency. The Channel Coastal Observatory is hosted by New Forest District Council, in partnership with the University of Southampton and the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton."
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Chatwin , C.P. and Pringle, J. 1922. the zones of the Kimmeridge and Portland rocks at Swindon. Summary of Progress of the Geological Survey, London, 162-168.
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Clausen , C. K. and Wignall, P. B. 1990. Lower Kimmeridgian bivalves of southern England. Mesozoic Research.
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Coe, A. L. 1992. Unconformities within the Upper Jurassic of the Wessex Basin, Southern England. D.Phil. thesis. Oxford University.

Coe , A.L., Hesselbo, S.P., Jenkyns, H.C., Morgans Bell, H. and Weedon, G.P. 2001. Kimmeridge Clay Formation composite graphic log for coastal exposures, near Kimmeridge, Dorset. Part of Supplementary Publication No. SUP 90490, British Library. Associated with paper by Morgans-Bell, Coe, Hesselbo, Jenkyns, Weedon, Marshall, Tyson and Williams (2001). By Angela L. Coe of the Open University and others.
This log is available on the internet at Integrated stratigraphy of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic) based on exposures and boreholes in south Dorset, UK. [This is an excellent log and very useful with bed numbers and much detail. Printing it out is very worthwhile but this uses much paper and ink, and takes time, unless you have a special printer for large sheets. It is about 3 metres long. It is very good and incorporates the previous work of Gallois and others; it is likely to be standard basis for further research on the cliff section. The Swanworth and Metherhill logs of Kimmeridge Clay boreholes are also available from this website.]

For the full log go to:
Rapid Global Geological Events. 2001. The Rapid Global Geological Events (RGGE) Project. A Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Special Topic.
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Cole , D.I. 1973. A burning cliff. Letter to the Times Newspaper, sent 29 November, 1973.
Sir. In view of the present energy crisis and the recent letters concerning the distillation of oil from oil shales, your readers might find interest and coincidence in the fact that a possible energy source in the form of a 3ft thick seam of oil shale, is at present undergoing spontaneous combustion. This oil shale outcrops on the coast of the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset. It has also been found at various localities in the Weymouth area. It is apparently burning as a result of the oxidation of pyrite, contained within the oil shale, which generates heat, although further studies are being made. As a result of this natural process, a 30ft cliff section above the oil shale has been baked in areas, and several small fumeroles are to be seen emerging from the cracks in the cliff. Temperatures near the oil shale were found to exceed 500 degrees C. The value of this oil shale should not be under estimated, since a company named the Kimmeridge Oil and Carbon Company obtained an average of 66 gallons of oil per ton of shale by distillation, in the early nineteenth century. Only three similar instances of "burning cliffs" in Dorset have been cited, occurring in 1751, 1755 and 1826 [but note also the Lyme Volcano of 1908], which at the time were compared closely to volcanic activity. Could, therefore, this present "burning cliff" coinciding as it does with the present oil. crisis, be a natural warning that the time has come to cease squandering the earth's resources of irreplaceable fuels and concentrate upon sources of energy such as nuclear and solar?
Yours faithfully, D. Cole, Department of Geology, The University, Southampton, November 29, 1973. (See also: Kent (1973?).

Cole, D.I. Observations on a burning cliff. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, for 1974, 96, 16-19. By Douglas I. Cole, at that time a postgraduate student at the Department of Geology, Southampton University. [A cliff fire in the oil-shale or Blackstone of the Kimmeridge Clay at Clavell's Hard, east of Kimmeridge Bay. It burnt from 1972 to 1974 and reddened an area of the cliff. Minerals formed at fumeroles of the fire include salammoniac, sulphur, gypsum, hemi-hydrate and anhydrite.] Extract, from the beginning:
INTRODUCTION
An example of natural combustion, that occurred in a bed of bituminous shale commonly referred to as the Blackstone (Strahan, 1898; Arkell, 1947), at Clavell's Hard, near Kimmeridge, is reported here. This process of natural combustion is apparently an exceptionally rare event in Dorset, with previous examples being reported at Charmouth in 1751 and 1755 (Damon, 1884), at Burning Cliff, Ringstead Bay in 1826, continuing for several years (Buckland and De la Beche, 1835), and at Lyme Regis in 1908 (Woodward, 1911). The example at Burning Cliff also occurred in the Blackstone, which is of Kimmeridgian age, wheras those at Charmouth and Lyme Regis occurred in bituminous shales of Liassic age. In all these previous examples, combustion was thought to have started spontaneously as a result of pyrite oxidation producing sufficien. heat for ignition of the bituminous shales (Buckland and De la Beche, 1835; Damon, 1884; Woodward, 1911).
The remains of former workings of the Blackstone can still be seen at Clavell's Hard. These workings were made on varim occasions from the early 17th Century until the late 19th Century, with the Blackstone being used either as a fuel or as a source of oil. Several types of oil were distilled, and total yields apparently varied between approximately 11 gallons and 66 gallons per ton of bituminous shale (Damon, 1884; Strahan, 1898, 1918). However, large-scale exploitation did not occur, presumably as a result of the limited thickness (0.9 metres) and high sulphur content of the Blackstone (Arkell, 1947)
DESCRIPTION
This description is largely based upon observations made on 22 November 1973, supplemented by further observations made between 13 December 1973 and 7 August 1974.
Clavell's Hard (SY920777) is situated on the coast approximately one mile south-east of Kimmeridge Bay, where a cliff section exposes approximately 21 metres of shales in the Hudlestoni and Wheatleyensis Zones of the Kimmeridgian succession (Cope, 1967; Cope in: Torrens, 1969), dipping 6° to the north-east. The area of cliff that has been affected by combustion of the Blackstone is located between the cliff-top and a terrace, situated about 7 metres above the cliff-base (Fig. 1.). This are of cliff includes the Blackstone, which forms the base of the terrace, a cements tone termed the Rope Lake Head Stone Band and a thin cementstone, in an otherwise shale-dominated sequence (Figs. 1 and 2, Cope in: Torrens, 1969).
The combustion of the Blackstone was apparently taking place at the base of the terrace, where it was obscured by scree deposits of shales (Fig. 1). As a result, isolated areas of shale in the cliff, overlying the Blackstone, were baked and now display a reddish-orange colour, and several fumaroles were present in joints and cracks located in both the shales and the two cementstones (Figs. 1 and 2). The effects of the combustion did not apparently extend for more than three metres inland, where fumaroles were located in fissures (Fig. 1), which resulted from landslipping and which were of maximum width 0.3 metres. The scree also showed evidence of baking. It is probable that baking was due to the upward conduction of heat from the Blackstone, since heat transfer by gases in the fumaroles was unimportant as indicated, by gas temperatures not exceeding 70°C. Certain parts of the cliff and scree, particularly in the vicinity of the Rope Lake Head Stone Band, displaye temperatures in excess of 500° C, with red heat noted at approximately 0.5 metres below the scree surface. The fumaroles appeared to be emitting several gases, of which sulphur dioxide and water vapour were prominent Associated with these gases were deposits of fine sulphur crystals and a black tarry oil, and encrustations of black tarry oil, salammoniaq (ammonium chloride), gypsum, hemi-hydrate (plaster of Paris) and anhydrite, which were located around the fumaroles. The inorganic minerals in these fumarole deposits were determined using X-ray diffraction analysis (Brown, 1961), and the results, together with those for several samples from both the cliff-section and scree, are shown in Table 1. The sample locations are given in Fig. 1. [continues with Table 1 showing the minerals detected in the baked shale, Blackstone, fumarole encrustation etc. There follows another page of small text, followed by Acknowledgements and References.]
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Cope, J.C.W. - Key Papers. Publications by John Cope, the international specialist on Kimmeridge clay ammonites, Kimmeridgian stratigraphy and correlation.

Cope, J.C.W. 1967. The palaeontology and stratigraphy of the lower part of the Kimmeridge Clay of Dorset. Bulletin of the British Museum Natural History (Geology), 15, 179, pls. 133.

Cope, J.C.W. 1968a. Propectinatites, a new Lower Kimmeridgian ammonite genus. Palaeontology, 11, 15-18, pl. 1.

Cope, J.C.W. 1968b. Epizoic oysters on Kimmeridgian ammonites. Palaeontology, 11, 19-20, pl. 2.

Cope, J.C.W. 1971. Upper Kimmeridge Clay at Kimmeridge. In: Dorset Natural History Reports 1970, Geology. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 92, 41.

Cope, J.C.W. 1974a. Upper Kimmeridgian ammonite faunas of the Wash area and a subzonal scheme for lower part of the Upper Kimmeridgian. Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 47, 29-37. pls. 1-3.

Cope, J.C.W. 1974b. New information on the Kimmeridge Clay of Yorkshire. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 85, 211-221.

Cope, J.C.W. 1978. The ammonite faunas and stratigraphy of the upper part of the Kimmeridge Clay of Dorset. Palaeontology, 21, 469-533, pls. 45-56. Abstract: Re-examination of 122.4 m of the Upper Kimmeridge Clay (Jurassic), from the Freshwater Steps Stone Band up to the Portland Sand of the type section, east of Kimmeridge, Dorset, has been undertaken, and bed-by-bed ammonite collections made throughout this thickness. The ammonites include representatives of three genera belonging to two subfamilies: twenty species and two subspecies are described. The following taxa are new: Pectinatites (Pectinatites) dorsetensis, P. (P.) strahani, P. (P.) circumligatus; Pavlovia composita, P. composita waddingtoni, P. superba; genus Virgatopavlovia, V.fittoni, V. hounstoutensis. The pallasioides Zone fauna is identified for the first time in Dorset, below the rotunda Zone, and a new zone, the fittoni Zone, introduced for the beds formerly correlated with the pallasioides Zone. Correlations are suggested with other areas of Britain and with the Volgian succession of Russia.

Cope, J.C.W. 1995. Towards a unified Kimmeridgian stage. Petroleum Geoscience, 351-354.

Cope, J.C.W. 1996. The role of the Secondary Standard in stratigraphy. Geological Magazine, 133, 107-110.

Cope, J.C.W. 2009. Correlation problems in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic, UK): lithostratigraphy versus biostratigraphy and chronostratigraphy. Geological Magazine, March 2009, vol. 146, no. 2, pp. 266-275. By John C. Cope, National Museum of Wales.
Abstract:
A scheme of grouped lithostratigraphical units (‘beds’) proposed for the English Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay Formation has been claimed to be also chronostratigraphical, but some of the resulting time-correlations conflict with those of the standard chronozonation based on ammonite biostratigraphy. Review of some critical ammonite species reaffirms the validity of the ammonite zonal scheme and shows that mismatching of lithologies (facies-correlations) has led to incorrect time-correlations. Because the numbering scheme of ‘beds’ was based on correlations of attenuated successions, it is on too coarse a time-scale to identify many non-sequences, and its usefulness as a chronostratigraphical tool is questioned. Evidence suggests that at least some calcareous concretions in the Kimmeridge Clay formed at shallow depths, which is relevant to discussions of the succession in terms of basin analysis.

Cope, J.C.W., Duff, K.L., Parsons, C.F., Torrens, H.S,., Wimbledon, W.A. and Wright, J. K. 1980. A correlation of Jurassic rocks in the British Isles. Part Two: Middle and Upper Jurassic. Geological Society of London, Special Report, No. 15.
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Cosgrove , M.E. 1970. Iodine in the bituminous Kimmeridge shales of the Dorset Coast, England. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 34, 830-836. Abstract: Trace element, carbon dioxide and organic carbon analyses of a range of Kimmeridgian Shales show high correlation of the elements iodine and bromine with organic carbon. It is suggested that marine plant material incorporated with the sediment at the time of deposition is responsible for this association of elements. [Average value of iodine - 17ppm. Maximum 72 ppm. These must be amongst the most iodine-rich sedimentary rocks yet recorded.]
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Costamagna, L.G., Barca, S. and Lecca, L. 2007. The Bajocian–Kimmeridgian Jurassic sedimentary cycle of eastern Sardinia: Stratigraphic, depositional and sequence interpretation of the new ‘Baunei Group’. Le cycle sédimentaire Bajocien–Kimméridgien en Sardaigne orientale : interprétation stratigraphique, dépositionnelle et séquentielle du « groupe de Baunei », nouvellement créé. By Luca G. Costamagna, Sebastiano Barca and Luciano Lecca; Presented by Michel Durand-Delga. Comptes Rendus Geosciences, vol. 339, pp. 601-612. Accepted 9 July 2007. Available online.
Abstract:
In eastern Sardinia, the first Jurassic sedimentary cycle (Bajocian–Kimmeridgian) develops in response to the opening of the Alpine Tethys Ocean. Starting during the Bajocian (Middle Jurassic), over a horst-and-graben system initially drowning to the northeast, at first siliciclastic sediments take place, related to continental to transitional environments. In time, they are gradually followed by marine carbonate, assigned to inner to outer ramp deposits. Afterwards, the latter, in their turn, become shallow; they are newly covered with an inner ramp lithofacies. The Kimmeridgian–Tithonian unconformity ends the cycle. Therefore, this sedimentary cycle as a whole can be interpreted as a transgressive–regressive megasequence linked to tectono-eustatic factors. All the pertaining stratigraphic units have been included within the ‘Baunei Group’, newly described. A comparison with the neighbouring areas, with particular regards to the Jurassic series of the Corsica, has been made, attempting to improve the reconstruction of this part of the Tethyan Ocean Western margin.
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Cox, B.M. and Gallois, R.W. 1981 -

Cox , B.M. and Gallois, R.W. 1981. Stratigraphy of the Kimmeridge Clay of the Dorset type area and its correlation with some other Kimmeridgian sequences. Report of the Institute of Geological Sciences, No. 80/4, 144. See example pages above.
[This is a very important publication for details of Kimmeridge Clay stratigraphy at Kimmeridge and elsewhere. It is a key work essential for field studies of the Kimmeridge cliffs and cliffs of Kimmeridge Clay elsewhere!. Try to obtain it from the British Geological Survey.]
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Curtis, C. D. and Coleman M. L. 1986. Controls on the precipitation of early diagenetic calcite, dolomite and siderite concettions in complex depositional sequences. In: Roles of Organic Matter in Sediment Diagenesis (ed. D. L. Gautier), pp. 23–33. Special Publication 38, Society of Econonic Paleontologists and Mineralogists.

Curtis C. D., Coleman M. L., and Love L. G. 1986. Pore water evolution during sediment burial from isotopic and mineral chemistry of calcite, dolomite and siderite concretions. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 50, 2321–2334
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Damon , R.F., 1884. Geology of Weymouth, Portland and the Coast of Dorsetshire from Swanage to Bridport-on- the-Sea: with Natural History and Archaeological Notes. 2nd ed., R.F.Damon, Weymouth, 250 pp.
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Dance , S.P. 1992 (reprinted 1995). Shells: The visual guide to over 500 species of seashell from around the world. Dorling Kindersley Ltd., London. ISBN 0-86318-811-7. 256pp.
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de Bruxelles , S. 1994. Plumber Makes His Jurassic Mark: a self-taught amateur has transformed the study of fossils. The Times, 8 February, 1999, p. 8. [an article about the fossil collector - Steve Etches].
One man's obsession with fossil collecting has opened a window on the lost world of Britain's Jurassic past. Steve Etches, a plumber who left school without a qualification to his name, has single-handedly repopulated Britain's ancient seas with giant carnivorous reptiles, strange fish and swanns of swimming molluscs. Until recently geologists had little idea of the variety of creatures in the seas around and over Britain in the Jurassic era 150 million years ago. Mr Etches has changed that by studying the Kimmeridge Clay, long neglected because it was believed to contain few fossils of interest. Deposited across northern Europe in the Jurassic era. it was considered of importance mainly because of its oil.
Mr Etches, 49, first took an interest in fossils in his late twenties and decided to concentrate on the Kimmeridge Clay rather than the easy pickings at well-known sites such as Lyme Regis. Named after the Dorset village where he now lives the clay is exposed in the cliffs and beaches of the area.
The tropical Jurassic sea was deep and perfectly calm at the bottom and a steady rain of sediment quickly buried the dead creatures that sank there. Some fossils are remarkably well preserved - even the soft parts normally lost. such as the ink sacs of squid and a ray's wings. By developing his own techniques and using compressed air tools, Mr Etches was able to recover them from their shale shell.
The fossils include the two-metre jawbone of a pliosaur, the largest carnivorous reptile known to have lived, entire lobsters, sharks, turtles and shoals of beautifully preserved fish and fossil ammonites. The bones reveal a world in which the largest got larger and everthing else got eaten. Almost every bone shows signs of having been someone's dinner.
Mr Etches, who moved to Kimmeridge to be closer to the deposits, said: "I was going around to museums telling them that what they thought were scratches were tooth marks. Until I came along, this record of predation went almost unnoticed. Now everyone can see it."
Although he is consulted by palaeontologists from around the world, for five days a week he installs central heating systems. One day he hopes to open his collection to the public and work on his scientific papers but he has to earn a living. He says his wife, Sue, and three children have no interest in fossils and think he is mad. Too often they have had to help to carry some promising looking boulder back to his workshop.
Mr Etches has two regrets: "That I didn't begin collecting fossils earlier and that I can't afford to devote all my time to them. That is what I really have a gift for."
[end of article, which also contains a large photograph of Steve Etches with an ammonite]
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Deconinck , J-F., Chamley, H., Debrabant, P. and Colebaux, J-P. 1983. Le Boulonnais au Jurassique superieur: donnees de la mineralogie des argiles et de la geochemie. Annales de la Societe Geologie Nord, 102, 145-152.
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Delair , J.B. 1958. The Mesozoic reptiles of Dorset: Part One. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, for 1957 79, 47-72.

Delair, J.B. 1959. The Mesozoic reptiles of Dorset: Part Two. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, for 1958 80, 52-90.

Delair, J.B. 1960. The Mesozoic reptiles of Dorset: Part Three, Conclusion. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, for 1959 79, 59-85.

Delair, J.B. 1966. New records of dinosaurs and other fossil reptiles from Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 87, 57-66.

Delair, J.B. 1975. Catalogues of British fossil vertebrate collections. GCC Newsletter, 1 (4), 184-186.

Delair, J.B. 1982. The fossil vertebrata in the Department of Geology at Southampton University. Geological Curator, 3, (4), 209-226.

Delair, J.B. 1986. Some little known Jurassic ichthyosaurs from Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 107, 127-134.

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Donovan , D.T. and Stride, A.M. 1961. An acoustic survey of the sea floor south of Dorset and its geological interpretation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, Series B, Biological Sciences, Vol. 244, No. 712, pp. 299-330, 23rd November, 1961.
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Dorset Geologists' Association Group . 2003. Coast and Country: Geology Walks in and Around Dorset (including excursions within the World Heritage Site). Compiled by members of the Dorset Geologists' Association Group to celebrate 10 years of their existence 1993-2003. Published by the Dorset Geologists' Association Group 2003, ISBN 0-9544354-0-0, 208pp. Following an introduction by the late Professor Michael House, there are 28 field excursions given by different authors. Some individual excursion guides in this book may be referred to separately in these bibliographies.

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Downie , C. 1956. Microplankton from the Kimmeridge Clay. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 112, 413-434.
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Draper, J. 2002 (Proceedings for 2001). Quarrying the Lias at Lyme Regis. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, vol. 123, pp. 15-22. By Jo Draper. With an old map, an old advertisement and eight old photographs of Lyme Regis.
[This paper is on the working of the Lias at Lyme Regis for cement, but there seem to have been parallels on a limited scale at Kimmeridge. The paper does not discuss Kimmeridge but is useful for understanding coastal quarrying for cement in Victorian times. Note that Cattle Ledge and Grey Ledge at Kimmeridge are cementstones in the sense of containing both carbonate and clay. However they are dolomites and the magnesium content may have made them less suitable for cement manufacture than the Blue Lias, which is not magnesium-rich. A high Mg content may delay the setting of the cement.]
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Dunn , C.E. 1974. Identification of sedimentary cycles through Fourier analysis of geochemical data. Chemical Geology, 13, 217-232.
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Ebukanson , E.J. and Kinghorn, R.R.F. 1986. Maturity of organic matter in the Jurassic of southern England and its relation to the burial history of the sediments. Journal of Petroleum Geology, 9 (3), 259-280. Abstract: An investigation of the maturity levels of organic matter in the major potential Jurassic hydrocarbon source rock units in Southern England (i.e. the Lower Lias, Oxford Clay and Kimmeridge Clay) using sporomorph colouration and alkane distribution patterns shows that the Oxford Clay and the Kimmeridge Clay organic materials are immature in most parts of the area. They are mature only in the central parts of the Mesozoic Wealden Basin... The distribution of mature Lower Lias sections is found to be more extensive. Attempted reconstructions of the burial history of the Jurassic sections across Southern England, and the application of the Lopatin method of theoretical organic maturity prediction, seem to support the observed maturity trends and suggest that the present maturity levels of Jurassic organic matter at any given locality are dependent on the structural development of the area through time.

Ebukanson, E.J. and Kinghorn, R.R.F. 1990. Jurassic mudrock formations of southern England: lithology, sedimentation rates and organic carbon content. Journal of Petroleum Geology, 13, (2), 221-228.
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Ensom , P.C. 1986. Evidence for mass mortality of decapod crustaceans in the Upper Kimmeridge Clay, Dorset? Proceedings of Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 107, p. 181-183. [ The laminated coccolith-rich Freshwater Steps Stone Bay has in a layer 20cm above the base with numerous randomly oriented impressions of decapod crustaceans resembling Palaeopolycheles. There is an identical occurrence in the Middle White Stone Band. A mystery concerning anoxic water. Were they pelagic?]

Etches, Steve

Steve Etches is the well-known palaeontologist aned collector of vertebrate and invertebrate fossils of the Kimmeridge Clay. He searches the cliffs regularly and has discovered and prepared numerous superb specimens. See the Steve Etches Catalogue, details of which are given below. See also de Bruxelles (1999) (above) for an article in The Times about Steve Etches.

Etches , S. and Clarke, J. 1999 (with updates). Steve Etches Kimmeridge Collection: Illustrated Catalogue. (by Steve Etches and Jane Clarke). The catalogue is in the form of a ring-binder so that pages can be added. It is an assemblage of A4 pages with monochrome photographs and brief captions. It has been privately published by Jane Clarke (jane@geoden.demon.co.uk)
This catalogue illustrates 370 of the most important of the 1,561 fossil specimens contained in the Steve Etches Kimmeridge Collection. This impressive collection is housed in a private museum and it may be viewed by appointment (the telephone number is given in the catalogue). All the specimens have been collected since 1981, the bulk coming from the Kimmeridge Bay area on the Dorset coast. Other material has come from Oday Common, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, the Blue Circle Cement Quarry, Westbury Wiltshire, the Black Isle, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland and Cap de la Havre, Normandy France. The many photographs include those of ammonite, ammonite eggs, bivalves, lobsters, fish, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, pliosaurs and pterosaurs. An interesting feature are the predatory toothmarks which Steve Etches has found in some of the bones. Genera illustrated include Aspidoceras, Aulacostephanus, Crussoliceras, Pectinatites, Pictonia, Eurycormis, Caturus, Trachyteuthis, Allothrissops, Geosaurus, Metriorhynchus, Eryma, Goniomya, Leptolepis, Hypsocormus, Gyrodus and various genera of marine saurians.

Etches, S., Clarke, J. and Callomon, J. 2009. Ammonite eggs and ammonitellae from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic) of Dorset, England. Lethaia, Vol. 42, pp. 204-217.
Abstract:
Eight clusters of small spherical and subspherical objects, some isolated and some associated with shells of perisphinctid ammonites, have been recovered from the Lower and Upper Kimmeridge Clay (Upper Jurassic) of the Dorset coast, England. They have been interpreted as ammonite egg sacs and represent the freshest and best-preserved examples known so far. Their structures and the ecological framework in which they occur are discussed. The parents are thought to be members of the two eudemic genera Aulacostephanus and Pectinatites that dominate the biostratigraphy of the ammonites in the range of the Kimmeridge Clay in which they occur. Isolated nuclei of ammonitellae have also been recovered.

Etches in:
Gallois, R. and Etches, S. 2001. The stratigraphy of the youngest part of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic) of the Dorset type area. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 112, 169-182. By Ramues Gallois (Exeter) and Steve Etches (Kimmeridge). Abstract: The stratigraphy of the youngest part of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic) of the Dorset type area. The lithostratigraphy of the youngest part of the Kimmeridge Clay of the stratotype section at Houns-tout/Chapman's Pool in south Dorset is described in detail for the first time, and is the correlated with other current exposures in south Dorset and with borehole sequences in more distant areas. The stratotype section, albeit deeply weathered in part, is the only complete succession in Britain through this late Jurassic interval. It remains of key importance to international correlation of the Boreal, Sub-boreal and Tethyan faunal provinces at this stratigraphical level and to the resolution of the debate concerning the boundaries of the Kimmeridgian, Tethyan and Bolonian stages. [Houns-tout is also known as Hounstout.]

(Etches - article about - by -) de Bruxelles , S. 1994. Plumber Makes His Jurassic Mark: a self-taught amateur has transformed the study of fossils. The Times, 8 February, 1999, p. 8. [an article about the fossil collector - Steve Etches].
One man's obsession with fossil collecting has opened a window on the lost world of Britain's Jurassic past. Steve Etches, a plumber who left school without a qualification to his name, has single-handedly repopulated Britain's ancient seas with giant carnivorous reptiles, strange fish and swanns of swimming molluscs. Until recently geologists had little idea of the variety of creatures in the seas around and over Britain in the Jurassic era 150 million years ago. Mr Etches has changed that by studying the Kimmeridge Clay, long neglected because it was believed to contain few fossils of interest. Deposited across northern Europe in the Jurassic era. it was considered of importance mainly because of its oil.
Mr Etches, 49, first took an interest in fossils in his late twenties and decided to concentrate on the Kimmeridge Clay rather than the easy pickings at well-known sites such as Lyme Regis. Named after the Dorset village where he now lives the clay is exposed in the cliffs and beaches of the area.
The tropical Jurassic sea was deep and perfectly calm at the bottom and a steady rain of sediment quickly buried the dead creatures that sank there. Some fossils are remarkably well preserved - even the soft parts normally lost. such as the ink sacs of squid and a ray's wings. By developing his own techniques and using compressed air tools, Mr Etches was able to recover them from their shale shell.
The fossils include the two-metre jawbone of a pliosaur, the largest carnivorous reptile known to have lived, entire lobsters, sharks, turtles and shoals of beautifully preserved fish and fossil ammonites. The bones reveal a world in which the largest got larger and everthing else got eaten. Almost every bone shows signs of having been someone's dinner.
Mr Etches, who moved to Kimmeridge to be closer to the deposits, said: "I was going around to museums telling them that what they thought were scratches were tooth marks. Until I came along, this record of predation went almost unnoticed. Now everyone can see it."
Although he is consulted by palaeontologists from around the world, for five days a week he installs central heating systems. One day he hopes to open his collection to the public and work on his scientific papers but he has to earn a living. He says his wife, Sue, and three children have no interest in fossils and think he is mad. Too often they have had to help to carry some promising looking boulder back to his workshop.
Mr Etches has two regrets: "That I didn't begin collecting fossils earlier and that I can't afford to devote all my time to them. That is what I really have a gift for."
[end of article, which also contains a large photograph of Steve Etches with an ammonite]
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Evans , J., Jenkins, D. and Gluyas, J. 1998. The Kimmeridge Bay oilfield: an enigma demystified. In: Underhill, J.R. (Ed.) Development, Evolution and Petroleum Geology of the Wessex Basin. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 133, 1-18. 407-413. Abstract: The Kimmeridge oilfield was the first commercial discovery in the Wessex Basin. It was discovered in 1959 and is still producing from a single well. To date over 3 million barrels of oil have been extracted. Production is likely to continue into the next century. Oil is trapped in the fractured Cornbrash Limestones in an anticline close to the main inversion axis. The Kimmeridge accumulation remains the only producing field in the hanging wall to the Purbeck Disturbance, making it an intriguing enigma within the basin. Many myths have been perpetuated regarding the size of the field and the results from drilling elsewhere within Kimmeridge Bay. By presenting data on the field here, we hope to dispel some of these myths.
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Feistner , K.W.A. 1989. Petrographic examination and reinterpretation of concretionary carbonate horizons from the Kimmeridge Clay, Dorset. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 146, 345-350.
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Forbes-Leslie , W. 1917. The Norfolk oil-shales. Journal of the Institute of Petroleum Technology, vol. 3, pp. 152-190.
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Funnel , B.M. 1981. Laminated coccolith limestones - a Black Sea analogue in the Kimmeridgian of England. IAS (International Association of Sedimentologists) 2nd European Meeting, Bologna, 1981, 58.
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Fursich , T.F., Werner, W., Schneider, S. and Mauser, M. 2006. Sedimentology, taphonomy, and palaeoecology of a laminated plattenkalk from the Kimmeridgian of the northern Franconian Alb (southern Germany). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol. ?, pp. ?. By Franz Theodor Fürsich, Winfried Werner, Simon Schneider and Matthias Mäuser.
Abstract: At Wattendorf in the northern Franconian Alb, southern Germany, centimetre- to decimetre-thick packages of finely laminated limestones (plattenkalk) occur intercalated between well bedded graded grainstones and rudstones that blanket a relief produced by now dolomitized microbialite-sponge reefs. These beds reach their greatest thickness in depressions between topographic highs and thin towards, and finally disappear on, the crests. The early Late Kimmeridgian graded packstone–bindstone alternations represent the earliest plattenkalk occurrence in southern Germany. The undisturbed lamination of the sediment strongly points to oxygen-free conditions on the seafloor and within the sediment, inimical to higher forms of life. The plattenkalk contains a diverse biota of benthic and nektonic organisms. Excavation of a 13 cm thick plattenkalk unit across an area of 80 m2 produced 3500 fossils, which, with the exception of the bivalve Aulacomyella, exhibit a random stratigraphic distribution. Two-thirds of the individuals had a benthic mode of life attached to hard substrate. This seems to contradict the evidence of oxygen-free conditions on the sea floor, such as undisturbed lamination, presence of articulated skeletons, and preservation of soft parts. However, palaeoecological and taphonomic analyses indicate that the benthic faunal elements are allochthonous having settled out of suspension and thus must have been derived from hard substrate areas of neighbouring topographic highs. Solely the bivalve Aulacomyella, which occurs concentrated on a single bedding plane, may have colonised the plattenkalk depression during brief periods of oxygenation. Alternatively, a pseudoplanktonic mode of life, attached to floating sea weed, is envisaged for the bivalve. The formation of the plattenkalk is related to local and global factors: a drop in relative sea level caused the death of the microbialite-sponge reefs. Restricted circulation in depressions between the crests of the former reefs led to anoxic conditions and the formation of finely laminated sediments stabilised by microbial mats. The small depressions received sediment and skeletal elements of benthic organisms that were swept off neighbouring topographic highs by storms and that entered the depressions partly as turbidity currents, partly as suspension clouds. A rise in the relative sea level finally terminated the restricted circulation in the depressions and closed the taphonomic window that led to the preservation of the plattenkalk biota.

Gallois, R.W. 1976. Coccolith blooms in the Kimmeridge Clay and origin of North Sea Oil. Nature, London, 259, 473-475.

Gallois, R.W. 1978. A pilot study of oil shale occurrences in the Kimmeridge Clay. Institute of Geological Sciences, Report 78/13, H.M.S.O. 26 pp. Summary: This report describes the stratigraphical and analytical results obtained from four continuously cored boreholes drilled at Donington on Bain, Lincolnshire; North Runcton, Norfolk; Swindon Wiltshire and West Lavington, Wiltshire to examine the nature and occurrence of oil shales in the Kimmeridge Clay. These oil shales have been shown to be concentrated at five levels throughout southern England and detailed correlations have been made between each group of seams in the boreholes and with those at outcrop in the type section at Kimmeridge, Dorset. Potential oil yields have been determined for each group of seams: the results show that, with mechanical enrichment, some levels of Kimmeridge Clay could provide a richer retorting material than some of the oil shales which have been worked in the past. The clay mineralogy of the raw and spent oil shales has been examined using X-ray diffraction, and posssible uses of the spent shale are discussed. The raw shale has also been examined for possible trace element enrichment. The geophysical characters and engineering properties of the Kimmeridge Clay are briefly discussed since these have a bearing on future exploration and possible methods of working respectively... Author and contributor: Ramues W. Gallois, B.Sc., CEng, FIMM ; R.J. Merriman, B.Sc. (clay mineralogy section).

Gallois, R.W. 1978a. What price oil shales? New Scientist, 23 February, 1978, pp. 490-493. The world's largest reserves of liquid hydrocarbons are bound up in extensive deposits of oil shales. This article takes a look at their economic potential and the technical difficulties of their exploitation. The Department of Energy has recently commissioned the Institute of Geological Sciences to carry out a detailed study of Britain's Jurassic oil shales.

Gallois, R.W. 1998. The stratigraphy and well-completion reports for the Swanworth Quarry No.1 and No.2 and Metherhills No. 1 boreholes (RGGE Project), Dorset. British Geological Survey Technical Report, WA/97/91.

Gallois, R.W. 2000. The stratigraphy of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic) in the RGGE Project boreholes at Swanworth Quarry and Metherhills, south Dorset. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 111, 265-280. Abstract: Three continuously cored boreholes were drilled in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation in south Dorset to provide unweathered samples for a multidisciplinary study of late Jurassic rhythmic sedimentation and its possible causes. Taken together, the borehole cores provide the first complete sequence through the Kimmeridge Clay and the Kimmeridgian Stage in the type area. The cores have been correlated in detail with the succession exposed in the nearby Kimmeridge cliffs and other sections in south Dorset, as well as with those proved in borehole sections elsewhere in southern and eastern England. The cores have enabled the current chronostratigraphical classification of the Kimmeridge Clay to be extended to the top of the formation, covering strata that are poorly exposed at outcrop. Four types of small-scale rhythm are present within the formation, each of which can be related to the sequence stratigraphy. Only one of these is organic rich and of importance as an oil-source rock. End of abstract. (Additional notes: This is a key paper for providing stratigraphical information on the top and bottom of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. Types of rhythms are shown diagrammatically. There is some lateral variations in stone beds (actually mostly dolomite). Some notable Kimmeridge Clay horizons include - the Hobarrow Bay Fluidised Bed of seismic shock origin and the Chapman's Pool Pebble Bed. For the unexposed section beneath Kimmeridge Bay there are new names for stone bands - Metherhills SB, Swanworth A, B, C, and D stone bands. The Kimmeridge Cliffs thickness is 7 percent greater than that at Swanworth Quarry. RGGE stand for "Rapid Global Geological Events", a special research topic to examine rhthmicity and its possible causes in the Kimmeridge Clay. This was initiated by NERC in 1995.).

Gallois, R.W. 2005. On the Kimmeridgian (Jurassic) succession of the Normandy coast, northern France. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 116, 33-43. Abstract: Kimmeridgian rocks crop out on the Normandy coast north and south of the Seine Estuary at Le Havre in a series of small foreshore and cliff exposures separated by beach deposits and landslips. A total thickness of about 45 m of richly fossiliferous strata is exposed, ranging from the base of the Baylei Zone to the middle part of the Eudoxus Zone. The sections are mostly unprotected by sea-defence works and are subject to rapid marine erosion and renewal. Taken together, the Normandy exposures currently provide a more complete section through the low and middle parts of the Kimmeridgian Stage than any natural English section, including those of the Dorset type area. Descriptions and a stratigraphical interpretation of the Normandy sections are presented that enable the faunal collections to be placed in their regional chronostratigraphical context. The Kimmeridgian succession at outcrop on the Normandy coast contains numerous sedimentary breaks marked by erosion, hardground and omission surfaces. Some of these are disconformities that give rise to rapid lateral variations in the succession: biostratigraphical studies need, therefore, to be carried out with particular care. [This includes a brief mention of the main Dorset localities with references.]

Gallois R.W. and Cox, B.M. 1976. The stratigraphy of the Lower Kimmeridge Clay of eastern England. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 41, 13-26.

Gallois, R. and Etches, S. 2001. The stratigraphy of the youngest part of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic) of the Dorset type area. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 112, 169-182. By Ramues Gallois (Exeter) and Steve Etches (Kimmeridge). Abstract: The stratigraphy of the youngest part of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic) of the Dorset type area. The lithostratigraphy of the youngest part of the Kimmeridge Clay of the stratotype section at Houns-tout/Chapman's Pool in south Dorset is described in detail for the first time, and is the correlated with other current exposures in south Dorset and with borehole sequences in more distant areas. The stratotype section, albeit deeply weathered in part, is the only complete succession in Britain through this late Jurassic interval. It remains of key importance to international correlation of the Boreal, Sub-boreal and Tethyan faunal provinces at this stratigraphical level and to the resolution of the debate concerning the boundaries of the Kimmeridgian, Tethyan and Bolonian stages. [Houns-tout is also known as Hounstout.]

See also Cox, B.M. and Gallois, R.W. 1981. Stratigraphy of the Kimmeridge Clay of the Dorset type area and its correlation with some other Kimmeridgian sequences. Report of the Institute of Geological Sciences, No. 80/4, 144. [Key publication for details of Kimmeridge Clay stratigraphy at Kimmeridge and elsewhere]

Hantzpergue, P., Enay, R. & Atrops, F. 1997. Kimmeridgien. In (Cariou, E. & Hantzpergue, P.; co-ordinators; eds) Groupe Francais d'Etude du Jurassique - Biostratigraphie du Jurassique ouest europeen et mediterraneen: zonations parallides et distribution des invertebres et microfossiles. Elf Aquitaine, Memoire, 17, 87-102.
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Healey , M. 1904. Notes on Upper Jurassic ammonites with special reference to specimens in the University Museum, Oxford: No. 1. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 60, 54-64, pls. 9-12.
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House , M. E. 1989. Geology of the Dorset Coast. Geologists' Association Guide, 162pp. See later edition - 1993.

House, M.E. 1993 (and earlier edition in 1989) - Geology of the Dorset Coast. Geologists Association Guide No. 22. 2nd edition, 164 pages plus plates. ISBN 0 7073 0485 7.
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Huc , A.Y., Lallier-Verges, E., Bertrand, P., Carpentier, B. and Hollander, D.J. 1992. Organic matter response to change of depositional environment in Kimmeridgian Shales, Dorset, UK. In: Whelan, J.K. and Farrington, J.W. (eds.). Organic Matter Productivity, Accumulation and Preservation in Recent and Ancient Sediments. Columbia University Press, New York, 469-486.
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Huang , C., Hesselbo, S.P. and Hinnov, L. 2010. Astrochronology of the late Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay (Dorset, England) and implications for Earth system processes. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 289, issues 1-2, 15th Jan. 2010, pp. 242-255. By Chunju Huang, Stephen P. Hesselbo and Linda Hinnov,
Abstract:
The Late Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay Formation (KCF) is an economically important, organic-rich source rock of Kimmeridgian–Early Tithonian age. The main rock types of the KCF in Dorset, UK, include grey to black laminated shale, marl, coccolithic limestone, and dolostone, which occur with an obvious cyclicity at astronomical timescales. In this study, we examine two high-resolution borehole records (Swanworth Quarry 1 and Metherhills 1) obtained as part of a Rapid Global Geological Events (RGGE) sediment drilling project. Datasets examined were total organic carbon (TOC), and borehole wall microconductivity by Formation Microscanner (FMS). Our intent is to assess the rhythmicity of the KCF with respect to the astronomical timescale, and to discuss the results with respect to other key Late Jurassic geological processes. Power spectra of the untuned data reveal a hierarchy of cycles throughout the KCF with approx. 167 m, approx. 40 m, 9.1 m, 3.8 m and 1.6 m wavelengths. Tuning the approx. 40 m cycles to the 405-kyr eccentricity cycle shows the presence of all the astronomical parameters: eccentricity, obliquity, and precession index. In particular, approx. 100-kyr and 405-kyr eccentricity cycles are strongly expressed in both records. The 405-kyr eccentricity cycle corresponds to relative sea-level changes inferred from sequence stratigraphy. Intervals with elevated TOC are associated with strong obliquity forcing. The 405-kyr-tuned duration of the lower KCF (Kimmeridgian Stage) is 3.47 Myr, and the upper KCF (early part of the Tithonian Stage, elegans to fittoni ammonite zones) is 3.32 Myr. Two other chronologies test the consistency of this age model by tuning approx. 8–10 m cycles to 100-kyr (short eccentricity), and approx. 3–5 m cycles to 36-kyr (Jurassic obliquity). The obliquity-tuned chronology resolves an accumulation history for the KCF with a variation that strongly resembles that of Earth's orbital eccentricity predicted for 147.2 Ma to 153.8 Ma. There is evidence for significant non-deposition (up to 1 million years) in the lowermost KCF (baylei–mutabilis zones), which would indicate a Kimmeridgian/Oxfordian boundary age of 154.8 Ma. This absolute calibration allows assignment of precise numerical ages to zonal boundaries, sequence surfaces, and polarity chrons of the lower M-sequence.
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Hulke , J.W. 1869. Note on a large saurian humerus from the Kimmeridge Clay of the Dorset coast. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 25, 386-389.

Hulke, J.W. 1869. Notes on some fossil remains of a gavial-like saurian from Kimmeridge Bay, collected by J.C. Mansel, Esq., establishing its identity with Cuvier's Deuxieme Gavial d'Honfleur, tete a museau plus court (Steneosaurus-rostro minor of Geoffroy St.-Hillaire, 1825), and with Quenstedt's Dakosaurus. By J.W. Hulke, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 25, first part (Proceedings of the Geological Society), pp. 390-400 with plates.

[Example extract from pages 17 and 18, including text with original spelling from the Survey of Dorsetshire:]

"And not farre hence (i.e. from Smedmore) the nowe, Owner, beeing ingenious in diverse Faculties, put in tryall the makeing of Allom, which he had noe sooner, by much Cost and Travell, brought to a reasonable Perfection, but the Farmers of the Allom Workes seized to the Kings Use; and beeing not so skillfull or fortunate as himselfe, were forced with Losses to leave it offe, and soe nowe it rests almost ruined.

"But in place of it Sir William Clavile, who one disaster dismayed not, hath sithence sett up a Glasse House (which is come to Perfection, and is likely to redounde to a good Benefit) and Salt House."

"For transportation of these Commodities, as also of white salt (there is made in great Abundance, by boyling it out of the Sea Water) hee hath at his owne Charge, with great Rocks and Stones piled together, built a little key in Imitation of that at Lime, for small Barkes to ride, invironed on the East side with an Hill yeelding Myne (as they call it) for the Allom Works, and a kind of blueish Stones that serve to burne, for maintaining fire in the Glasse House; but in burneing yeelds such an offensive savour that the People labouring about those Fires are more like Furies than Men".

About this time, Sir William drew up a document which he entitled "Arguments in the behalf of Sir William Clavell, to prove that hee ought to bee allowed to make Allome, or well recompensed for his workes, to his content"; it was his claim for compensation, probably intended for James I's Council. As it shows how the alum first came to be mined, and how those with Court influence could frustrate other developers, it is given here in full:

"The old Lord Mountjoy about 40 yeres past, discovered that the land of Kimridge was full of Allom myne [allom myne = pyrite? - iron sulphide, the raw material for alum manufacture, is abundant in the Kimmeridge Clay at certain horizons, particularly at the Blackstone], and laboured with John Clavell esq. the owner of those landes to joyne with him in his pattent to make Allom in England. And tryalls were made on those lands, the ruins of which worke, or some other of antiquitie yet remaynes.

"About ten yeres past Mr Clavell acquainted his sonne Sir William Clavell with those proceedings, who thereupon laboured to finde out Coles neere adioyning, knowing it behovefull for such his purpose: which with cost and labour hee atteyned.

"Whilest these things were in practize, some got from his Majestie a pattent to make Allom alone, wherein yet there was an exception to my Lord Mountjoys heires in all places put in tryall for making of Allom, whereof Kimridge was one.

"Sir William Clavell unwilling to oppose his Majesties prerogative sat quietlie downe, and converted his courses to making of salte, untill the Marchaunte patentees carried with the rumor of Sir William Clavells endevours sought him oute, and came in their persones 100 myles to compound with him: who tooke composicion for his houses, furnaces and Cole pitts, and agreed for £1000 rent per annum.

"After one yere the said Marchauntes brake from all their bargaynes, ruined and ransacked all the Allom houses, sold Sir William Clavells stocke of Cattell from his ground, to his infinite preiudice; and for his recompence left his worke in disgrace. "Sir William Clavell sued at the Councell table to revive his worke at his owne charge, and obteyned his suit.

"After one years endevour, and expence of £2000 Sir Walter Cope, Sir Arthur Ingram and Mr Johnson laboured to drawe this worke into his Majesties hands, and promised reasonable satisfaction, and thereupon undertooke to deliver £5000 to set up so many houses and pannes as should make 500 tunnes of Allom yerely, who hath received £3300 of the same for which there is erected two strong Allom houses, absolutely furnished, which will neere bring foorth that proporcion. For the carefull performing whereof, Sir William Clavell hath disbursed £2000 more out of his owne decayed estate, which hee hath performed within the space of eight moneths, haveing also built within the same tyme a strong huge peere of Stone, 100 foote long, 50 foote highe, and 60 foote broade. And Sir William Clavell will prove that never so much worke was done within so short a tyme, performed for soe little money, and so exactly and substancially finished".

The dimensions of the pier are highly suspect. Surely it cannot have been 50 foot high. Perhaps 15, or even 5! And perhaps the breadth was exaggerated too. Hutchins, writing his History of Dorset in the middle of the 18th century, says that there used to be a "large key or Cobb, beginning at the east side of the bay and extending north, paralleled with the east shore. At the south end was detached another branch, which ran NW far into the bay. It was almost entirely ruined by a storm, 1745". One would dearly like to see Sir William's plans and, bearing in mind how shallow the bay is, to know what sort of boats were able to make use of the pier, quay or cobb.

Clearly Sir William flung himself into the alum venture with great energy and high hopes; and although he ended £2000 the poorer he lacked neither energy nor hope when he "put in tryall" his next venture, glass. Would that the one disaster had dismayed him!
[continues]

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Mansel-Pleydell , J.C. 1888. Fossil reptiles of Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club , 9, 1-40.

Mansel-Pleydell, J.C. 1894. Kimmeridge shale. Proceedings of Dorset Field Club, 15, 172-183.
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Matthews , A., Morgans-Bell, H.S, Emmanuel, S., Jenkyns, H.C. Erel, Y, and Halicz, L. 2004. Controls on iron-isotope fractionation in organic-rich sediments (Kimmeridge Clay, Upper Jurassic, southern England). By Alan Matthews, Helen S. Morgans-Bell, Simon Emmanuel, Hugh C. Jenkyns, Yigal Erel, and Ludwik Halicz. Geochima et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 68, No. 14, pp. 3107-3123. Available online. See PDF version. Abstract: This study explores the fractionation of iron isotopes (57Fe/54Fe) in an organic-rich mudstone succession, focusing on core and outcrop material sampled from the Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay Formation type locality in south Dorset, UK. The organic-rich environments recorded by the succession provide an excellent setting for an investigation of the mechanisms by which iron isotopes are partitioned among mineral phases during biogeochemical sedimentary processes. Two main types of iron-bearing assemblage are defined in the core material: mudstones with calcite and/or pyrite and/or siderite mineralogy, and ferroan dolomite (dolostone) bands. A cyclic data distribution is apparent, which reflects variations in isotopic composition from a lower range of del57Fe values associated with the pyrite/siderite mudstone samples to the generally higher values of the adjacent dolostone samples. Most pyrite/siderite mudstones vary between -0.4 and 0.1‰ while dolostones range between -0.1 and 0.5‰, although in very organic-rich shale samples below 360 m core depth higher del57Fe values are noted. Pyrite nodules and pyritized ammonites from the type exposure yield del57Fe values of -0.3 to -0.45‰. A fractionation model consistent with the del57Fe variations relates the lower del57Fe pyrite and siderite and/or pyrite mudstones values to the production of isotopically depleted Fe(II) during biogenic reduction of the isotopically heavier lithogenic Fe(III) oxides. A consequence of this reductive dissolution is that a 57Fe-enriched iron species must be produced that potentially becomes available for the formation of the higher del57Fe dolostones. An isotopic profile across a dolostone band reveals distinct zonal variations in del57Fe, characterized by two peaks, respectively located above and below the central part of the band, and decoupling of the isotopic composition from the iron content. This form of isotopic zoning is shown to be consistent with a onedimensional model of diffusional-chromatographic Fe-isotope exchange between dolomite and isotopically enriched pore water. An alternative mechanism envisages the infiltration of dissolved ferrous iron from variable (high and low) del57Fe sources during coprecipitation of Fe(II) ion with dolomite. The study provides clear evidence that iron isotopes are cycled during the formation and diagenesis of organic carbon-rich sediments.
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Maxwell , D. 1927. Unknown Dorset.[With reference to oil-shale workings.]
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Miller , R.G. 1991. A paleoceanographic approach to the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. pp. 13-26 in: Deposition of Organic Facies (ed. A.Y. Huc). Tulsa: A.A.P.G., 234p. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Studies in Geology, 30.
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Morgans-Bell , H.S., Coe, A.L., Hesselbo, S.P., Jenkyns, H.C., Weedon, G.P., Marshall, J.E.A., Tyson, R.V. and Williams, C.J. 2001. Integrated stratigraphy of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic) based on exposures and boreholes in south Dorset. Geological Magazine, 138, 511-539. Abstract: For the purposes of a high-resolution multi-disciplinary study of the Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay Formation, two boreholes were drilled at Swanworth Quarry and one at Metherhills, south Dorset, UK. Together, the cores represent the first complete section through the entire formation close to the type section. We present graphic logs that record the stratigraphy of the cores, and outline the complementary geophysical and analytical data sets (gamma ray, magnetic susceptibility, total organic carbon, carbonate, delta 13C org). Of particular note are the new borehole data from the lowermost part of the formation which does not crop out in the type area. Detailed logs are available for download from the Kimmeridge Drilling Project web-site at http://kimmeridge.earth.ox.ac.uk/. Of further interest is a mid-eudoxus Zone positive shift in the delta 13C org record, a feature that is also registered in Tethyan carbonate successions, suggesting that it is a regional event and may therefore be useful for correlation. The lithostratigraphy of the cores has been precisely correlated with the nearby cliff section, which has also been examined and re-described. Magnetic-susceptibility and spectral gamma-ray measurements were made at a regular spacing through the succession, and facilitate core-to-exposure correlation. The strata of the exposure and core have been subdivided into four main mudrock lithological types: (a) medium-dark–dark-grey marl; (b) medium-dark–dark grey–greenish black shale; (c) dark-grey–olive-black laminated shale; (d) greyish-black–brownishblack mudstone. The sections also contain subordinate amounts of siltstone, limestone and dolostone. Comparison of the type section with the cores reveals slight lithological variation and notable thickness differences between the coeval strata. The proximity of the boreholes and different parts of the type section to the Purbeck–Isle of Wight Disturbance is proposed as a likely control on the thickness changes.
This paper is available on the internet at Integrated stratigraphy of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic) based on exposures and boreholes in south Dorset, UK.
Detailed, large-scale graphic logs of the Swanworth and Metherhill cores and of the cliff section, with geochemical data etc. are available from the British Library Document Supply Centre as Supplementary Publication No. SUP 90490 (51) pages. They can be downloaded from the Kimmeridge Drilling Project web-site . For the coast see: Coe, A.L., Hesselbo, S.P., Jenkyns, H.C., Morgans Bell, H. and Weedon, G.P. 2001. Kimmeridge Clay Formation composite graphic log for coastal exposures, near Kimmeridge, Dorset. Part of Supplementary Publication No. SUP 90490, British Library.
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Murray, J.W. (Ed.) 1985. Atlas of Invertebrate Macrofossils. Longman, The Palaeontological Association, 241 pp. Edited by Professor John W. Murray.
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Myers , K. and Wignall, P. 1987. Understanding Jurassic organic-rich mudrocks: new concepts using gamma-ray spectrometry and palaeoecology; examples from the Kimmeridge Clay of Dorset and the Jet Rock of Yorkshire. In: Leggett, J.K. and Zuffa, G.G. (eds). 1987. Marine Clastic Sedimentology: Concepts and Case Studies. Graham and Trotman, London, 172-189.
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Neaverson , E. 1924. The zonal nomenclature of the Upper Kimmeridge Clay. Geological Magazine, 61, 146-151.

Neaverson, E. 1925. Ammonites from the Upper Kimmeridge Clay. Papers and Proceedings of the Geology Department of the University of Liverpool, 1, 1-52, pls. 1-4.

Neaverson, E. 1925. The petrography of the Upper Kimmeridge Clay and the Portland Sand in Dorset, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 36, 240-256
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Noel , D. 1972. Nannofossiles calcaires de sediments jurassiques finement lamines [Calcareous nannofossils of finely laminated Jurassic sediments]. Bulletin du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. 3rd Series, No. 75, September-October, 1972, Earth Sciences 14, pp. 95-155.
Abstract. - This paper includes the study of calcareous nannofossils (Coccolithophorids and incertae sedis), from French and English Jurassic sediments (Toarcian, Kimmeridgian, Portlandian), characterized by their laminated facies. Twenty six species are described, of which nine are new species; four are new combinations. Four new genera and two families are also proposed as new. The stratigraphical conclusions will be the purpose of a later work.
"Au cours des dernieres annees, le nombre des travaux sur le nannoplancton calcaire fossile est alle sans cesse grandissant. Les raisons de ce remarquable developpement sont sans nul doute liees a la mise en oeuvre de plus en plus courante des techniques de la microscopie electronique facilitant et rendant plus precise l'observation de ces minuscules fossiles, mais tiennent egalement aux interessantes possibilites d'utilisation stratigraphique de ces derniers. .
Pour ce qui est des periodes geologiques concernees par ces travaux, on constate une tres grande disparite. Variees et abondantes pour le Tertiaire dans son ensemble, les publications le sont nettement moins pour le Cretace et deviennent meme rares pour le Jurasslque.
Nos premieres connaissances sur les coccolithes de ce systeme sont dues aux travaux de G. Deflandre (1939, 1954) sur les marnes de I'Oxfordien de Villers-sur-Mer (Calvados), du Charmouthien de Tilly-sur-Seule (Calvados) et du Lias superieur d'Urkut (Hongrie). J'ai moi-meme donne en 1956 et 1958 la description et la repartition stratigraphique des nannofossiles observes - en microscopie photonique - dans des marnes et calcaires marneux du J urassique d' AIgerie (Pliensbachien a Portlandien)." [continues]
[See p. 97 on "Kimmeridge Clay of Chapman's Pool". This actually refers to the Kimmeridge Clay of Rope Lake Hole, between Rope Lake Head and Freshwater Steps, west of Chapmans Pool (I assisted Denise Noel in the collection of specimens). The particular bed studied was the White Stone Band at the base of the Pectinatites pectinatus Zone. See also p. 96 on banded bituminous limestone of Armailles (Ain). These are of Upper Kimmeridgian age in the French sense and thus correspond to some part of the Lower Kimmeridge Clay of Dorset. Much of the paper is on the systematics of the calcareous nannofossils and there are 15 plates of excellent scanning electron photomicrographs. On p. 52, plate 14, fig. 1 shows numerous coccospheres of Ellipsagellosphaera communis (Reinhardt) Perch-Nielsen, 1968. These coccosphere essentially make up the White Band. See the webpage Kimmeridge - Rope Lake Head to Freshwater Steps. ]
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Oates , M.J. 1974. The stratigraphy and palaeoecology of the Hartwell Clay (Upper Kimmeridgian) of Aylesbury, Buckingshire. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, London, 85, 367-375.
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Oschmann , W. 1988. Upper Kimmeridgian and Portlandian marine macrobenthic associations from southern England and northern France. Facies, 18, 49-82.

Oschmann, W. 1990. Environmental cycles in the late Jurassic northwest European epieric basin: interaction with atmospheric and hydrospheric circulations. In: Aigner, T. and Dott, R.H. (eds.) Processes and Patterns in Epeiric Basins. Sedimentary Geology, 69, 313-332.
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Owen , R. 1861-1889. Monograph on the Reptilia of the Kimmeridge Clay and Portland Stone. Palaeontographical Society, London. By Sir Richard Owen, K.C.B., D.C.L., F.R.S., Foreign Associate of the Institute of France, etc. etc. 12 pp. and 14 plates.
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Palmer , C.P. 1987. The Kimmeridgian fauna associated with the Portland plesiosaur. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 109, 109-112.
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Pancost , R.D., Van Dongen, B.E., Esser, A., Morgans-Bell, H.S., Jenkyns, H.C. and Sinninghe Damste, J.S. 2004. Variation in organic matter composition and its impact on organic-carbon preservation in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic, Dorset, southern England). In: Harris, N. (ed.), The Deposition of Organic Carbon-rich Sediments: Models. Mechanisms and Consequences. Special Publication of the Society of Sedimentary Geology (SEPM). i
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Pearson , S.J., Marshall, J.E.A. and Kemp, A.E.S. (2004). The White Stone Band of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, an integrated high resolution approach to understanding environmental change Journal of the Geological Society, London, 161 (4), 675-683. Abstract: The Kimmeridge Clay is a Jurassic mudrock succession that shows Milankovitch Band climatic cyclicity. A key issue is to determine how the subtle changes that define this cyclicity result from climatic change. Using material from the Natural Environment Research Council Rapid Global Geological Events (RGGE) Kimmeridge Drilling Project boreholes, the White Stone Band was investigated at the lamination scale using backscattered electron imagery and quantitative palynofacies. Fabric analysis shows the lamination to represent successive deposition of coccolith-rich and organic-matter-rich layers. Individual laminae contain unsorted palynological debris with a consistent ratio of marine and terrestrial components. Such mixed organic matter input is interpreted as the result of storm transport. Linking water column processes to laminae deposition suggests seasonal input with a coccolith bloom followed by a more diverse assemblage including dinoflagellates and photosynthetic chlorobiacean bacteria. As the photic zone extended into the euxinic water column organic matter export to the sea bed underwent minimal cycling through oxidation and subsequently became preserved through sulphurization with greatly increased sequestration of carbon. This was significantly increased by late season storm-driven mixing of euxinic water into the photic zone. Increased frequency of storm systems would therefore dilute the coccolith input to give an oil shale. Hence climatically induced changes in storm frequency would progressively vary the organic content of the sediment and generate the climate cycle signal. Keywords: Milankovitch theory, Kimmeridge Clay, organic matter, high-resolution methods, climate change.

Pearson, Marshall and Kemp, 2004. Kimmeridge White Band.- internet version.
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Pushman , D. 1999. The Loss of the SS Treveal: Dorset Shipwreck Mystery. Downsway Books, Downsway, The Hyde, Langton Matravers, Swanage, Dorset, BH19 3HE. 176pp. ISBN 0 9517621 2 5. "The loss of the SS Treveal off the Purbeck coast of Dorset in 1920 is one of the most extraordinary and melancholy stories in the annals of shipwreck. Not since the Halsewell was wrecked in 1786, a tragedy described by Charles Dickens in The Long Voyage , had a shipwreck on that notorious stretch of coast resulted in such a heavy loss of life. ..."
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Rapid Global Geological Events. 2001. The Rapid Global Geological Events (RGGE) Project. A Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Special Topic.

The main aim of this project is to develop a high-resolution stratigraphy for the Kimmeridge Clay. We are also sponsored by the following companies, here listed under their original names (circa 1997): ARCO British, Conoco Norway, Enterprise Oil, FINA Exploration, Phillips Petroleum, Saga Petroleum, Shell UK Exploration and Production, Statoil (UK), and Texaco. This funding benefits a consortium of institutions which include the British Geological Survey, the Natural History Museum, University College, London, Leeds, Luton, Newcastle, Open, Oxford, Reading, and Southampton Universities.
This server provides data collected by these various research groups, much of which is now available for download by project participants and general users alike.
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Raiswell , R. 1987. Non–steady state microbiological diagenesis and the origins of concretions and nodular limestones. In: Diagenesis in Sedimentary Sequences (ed. J. D. Marshall), pp. 41–54. Special Publication 36. Geological Society of London.

Raiswell, R. and Fisher Q. J. 2000. Mudrock-hosted carbonate concretions: A review of growth mechanisms and their influence on chemical and isotopic composition. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 157, 239–251
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Radley , J.D., Gale, A.S. and Barker, M.J. 1998. Derived Jurassic fossils from the Vectis Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of the Isle of Wight, southern England. Proceedings of the Geologists Association, 109, 81-91. Derived late Jurassic fossils occur commonly in the uppermost part of the Vectis Formation (Wealden Group, Lower Cretaceous) at Sandown Bay, on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight. These records corroborate subsurface data which indicate the proximity of Jurassic sediments on the footwall of the syn-depositional fault (Purbeck-Isle of Wight structure) which marked the northern margin of the Channel Basin during Wealden times. The most abundant derived fossils are bivalves (oysters, scallops), with rarer echinoid spines and serpulid worms, derived from late Oxfordian and early Kimmeridgian sediments. Worn phosphatised fragments of the ammonite Pavlovia sp. occur rarely and were probably derived from late Kimmeridgian or early Portlandian pebble beds to the north of the Island. A model for formation of derived fossil concentrations which involves storm action and winnowing is based on comparisons between the environment during formation of the Vectis Formation and the present-day Fleet lagoon in Dorset. (Authors' abstract). (Note - not directly on Kimmeridge but with Kimmeridge type fossils reworked in the Cretaceous of the Isle of Wight)
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Riding, J.B. and Thomas, J.E. 1988. Dinoflagellate cyst stratigraphy of the Kimmeridge Clay (Upper Jurassic) from the Dorset coast, Southern England. Palynology, 12, 65-88.
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Ramsay , J.G. 1992. Some geometric problems of ramp-flat thrust models. Pp. 191-200 in McClay, K.R. (ed.) Thrust Tectonics. [Argues that Kimmeridge thrusts are tectonic. Shows that the classic "fault bend fold model" does not strictly apply and the "Kimmeridge model" shows faults to be local with changing amounts of slip and with thrust wedges in competent layers. See also Bellamy and see Ledra.]
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Robinson , C.E. 1882. A Royal Warren; or Picturesque Rambles in the Isle of Purbeck. The Typographical Etching Company, 23 Farringdon Street, E.C., London. 186pp. By C.E. Robinson, M.A., Barrister-at-Law, Author of the "Cruise of the Widgeon"; "The Golden Hind, Thessale, and other poems" etc. The etchings by Alfred Dawson.
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Saelen G., Tyson R. V., Telnæs N., and Talbot M. R. (2000) Contrasting watermass conditions during deposition of the Whitby Mudstone (Lower Jurassic) and Kimmeridge Clay (Upper Jurassic) formations, UK. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 163, 163–196.
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Salfeld , H. 1913. Certain Upper Jurassic strata of England. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 69, 423-430. By Dr. Hans Salfeld, University of Gottingen. Communicated by S.S. Buckman, F.G.S. Read June 11th 1913.
Extract (beginning): "By combining the evidence of a number of sections in England and near Boulogne-sur-Mer I have succeeded in establishing a normal succession of zones in the Oxfordian, Kimmeridgian and Portlandian rocks, using these terms according to the German and French classifications" [continues]
Extract p. 424-425 follows: "So much for the zonal subdivisions; let us now turn to the individual sections in England. At the classic locality of Kimmeridge, which has given its name to the Kimmeridge Clay and to the formation "Kimmeridgian" the lowest subdivision seen in the flat anticline near the 'Life-boat House' [this was formerly at Charnell on the east side of Kimmeridge Bay] consists of clays with Aulacostephanus eudoxus, A. pseudomutabilis, etc., the fauna remaining unchanged up to the 'supposed Maple Ledge' [west side of Kimmeridge Bay]. Above this bed up to the 'Yellow Ledge' [eastern end of Hen Cliff] the clays contain Gravesiae flattened by pressure, those below belonging to the group of Gr. gravesiana d'Orb. sp., those above to the group of Gr. irius d'Orb. sp.
This is of great importance. It is not only that the Gravesia are here recognized in England for the first time, but we are thereby enabled to fix exactly the boundary between the 'Kimmeridgian' and 'Portlandian' in the Kimmeridge section; that is to say, all that follows above the 'supposed Maple Ledge' be correlated with the Portlandian. [this was an major conclusion that drastically changed the Kimmeridgian correlation between Britain and continental Europe]
The clays between the' Yellow Ledge Stone-Band' and the 'Oil-Shales' form the equivalent of the Virgatites Beds [i.e. Pectinatites beds], although I have never found a true Virgatites here. To the same zone we must also assign a part of the overlying clays. Somewhat below the 'White Septarian Band,' [the White Band] however, we reach the beds with Perisphinctes pallasianus d'Orb. sp. This zone must be recognized as extending up to the basal limit of the 'Portland Sands'
Blake's statements concerning the ammonites contained in the Portland Sands and Portland Oolite of Purbeck, and also of Portland, I can, in the main, confirm. In the highest beds of the Portland Sand at Portland I found Perisphinctes gorei sp. nov. [Glaucolithites gorei ], which indicates that the overlying Portland Oolite comprises two zones characterized by Perisphinctes pseudogigas Blake sp. and P. giganteus J. Sow. sp. [now Titanites titan] respectively, as assumed by Blake." [continues]
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Scotchman , I.C. 1987. Relationship between clay diagenesis and organic maturation in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, Onshore UK. In: Petroleum Geology of North West Europe (ed. by K. Brooks and J.W. Glennie), pp. 251-262.

Scotchman, I.C. 1989. Diagenesis of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, Onshore UK. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 146, 285-303. By I.C. Scotchman, then at Department of Geology, University of Sheffield, and subsequently at Amoco (UK) Exploration Co., London.
Abstract: Study of sedimentology, carbonate geochemistry and clay mineralogy of four laterally continuous beds from the outcrop of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation indicates strong lateral variations in the depositional and early diagenetic processes, reflecting the basin and swell topography of the depositional basin. The mudstones from the swell environment with low sedimentation and subsidence rates are shelly and carbonate-rich with thin, poorly developed oil shales. They were deposited under dysaerobic conditions with consequent poor organic-matter preservation. Early diagenetic processes were limited to the sulphate reduction and methanogenesis zones with the formation of discrete horizons of concretions. The shallow burial depths attained are reflected by the immaturity of the organic matter in the mudstones although ordered illite-smectites are present. Sediments from other locations comprise black, organic-rich mudstones, the thick beds and good organic-matter preservation indicating deposition under high sedimentation and subsidence rates with anoxic bottom waters in a basinal environment. These indurated mudstones contain a few shell fragments and much pyrite, indicating intense reaction in the sulphate reduction zone. Carbonates were precipitated in the methanogenesis and decarboxylation zones as ferroan calcites and dolomites. The much greater burial depths are indicated by the higher maturity of the organic matter and by the ordered nature of the illite-smectites and the loss of kaolinite.

Scotchman, I.C. 1991. The geochemistry of concretions from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation of southern and eastern England. Sedimentology, 38, 79-106. [Three types of nodules - calcareous concretions, septarian calcareous concretions and pyrite/calcite concretions. Septarian - long history - early initiation, several phases of burial. Non-septarian concretions began growth in sulphate reduction zone. Pyrite/calcite concrets formed in sulphate-reduction to methanogenesis transition zone. Calcareous concretions form in swell areas and also in basin during low sedimentation rate. Pyrite/calcite concretions occur in organic rich mudstones deposited in basin under high sedimentation rates. Ferroan dolomite nodules grew under very high sedimentation rates. Curtis zones. Sulphate reduction known as SR zone, Methanogenesis is Me zone, decarboxylation zone is D zone. Due to lack of sulphate in the Me and D zone porewater carbonates are predominantly dolomitic. Nodule locations can be controlled by high organic matter horizons or biogenic carbonate. In fractures early brown cement and later white cement. Fibrous outer calcite is synchronous with septarian fracture infills. Burial history curves. Useful isotope data.]

Scotchman, I.C. 1991a. Kerogen facies and maturity of the Kimmeridge Clay in southern and eastern England. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 8, 278-295.

Scotchman, I.C., Carr, A.D., Astin, T.R. and Kelly, J. 2002. Pore fluid evolution in the Kimmeridge Clay. Formation of the UK Outer Moray Firth: implications for sandstone diagenesis. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 19, (3), 247-273. Abstract: Carbonate concretions in Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay Formation from three overpressured wells provide a detailed record of pore fluid evolution in the Outer Moray Firth/Northern Central Graben. The concretions contain multiple generations of septarian cements, with morphologies ranging from simple cracks to complex fractures. Discrepancy exists between diagenetic studies, which indicate these concretions formed during the initial 1¯1.5 km of burial and palaeotemperature predictions, based on a thermal history calibrated from the vitrinite reflectance kinetic model, which indicate formation at much greater depths of between 1.5 and 2.5 km. Modelling undertaken for this study indicate that the concretions formed during the initial stages of burial under high heat flows, fitting the early diagenetic model for their formation. These conclusions have important implications for understanding the cementation of adjacent sandstone reservoirs where cement sequences have similar mineralogy and isotopic compositions, with precipitation in the same temperature range from mudrock derived pore fluids. Early cementation of these sandstones is implied by analogy with the mudrock concretions. [A diagram shows the isotopic data on the Kimmeridge dolomites of Dorset in relation to the new Kimmeridge North Sea data. ]. The paper is available in full on the Internet at Science Direct, but an id and password may be needed.
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Selley , R.C. and Stoneley, R. 1987. Petroleum habitat in south Dorset. Pp. 139-148 in: Brooks, J. and Glennie, K. (eds.), Petroleum Geology of North West Europe. Graham and Trotman. Abstract: An analysis of the surface geology and of surface and subsurface petroleum occurrences is used to unravel the complex history of the generation, migration and entrapment of oil in south Dorset. Early basin subsidence lead to growthfaults downthrown to the south. Field evidence suggests that the Purbeck - Isle of Wight disturbance controlled the deformation of the Broken Beds of the Purbeck Beds, and that these brecciatet down the northern limb of a rollover anticline. This fault also appears to have controlled sedimentation in a Wealden palaeovalley. Liassic shales began to generate oil in the Early Cretaceous. Some oil escaped up faults to the surface, generating the Mupe Bay palaeoseep, but much was trapped in the Briport Sands. By the end of the Cretaceous, oil was migrating north across the Purbeck - Isle of Wight flexure. Inversion through the Tertiary sealed the faults, trapping petroleum in Wytch Farm and adjacent traps. Palaeogene uplift and cooling allowed the development of the fault-sealed Kimmeridge Bay underpressured system. Adjacent fault blocks to the north and south may still be petroliferous at deeper levels.
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Stoneley , R.C. 1982. The structural development of the Wessex Basin. Journal of the Geological Society, London 139, 545-552.
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Strahan , A. 1898. The Geology of the Isle of Purbeck and Weymouth. Memoirs of the Geological Survey, England and Wales, 278pp.

Strahan, A. 1920. Mineral oil, Kimmeridge oil-shale, lignites, jets, cannel coals, natural gas. Special Reports on Mineral Resources of Great Britain, vol. 7, pp. 18-40.
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Stuart-Gray , M.G. 1902. In memoriam: the late John Clavell Mansel-Pleydell, Esq., of Whatcombe, B.A., J.P., and D.L., F.G.S., F.L.S., President of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 23, pp. lxii - lxxii.
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Tarlo , L.B. 1959. Pliosaurus brachyspondylus (Owen) from the Kimmeridge Clay. Palaeontology, 1 (4), 238-291.

Tarlo, L.B. 1959a. A New Pliosaur from the Kimmeridge Clay. Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, University College, London.

Tarlo, L.B. 1960. A review of Upper Jurassic Pliosaurs. Bulletin of the British Museum, Natural History (Geology) 4 (5).
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Taylor , M.A. 1984. Studies on Plesiosaurs from the Jurassic of Britain. D.Phil., Oxford University.

Taylor, M.A. and Benton, M.J. 1986. Reptiles from the Upper Kimmeridge Clay (Kimmeridgian, Upper Jurassic) of the the vicinity of Egmont Bight, Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 107 (for 1985), 121-125.

Taylor, S.P., Sellwood, B.W., Gallois, R.W. and Chambers, M.H. 2001. A sequence stratigraphy of the Kimmeridgian and Bolonian stages (late Jurassic): Wessex-Weald Basin, southern England. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 158, 179-192. Abstract: A sequence stratigraphic framework for the late Jurassic Kimmeridgian and Bolonian stages of the Wessex-Weald Basin, southern England is proposed, based on the integration of sedimentological, geophysical and geochemical data. The NERC-funded Rapid Global Geological Events (RGGE) boreholes of Swanworth Quarry 1 and 2, and Metherhills 1, are used as reference sections. Eleven complete depositional sequences and their component system tracts are recognised within the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, bounded by 12 sequence boundaries (Kml1-12). Seventy-four boreholes have been used in this study. During the Kimmeridgian, a major transgression, associated with tectonic movements, led to a marked change in basin geometry. Major deepening of the sea during the late Kimmeridgian (Eudoxus Zone) led to a change from unconformities of basinwide extent to those confined to the basin margins. The progressive deepening of the basin towards a highstand in the mid-Bolonian (Wheatleyensis to Pectinatus zones) was associated with a broad-scale change in sedimentary, faunal and geochemical characters. The 'layer-cake' basin architecture and thickening of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation towards the basin centre suggests a dominantly aggradational system. The partially enclosed nature of the Kimmeridgian and Bolonian seas generated basin dynamics more analogous to modern day meromictic lakes. Consequently, sequence stratigraphic approaches derived from continental shelf-margins are inappropriate in epicontinental basins of this type.
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Todd , J.E. 1913. More about septarian structure. Geological Magazine, 10, 361-364.
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Townson , W.G. 1971. Facies Analysis of the Portland Beds. Unpublished D.Phil. thesis, Oxford University., 284pp.

Townson, W.G. 1975 Lithostratigraphy and deposition of the type Portlandian. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 131, 619-638. Abstract: The "Portland Beds" of Dorset (Portlandian of English usage) are described in terms of a Group comprising two Formations and seven Members. Facies and thickness variations indicate the presence of a swell separating an East from a West Basin. The swell may be due to the movement of Triassic salt. The environmental history of the Portland Group is described in terms of three cycles consisting of major regressive and minor transgressive phases superimposed on an overall regression. The lower cycle consists of siliciclastics and dolomite deposited in a relatively deep marine environment. The dolomite formed by in situ replacement of lime mud. The middle cycle consists of cherty fine-grained limestones deposited on the outer part of a carbonate shelf. The abundance of replaced sponge spicules adequately accounts for the amount of chert. The upper cycle consists of cherty limestones passing up into shallow-water grainstones. Ooid shoals developed over the swell. These marine limestones are overlain by stromatolites and evaporites which formed on the basin margin.

Townson, W.G. 1976. Discussion of Portlandian faunas. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 132, 335-336.
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Tribovillard , N., Bialkowski, A., Tyson, R.V., Lallier-Vergès, E. and Deconinck, J-F. 2001. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 18, (3), pp. 371-389. Abstract: Recent studies of the upper Kimmeridgian of the Boulonnais area (northernmost France) have provided a sequence-stratigraphical framework that is here used to help interpret variations in sedimentary organic matter (OM) content and composition in response to fluctuations in relative sea-level. The organic facies are characterised using a combination of palynofacies, bulk organic geochemistry (TOC, Rock Eval pyrolysis, and sulphur data), and the particle-size distribution of the total palynological residues. The organic facies show a good correlation with the sequence stratigraphy, exhibiting peak TOC, HI, total S and Sorg values in the lithofacies deposited around the two MFS. The palynofacies in these intervals is characterised by a high content of fluorescent, orange, marine AOM. There is a strong correlation between the orange AOM and the total and organic sulphur contents. Similar positive correlations between orange AOM and organic sulphur have previously been observed in the distal organic-rich sediments of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation of Dorset (lateral time equivalents of the Boulonnais facies), but there the sulphur contents are lower, indicating that organic sulphur content of orange AOM is not fixed, suggestive of preservation-related parallel but not intrinsically related trends. The S data can be used to estimate an apparent burial efficiency and hence the proportion of the primary productivity preserved; this allows a rough estimate of palaeoproductivity. Model calculations suggest that for a sulphide retention of 30-70% and uncompacted sedimentation rate estimates in the range 5-10cm/ka, the mean palaeoproductivity was in the range 52-175gC/m2/a (up to 6% of which was preserved). Thus, if the preservation is high, as is the case for MFS, the palaeoproductivity does not need to be above average for shelf waters to produce a given TOC.

Tribovillard, N., Trentesaux, A., Ramdani, A., Baudin, F., Riboulleau, A. 2004. Controls on organic accumulation in late Jurassic shales of northwestern Europe as inferred from trace-metal geochemistry. Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France, 175 (5), 491-506. Abstract: In the Kimmeridge Clay Formation of the Wessex-Weald Basin, five organic-matter-rich intervals (or ORIs), dated from Kimmeridgian-Tithonian times, can be correlated from distal depositional environments in Dorset and Yorkshire (UK) to the proximal environments in Boulonnais, northern France. The ORIs are superimposed on a meter-scale cyclic distribution of organic matter (OM), referred to as primary cyclicity, which is commonly interpreted to result from Milankovitch climate forcing. The present work addresses the distribution of redox-sensitive and/or sulfide-forming trace metals and selected major elements (Si, Al and Fe) in Kimmeridge Clay shales from the Cleveland Basin (Yorkshire) and the Boulonnais cliffs with two objectives: 1) to determine whether the ORIs formed in similar paleoenvironments, and 2) to identify the mechanism(s) of OM accumulation. High-resolution geochemical data from primary cycles in the Yorkshire boreholes (Marton and Ebberstone boreholes), were studied and the results are then applied with lower resolution sampling at the ORI scale in the Flixton borehole and Boulonnais cliff. Good correlations are found between total organic carbon (TOC) vs Cu/Al and Ni/Al, but relationships between TOC and Mo/Al, V/Al and U/Al are more complex. Cu and Ni enrichment is interpreted to have resulted from passive accumulation with OM in an oxygen-deficient basinal setting, which prevented the subsequent loss of Cu and Ni from the sediment. Mo and V were significantly enriched only in sediments where considerable amounts of OM (TOC>7%) accumulated, the result of strongly reducing conditions and OM burial. At the scale of the Flixton ORIs, the samples with the highest Mo and V concentrations also show relative Fe enrichment, suggesting pyrite formation in the water column (combination of euxinic conditions and presumably low sedimentation rates). Samples from all ORIs were slightly enriched in Si relative to Al, interpreted as reflecting decreased sediment flux during transgressive and early-highstand systems tracts. The data show that in some ORIs, OM accumulation proceeded while productivity was not particularly high and sediments were not experiencing strong anoxia. In other ORIs, OM accumulation was accompanied by widespread anoxia and possibly euxinic conditions in distal settings. Though somewhat different from each other, the ORIs have all developed during episodes of reduced terrigenous supply (transgressive episodes). The common feature linking these contrasted episodes of enhanced OM storage (ORIs) must be the conjunction of productivity coupled with a decrease in the dilution effect by the land-derived supply, in a depositional environment prone to water stratification and, therefore, favorable to OM preservation and accumulation.
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Tyson , R. V. 1985. Palynofacies and sedimentology of some Late Jurassic sediments from the British Isles and northern North Sea. Ph.D. thesis. Open University.

Tyson R. V. 1989. Late Jurassic palynofacies trends, Piper and Kimmeridge Clay Formations, UK onshore and northern North Sea. In: Northwest European Micropalaeontology and Palynology (eds. D. J. Batten and M. C. Keen), pp. 135–172. Ellis Horwood.

Tyson, R.V. 2004. Variation in marine total organic carbon through the type Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Late Jurassic), Dorset, UK. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, vol. 161, 667-673. By Richard V. Tyson, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Drummond Building. University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon 1Yne NE] 7RU, UK.
Abstract: Bulk geochemical data from the NERC Rapid Global Geological Events project are used to appraise the pattern of variation in mean organic content through the cymodoce to rotunda zones of the type Kimmeridge Clay Formation in southern Dorset. There is a symmetrical stratigraphic pattern in mean and modal total organic carbon (TOC) values, which increase from 1-2% at the top and base to a peak of 8-9% in the middle of the formation. To remove distortion caused by the strong positive skewness of the TOC values, the mean TOC per zone was recalculated for the first mode of the TOC distribution only, and combined pragmatically with pyrolysis estimates of the reactive (marine) TOC fraction to derive marine TOC values; these also vary symmetrically from c. 0.5% to peak values of c. 5.0%. The mean TOC is negatively correlated with sedimentation rate, indicating that dilution is a significant controlling variable. Mean palaeoproductivity was assessed using modem marine sediment relationships between carbon burial efficiency, sedimentation rate (derived from RGGE cyc10stratigraphic analyses), the likely dissolved oxygen range, and water depth. Best estimates of palaeoproductivity range from 40 to 150 g C m-2 a-1 [per square metre per annum] (low to moderate by comparison with present-day shelves) and are positively but nonlinearly correlated with mean dell3C TOC values.

Tyson , R.V., Wilson, R.C.L. and Downie, C. 1979. A stratified water column environmental model for the type Kimmeridge Clay. Nature, 277, 377-380.
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Van Kaam-Peters , H.M.E., Schouten, S., Koster, J. and Damste, J.S.S. 1998. Controls on the molecular and carbon isotopic composition of organic matter deposited in a Kimmeridgian euxinic shelf sea: Evidence for preservation of carbohydrates through sulfurisation. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 62, (19-20) pp. 3259-3283, Oct 1998. Abstract: Thirteen samples from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (KCF) in Dorset, covering all different lithologies, were studied using bulk and molecular geochemical and microscopical techniques. Our data show that the positive correlation between TOC and delta(13)C(TOC) reported for shales (Huc et al., 1992) also holds for other lithologies (e.g., limestones) if we correct for dilution by carbonate (TOC*). Despite the wide range of delta(13)C(TOC) values (-26.7 to -20.7 parts per thousand), the delta(13)C values of individual biomarkers of algal and green sulfur bacterial origin and of kerogen pyrolysis products (i.e., n-alkanes) show in general only small changes (less than 2 parts per thousand). This indicates that changes in the concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) or delta(13)C of DIC (delta(13)C(DIC)) in the palaeowater column cannot account for the 6 parts per thousand difference in delta(13)C(TOC).-- Kerogen pyrolysates indicated that with increasing TOC*, and thus increasing delta(13)C(TOC), carbon isotopically heavy C-1-C-3 alkylated thiophenes with a linear carbon skeleton become increasingly abundant; in the case of the Blackstone Band kerogen (TOC* = 63%) they dominate the pyrolysate. These thiophenes are probably derived from sulfur-bound carbohydrates in the kerogen. Algal carbohydrates are typically 5-10 parts per thousand heavier than algal lipids and differences in preservation of labile carbohydrate carbon through sulfurisation may thus explain the range in delta(13)C(TOC) values without the need to invoke any change in water column conditions. The increasing dominance of thiophenes in the kerogen pyrolysate with increasing TOC* is consistent with the increasing Sulfur Index (mg S org/g TOC), the decreasing S-PYRITE/S-TOT ratio, and the increasing dominance of orange amorphous organic matter produced by natural sulfurisation. -- The organic matter of all sediments was deposited under euxinic conditions as revealed by the occurrence of isorenieratene derivatives indicating (periodic) photic zone euxinia. At times of reduced run-off from the hinterland, represented by so-called condensed sections, the flux of reactive iron was relatively small compared to the flux of reactive organic matter, which resulted in the formation of relatively small amounts of pyrite and an excess of hydrogen sulfide capable of reacting with fresh organic matter. Within the condensed sections, variations in the degree of sulfurisation of organic matter are probably due to both differences in primary production and differences in the supply of reactive iron. These findings demonstrate that climatic changes, probably driven by Milankovitch cycles, can have a large impact on the molecular and carbon isotopic compositions of the sedimentary organic matter in an otherwise relatively stable stratified basin. They also show that large amounts of labile carbohydrate carbon may be preserved through sulfurisation.
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von Hoffman , A. W. 1857. [Production of gas from Kimmeridge oil shale]. Journal of Gas Lighting , vol ?.
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Ward , T. (year unknown). [on Kimmeridge oil shale]. Dorset County Magazine, vol. 102. (not seen)
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Waterhouse , H.K. 1992. Quantitative Palynofacies Analysis of Jurassic Climatic Cycles. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Southampton.

Waterhouse, H. K. 1995. High-resolution palynofacies investigation of Kimmeridgian sedimentary cycles. From House, M. R. and Gale, A.S. (eds), 1995. Orbital Forcing Timescales and Cyclostratigraphy. Geological Society of London, Special Publication No. 85, pp. 75- 114. Abstract: Palynofacies analysis is used as a tool to investigate in detail the palaeoenvironmental variations through several sedimentary cycles in the Kimmeridge Clay of Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset, UK. Evidence is given of palaeoenvironmental variations within cycles corresponding to those expected for obliquity orbital forcing (c. 40 ka). In addition, a second cyclical palaeoenvironmental variation, probably precessional forced (22.2 ka), is seen in the palynofacies data. Further small-scale variations in palynofacies characteristics, which are not evident in the sedimentology are also identified and allow cycles to be divided into a number of distinct palaeoenvironmental units. It is proposed that the obliquity cycle (c. 40 ka) had its greatest effect on the marine environment. The abundance of useful palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic information obtainable through high-resolution sampling in conjunction with a tool such as palynofacies analysis, provides evidence for and information about orbital forcing additional to that of most orbital forcing studies as it allows variation within cycles to be investigated.
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Weedon , G.P., Jenkyns, H.C., Coe, A.L. and Hesselbo, S.P. 1999. Astronomical calibration of the Jurassic time-scale from cyclostratigraphy in British mudrock formations. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, Series A, Vol. 357, pp. 1787-1813. Extract from abstract: " In the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Kimmeridgian - Tithonian), magnetic-susceptibility measurements made on exposures, core material and down boreholes can be correlated at the decimetre scale. Only measurements of magnetic susceptibility made below the Yellow Ledge Stone Band (midway through the formation) are suitable for analysis of the bedding cyclicity. A large-amplitude sedimentary cycle detected in the lower part of the formation is probably related to the orbital-obliquity cycle (38 ka). In certain stratigraphical intervals, there is evidence for small amplitude cycles related to orbital precession (20 ka). "

Weedon, G.P., Coe, A.L. and Gallois, R.W. 2004. Cyclostratigraphy, orbital tuning and inferred productivity for the type Kimmeridge Clay (Late Jurassic), Southern England Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 161, 655-666. Part of a thematic set of ten papers on: Organic Carbon Burial, Climate Change and Ocean Chemistry (Mesozoic-Palaeogene). Authors - Weedon and Coe, Department of Earth Sciences, Open University, Milton Keynes; Gallois, 92 Stoke Valley Road, Exeter.
Abstract: Three independently measured variables (magnetic susceptibility, photoelectric factor and total gamma-ray) obtained from throughout the type Kimmeridge Clay Fm in Dorset (Southern England) were used to identify regular metre-scale, sedimentary cycles. Spectral analysis demonstrates that for long stratigraphical intervals the cycles are expressed as large-amplitude cycles of 1.87-4.05 m wavelength and smaller-amplitude cycles of around half that wavelength. These cycles are interpreted to record orbital obliquity and precession, respectively. The much larger amplitude of the inferred obliquity cycles compared with the precession cycles may indicate a high-latitude climatic forcing transferred to lower latitudes via sea-level variations. Orbital tuning indicates that the Early Kimmeridgian (sensu anglico) lasted at least 3.6 Ma (95 longer-wavelength cycles) and the Late Kimmeridgian at least 3.9 Ma (103 longer-wavelength cycles). The first detailed productivity estimates for the Kimmeridge Clay Fm, on a cycle-by-cycle calculation, indicate that average productivity of the type Kimmeridge Clay (220 g m-2 a-I) was less than the average productivity on modern continental shelves. The high average organic carbon content of the type Kimmeridge Clay (3.8% total organic carbon) cannot be attributed to high average productivity. However, the average organic carbon content is consistent with low siliciclastic mineral dilution of organic matter and/or elevated preservation linked to reduced bottom-water oxygenation.
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White , P. 2003. The petrological analysis of a selection of mosaic material from Fishbourne Roman Palace. Essay by Pari White, Year 3, Archaeology and History, Birkbeck College, Geological Archaeology Course, GEOLB276, 8pp. [Includes notes on mid-grey and dark grey tesserae considered to be Kimmeridge dolomite. This is laminated dolomite with some fish teeth in one case. Reddish-brown streaks of kerogen are present. There is also a sample of red burnt Kimmeridge oil shale with crushed ammonite remains and small bivalves (see also Allen and Fulford (2004) on this material).]
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Wignall , P.B. 1989. Sedimentary dynamics of the Kimmeridge Clay: tempests and earthquakes. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 146, 273-284. By Paul B. Wignall, then at the University of Birmingham, and subsequently at the University of Leicester.
Abstract: Storms are suggested to be an important influence upon the formation of epicontinental black shales, controlling both their distribution and fades types. A variety of storm-produced event beds are described from the Kimmeridge Clay of Dorset. These include horizons of graded rip-up clasts, silt laminae, thin graded mud horizons and shell pavements. Biostratinomy and population dynamics indicate that the pavements represent brief benthic colonization events in a predominantly anaerobic-dysaerobic environment. Differential near-surface lithification has also affected the sediments, leading to the formation of flow phenomena. These include loop structures, microfolding and brecciation. Earthquake-induced fissuring also occurs at a number of horizons. The Kimmeridge Clay shows well-developed cyclically alternating organic-rich shales and mudstones on a decimetre scale. A feedback mechanism of storm-induced benthic oxygenation and temperature-stratified inhibition of storm mixing may account for the abrupt nature of the cyclicity. Subsidence and sedimentation rate were probably important factors controlling the thickness and organic-richness of the sediments whilst the influence of storms was important in controlling the distribution and fades types of these important source rocks. The model proposed for the Kimmeridge Clay may be of general application to many epicontinental black shales in the geological record.

Wignall, P.B. 1994. Black Shales. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Wignall, P.B. and Ruffell, A.H. 1990. The influence of a sudden climatic change on marine deposition in the Kimmeridgian of northwest Europe. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 147, 365-371. By Paul B. Wignall and Alastair H. Ruffell.
Abstract: A sudden change from humid style to semi-arid style deposition markedly affected the accumulation of the Upper Kimmeridge Clay in southern England. Many of the changes appear to be related to a change in sedimentation rate at this time. Thus softground faunas are replaced by firm ground faunas; diagenetic dolostones formed in the methanogenic zone are replaced by sulphate reduction zone carbonate nodules; and depositional gradients, recorded by lateral biofacies changes, becomes steeper. The evidence available is in accord with a decline in offshore sedimentation rates during this interval. Other changes, such as a decline in kaolinite abundance, were more directly controlled by the 'drying-out' of the hinterland. Similar changes, elsewhere in the marine geological record, could be used as climatic indicators. The climatic change is part of a wider, northern hemisphere dry event which affect a broad area in the late Jurassic. The Kimmeridge Clay of southern England was one of the last depositional environments to be influenced by the climatic change at this latitude.
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Wilkinson , I.P. 2007. The distribution of Late Kimmeridgian and Portlandian ostracoda in southern England. La répartition des ostracodes du Kimméridgien supérieur au Portlandien en Angleterre méridionale Revue de Micropaleontologie. By Ian P. Wilkinson, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Available online 1 October 2007.
Abstract: The vertical distribution of ostracods in the Upper Kimmeridgian and Portlandian (sensu anglico) succession in three cored boreholes at Hartwell, Tisbury and Fairlight, are compared to other successions in southern England. The Upper Kimmeridge Clay Formation yields rich, but low diversity ostracod faunas, characterised by stratigraphically restricted species of Aaleniella, Galliaecytheridea, Klentnicella, Macrodentina, Mandelstamia, Micrommatocythere, Paralesleya and Prohutsonia. Several continue into the Portlandian, but some species, belonging to genera such as Cytherelloidea, Paracypris, Fabanella, Galliaecytheridea, Klieana, Paraschuleridea, Eocytheridea, Paranotacythere, Procytheropteron, Rectocythere and Macrodentina, appear for the first time. Biostratigraphical subdivision is made difficult by provincialism caused by decreasing salinities and facies change during the Late Portlandian. Marine taxa such as Protocythere, Macrocypris, Paraschuleridea, Paranotacythere, Procytheropteron and Rectocythere were replaced by euryhaline forms, such as species of Fabanella and Mantelliana, and fresh-oligohaline species of the genera Cypridea, Scabriculocypris, Alicenula and Rhinocypris.
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Williams , D.B. and Douglas, J.G. 1983. The effects of lithological variation on organic geochemistry in the Kimmeridge Clay of Britain. In: Bjoroy, M. et al. (eds). Advances in Geochemistry, 1981. Wiley, Chichester, 16-27.

Williams, P.F.V. 1986. Petroleum geochemistry of the Kimmeridge Clay of onshore southern and eastern England. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 3, 258-281.

Williams, M.E. 2003. The development of hiatal surfaces in the Osmington Mills Ironstone Member of the Upper Jurassic Ringstead Formation of south Dorset, England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, London, 114, No. 3, pp. 193-210. Abstract: The Osmington Mills Ironstone Member, a Corallian hiatal-condensed bed, contains a varied, mainly in situ fauna. It developed over a relatively short time (less than 0.33 Ma) and is part of a transgressive systems tract. A sharp deepening in sea-level, which has not been previously identified, marks its base; its top, the Oxfordian–Kimmeridge boundary, is a recognized maximum flooding surface. Although it is the only Corallian bed in south Dorset that contains corals, it comprises ooidal ironstone in places. Replacement of corals by ooidal ironstone indicates how the local depositional environment changed and explains lateral variation in the unit. Hiatal surfaces in the unit formed in different ways. Firm grounds and increased bioturbation record surfaces developed over the shortest time. Coral masses that have been modified by biomechanical processes indicate hiatal surfaces formed over longer periods. Reworked bioclasts and mixed fossil assemblages mark longer hiatuses. Early near-surface diagenesis, resulting in formation of berthierine, apatite and siderite, indicates hiatal surfaces formed over the longest time. Fundamental processes controlling bioturbation, destructive taphonomic patterns and early diagenetic mineralization interact with each other during the formation of hiatal surfaces. Integrated approaches to the identification and analysis of hiatal surfaces will help to unlock their potential use in sequence stratigraphy.
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Wilson , R.C.L. 1979 (?). Unpublished photographs, diagrams and notes on the Kimmeridge Clay of the Kimmeridge coastal section. Flowage of coccolith limestone.
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Wimbledon , W.A. 1987. Rhythmic sedimentation in the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 108 for 1986, 127-133. Most of this paper is on the Portland Group. An Appendix refers to Purbeck nomenclature. Abstract: A number of shallowing and deepening phases is described in the late Kimmeridgian - Berriasian interval. Eleven deepening / transgressive events are noted in the most complete Dorset section. A preferred lithostratigraphy for these beds is compared to previous lithostratigraphy, and "event correlations" are critically examined.

Wimbledon, W.A. and Cope, J.C.W. 1978. The ammonite faunas of the English Portland Beds and the zones of the Portlandian Stage. Journal of the Geological Society, 135, 183-190.
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Woodward , H.B.1895. The Jurassic Rocks of Britain. Vol 5. The Middle and Upper Oolitic Rocks of England (Yorkshire excepted). Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom. 499pp.

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Wright , J.K. & Cox, B.M. 2001. British Upper Jurassic Stratigraphy (Oxfordian to Kimmeridgian). Geological Conservation Review Series, 21. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.
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Young , J.R. and Bown, P.R. 1991. An ontogenetic sequence of coccoliths from the Late Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay of England. Palaeontology, 34, 843-850.
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Ziegler , B. 1962. Die Ammonitengattung in Oberjura (Taxonomie, Stratigraphie, Biologie). Palaeontographica, A119, pp. 1-172.

Kimmeridge - Bibliography - Part 2 - continued