Woburn Sands Formation

The Woburn Sands Formation is a geological formation in England. Part of the Lower Greensand Group, it is the only unit of the group where it occurs, and thus is sometimes simply referred to as the 'Lower Greensand' in these areas. It was deposited during the late Aptian to early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous. The lithology consists of sandstone or loose sand with rare wisps or thin seams of clay.^[1] The formation was extensively exploited in the 19th century for the "coprolite industry", with coprolite being a local term referring to phosphate nodules of varying origins (often the internal moulds of shells), named due to their resemblance to real coprolites. The formation contains reworked fossils of late Tithonian-Berriasian age from deposits that are no longer found locally, equivalent in age to the Sandringham Sand Formation in Norfolk and the Spilsby Sandstone of Lincolnshire, these include Dicranodonta and the ammonite Subcraspedites.^[2] Reworked dinosaur material is known from the Potton locality within the formation.^[3]

Woburn Sands Formation
Stratigraphic range: Late Aptian- Early Albian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Type	Geological formation
Unit of	Lower Greensand Group
Underlies	Gault Formation
Overlies	Jurassic or older rocks, usually mudstones of the Ancholme Group like the Oxford Clay, Kimmeridge Clay and Ampthill Clay
Thickness	up to 120 metres (390 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Sandstone
Other	Clay
Location
Region	Europe
Country	England
Extent	Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire
Type section
Named for	Woburn, Bedfordshire
Location	Disused fuller's earth workings between Woburn Sands and Woburn

References

1. "Woburn Sands Formation". BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units. British Geological Survey. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
2. Kelly, Simon R.A.; Rolfe, Ken R. (June 2020). "The 'coprolite' bearing Woburn Sands Formation, Lower Greensand Group (Aptian) at Upware, Cambridgeshire, UK". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. 131 (3–4): 334–352. doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2020.03.011. S2CID 225668476.
3. Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Early Cretaceous, Europe)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 556-563. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.

52°02′10″N 0°23′26″W