Description

Excavated face on the south south-east side of the construction site for the new William Smith Building. The 3.5 m high section exposes red-brown mudstone interbedded with pale green-grey mudstone. The beds dip gently to the north-east at the southern end of the site, becoming horizontal to the north east [Photo1; BGS 0293]. The bedrock is overlain by approximately 0.35 m of made ground deposits consisting of sub-angular aggregate. The upper part of the exposed section is disturbed, possibly a result of glacial cryoturbation although there are also indications of man made disturbance in the south of the site [Photo1].
In detail [Photo 2; BGS_2189], there are four beds of red-brown mudstone between 0.35 m and 0.60 m thick, interbedded with three beds pale green grey mudstone between 0.25 and 0.35 m thick, the latter containing small pseudomorphs after halite. Boundaries between the beds are undulating; the boundary between the highest pale green mudstone bed and the topmost red mudstone bed is highly contorted [Photo 2] probably as a result of cryoturbation during Quaternary glaciations. There are no Quaternary deposits exposed.