PALAEO - ENVIRONMENT OF SADDLEWORTH IN THE UPPER CARBONIFEROUS

At the time of Saddleworth’s formation, the UK was experiencing equatorial environments, including tropical deltas and low lying swamps. The organic material in the swamp environments lead to the large coal formations extensive in Yorkshire and the ancient deltas are essentially what are exposed in Saddleworth. (See fig 2 below)

Fig 2

Distinctive minerals in the Millsone grits can be traced from the highlands of Scotland and Norway, therefore deducing drainage from the north. As well as from the north, deltas also advanced from the southwest from a past island known as ‘St. George’s land’. Temporary readvances of the sea are indicated by the presence of fossil goniatites which is a type of shallow marine cephalopod (See Fig 3 below)

Fig 3