| Abstract: | The Drummuck Group of the Girvan district (S. W. Scotland) comprises a varied sequence of marine siliciclastic sedimentary rocks some 350 m thick and ranging in age from early Cautleyan to late Rawtheyan (Ashgill Series). Deposition in an unstable slope environment is envisaged. These upper Ordovician rocks crop out in the centre of the Craighead inlier, north of the Girvan valley and are sporadically exposed and locally very fossiliferous. A detailed revision of the Drummuck rocks has permitted, for the first time, the formal lithostratigraphical division of the group. Four main units, in ascending order, the Auldthorns, Quarrel Hill, Lady Burn and South Threave formations are recognized and, within these, a number of smaller, useful divisions are defined. Detailed geological maps of the Drummuck outcrop are presented. Brachiopods numerically dominate the shelly faunas and all the divisions named are characterized by distinctive brachiopod assemblages. Preliminary correlations are discussed with selected upper Ordovician successions elsewhere but the emphasis of this study is placed upon the establishment of a stratigraphical framework within which future detailed research on the Drummuck faunas may be carried out. |
