New Red Sandstone

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

New Red Sandstone

The New Red Sandstone is a chiefly British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
geological

Geology

Geology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitute the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structural geology, physical properties, dynamics, and History of the Earth of Earth materials, and the processes by which they are formed, moved, and changed....
term for the beds of red sandstone and associated rocks laid down throughout the Permian

Permian

The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Roderick Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian system" after the ancient kingdom...
(280 million years ago) to the beginning of the Triassic

Triassic

The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 251 to 199 annum . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic....
(240 million years ago) that underlie the Jurassic

Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period that extends from about annum to Ma, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous....
Lias

Lias

Lias may refer to:* Lias , a troll drummer in the book Soul Music by Terry Pratchett* Lias Group, a group found in large parts of Europe, formed during the Early Jurassic epoch...
; the term distinguishes it from the Devonian

Devonian

The Devonian is a geologic period of the Paleozoic era spanning from . It is named after Devon, England, where rocks from this period were first studied....
Old Red Sandstone

Old Red Sandstone

The Old Red Sandstone is a British rock formation of considerable importance to early paleontology. For convenience the short version of the term, 'ORS' is often used in literature on the subject....
.

Its upper layers consist of mudstones, but most of the formation consists of reddish sandstones, interbedded with evaporite

Evaporite

Evaporites are water-soluble mineral sedimentary rock that result from the evaporation of bodies of surficial water. Evaporites are considered sedimentary rocks....
minerals like salt

Halite

Halite is the mineral form of sodium chloride, sodiumchlorine, commonly known as rock salt. Halite forms Cubic crystals. The mineral is typically colorless to yellow, but may also be light blue, dark blue, and pink depending on the amount and type of impurities....
and gypsum

Gypsum

Gypsum is a very soft mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula calciumsulfuroxygen4?2water....
; these indicate deposition in a hot, arid environment.

Central UK Locations
The New Red Sandstone covers much of central England

England

Discussion

Ask a question about 'New Red Sandstone'

Start a new discussion about 'New Red Sandstone'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Central UK Locations

The New Red Sandstone covers much of central England

England

Geologic fault

In geology, a fault or fault line is a planar Fracture in rock in which the rock on one side of the fracture has moved with respect to the rock on the other side....
Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a Counties of England in North West England. The county town, and the location of the county council, is the City status in the United Kingdom of Chester, although Cheshire's largest town in terms of area and population is Warrington....
and north Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire , alternatively known as Salop or abbreviated, in print only, Shrops, is a Counties of England in the West Midlands of England....
basin, which features escarpment

Escarpment

In geomorphology, an escarpment is a transition zone between different physiogeographic provinces that involves a sharp, steep elevation differential, characterized by a cliff or steep slope....
s forming small prominent hills. The sandstone also underlies parts of Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England of Historic counties of England in the North West England of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea....
and Cumbria

Cumbria

Cumbria is a non-metropolitan county in the North West England of England. Cumbria came into existence as a county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, and east of the Pennines

Pennines

The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range in northern England and southern Scotland. They separate the North West England from Yorkshire and the North East England....
it extends through Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is an Counties of England in the East Midlands, which borders South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire. The county town is traditionally Nottingham, though the council is now based in West Bridgford, a suburb of Greater Nottingham ....
and central Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a Historic counties of England of northern England and the largest in Great Britain. Because of its great size, over time functions were increasingly undertaken by its subdivisions, which have been subject to History of local government in Yorkshire....
. Smaller outcrops occur in other parts of Britain such as the Red Cliffs of Dawlish

Dawlish

Dawlish is a town on the south coast of Devon, England, 12 miles from the County town of Exeter, with a population of around 13,000 people. During the eighteenth century, it grew from a small fishing port to become a well-known seaside resort....
and East Devon

Devon

Devon is a large Counties of England in South West England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, but that is an entirely unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county but often indicating a shire....
.

Lithology

In terms of its lithology, the New Red Sandstone (often shortened in literature to NRS) comprises true sandstones, mudrocks and evaporite strata

Stratum

In geology and related fields, a stratum is a layer of rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguishes it from contiguous layers....
. The sandstone member is monomineralic, consisting only of quartz

Quartz

Quartz is the most abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust . It is made up of a Crystal structure of silica tetrahedra. Quartz has a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale and a density of 2.65 g/cm?....
grains (negligible amounts of other minerals may be present), and they are cemented together with the ferric iron oxide haematite (Fe₂O₃). The presence of this particular iron oxide is evidence for a terrestrial environment of deposition such as a desert

Désert

?D?sert? is ?milie Simon's debut single, released in October 2002. The song was a huge success both critically and commercially in her homeland....
, and gives the rocks the red color which they are named after. The common effect of rusting produces exactly the same deposit, but as a result of a different process. The sandstone member lacks fossils (as do most terrestrial rocks). The grains in the member have a high degree of sphericity

Sphericity

Sphericity is a measure of how spherical an object is. As such, it is a specific example of a compactness measure of a shape. Defined by Wadell in 1935, the sphericity, , of a particle is the ratio of the surface area of a sphere to the surface area of the particle:...
, are very well sorted and typically have a small size range (0.5mm to 2mm).

The NRS is a texturally mature

Mature

Mature can refer to the following meanings;*Sexual maturity*Mature is a character in the King of Fighters video game series.*a rating in the Entertainment Software Rating Board rating system...
rock, and is a common building stone in the Cheshire

Cheshire