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WENLOCK GROUP (Wenlockian)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 519 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WENLOCK See also:GROUP (Wenlockian) , in See also:geology, the See also:middle See also:series of strata in the See also:Silurian (Upper Silurian) of See also:Great See also:Britain. This group in the typical See also:area in the Welsh border counties contains the following formations: Wenlock or See also:Dudley See also:lime-See also:stone, 90-300 ft.; Wenlock shale, up to 190o ft.; Woolhope or See also:Barr See also:limestone and shale, 150 ft. The Woolhope beds consist mainly of shales which are generally calcareous and pass frequently into irregular nodular and lenticular limestone. In the See also:Malvern Hills there is much shale at the See also:base, and in places the limestone may be absent. These beds are best See also:developed in See also:Herefordshire; they appear also at May See also:Hill in See also:Gloucestershire and in See also:Radnorshire. See also:Common fossils are Phacops caudatus, Encrinurus punctatus, Orthis calligramma, Atrypa reticularis, Orthoceras annulatum. The Wenlock Shales are See also:pale or dark-See also:grey shales which extend through See also:Coalbrookdale in See also:Shropshire, through Radnorshire into See also:Carmarthenshire. They appear again southward in the Silurian patches in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and See also:Monmouthshire. They thicken from the See also:south northward. The fossils are on the whole closely similar to those in the limestones above with the natural difference that See also:corals are comparatively rare in the shales, while See also:graptolites are abundant. Six graptolite zones have been recognized by See also:Miss G. L.

Elles in this formation. The Wenlock limestone occurs either as a series of thin limestones with thin shales or as thick massive beds; it is sometimes hard and crystalline and sometimes soft, earthy or concretionary. It is typically developed in Wenlock Edge, where it forms a striking feature for some 20 m. It appears very well exposed in a See also:

sharp anticline at Dudley, whence it is sometimes called the " Dudley limestone "; it occurs also at Aymestry, See also:Ludlow, Woolhope, May Hill, See also:Usk and Malvern. The fossils include corals in great variety (Halysites caienularis, Favosites aspera, Heliolites interstinctus), crinoids (Crotalocrinus, Marsupiocrinus, Periechocrinus), often very beautiful specimens, and See also:trilobites (Calymene Blumenbachii, the " Dudley See also:locust," Phacops caudatus, Illaenus (Bumbastes)barriensis, Homolonotus delphinocephalus). Merostomatous crustaceans make their first See also:appearance here(Eurypterus punctatus, Hemias pis horridus). Brachiopods are abundant (Atrypa reticularis, Spirifer plicatilis, Rhynchonella cuneata, Orthis, Leptaena, Pentamerus) ; lamellibranchs include the genera Avicula, Cardiola, Grammysia; Murchisonia, See also:Bellerophon, Omphalotrochus are common gasteropod genera. Conularia Sowerbyi is by no means rare, and there are several common cephalopod genera (Orthoceras, Phragmoceras, Trochoceras). The greater See also:part of the known Silurian See also:fauna of Britain comes from Wenlock rocks; J. See also:Davidson and G. Maw obtained no fewer than 25,000 specimens of brachiopods from 7 tons of the shale. Not only are there many different genera and See also:species but individually certain forms are very numerous.

The three See also:

principal zonal graptolites are, from above downwards: Monograptus testis, Cyrtograptus Linnarssoni, Cyrtograptus Murchisoni. When traced northward into Denbighshire and Merionethshire the rocks See also:change their See also:character and become more slaty or arenaceous; they are represented in this area by the " Moel Ferna Slates," the " See also:Pen-y-glog Grit," and " Pen-y-glog Slates," all of which belong to the See also:lower part of a great series (3000 ft.) of slates and grits known as the " Denbighshire Grits." Similar deposits occur on this See also:horizon still farther See also:north, in the See also:Lake See also:district, where the Wenlock rocks are represented by the " Brathay Flags " (lower part of the Coniston Flags series), and in See also:southern See also:Scotland, where their See also:place is taken by the variable " Riccarton beds " of See also:Kirkcudbright See also:Shore, See also:Dumfries-See also:shire, Riccarton and the Cheviots; by greywackes and shales in See also:Lanarkshire; by mudstones, shales and grits in the Pentland Hills, and in the See also:Girvan area by the " See also:Blair " and " Straiton beds." In See also:Ireland the " Ferriters See also:Cove beds," a thick series of shales, slates and sandstones with lavas and tuffs in the See also:Dingle promontory; the" Mweelrea beds " and others in See also:Tipperary and See also:Mayo are of Wenlock See also:age. Lime and flagstones are the most important economic products of the See also:British Wenlock rocks. See the See also:article SILURIAN, and for See also:recent papers, See also:Geological Literature, Geol. See also:Soc., See also:London, See also:annual, and the Q.J. Geol. Soc., London. (J. A.

End of Article: WENLOCK GROUP (Wenlockian)

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