Gospel End Road Cutting

Highlights

Gospel End Road Cutting provides the best exposure of alluvial fan deposits of the Enville Formation.

Introduction

This exposure [SO 905 936] along the Gospel End Road, 1 km west of Sedgley, West Midlands shows part of the Enville Formation of the western part of the South Staffordshire Coalfield. It is briefly mentioned by Whitehead and Eastwood (1927), and was included in an unpublished excursion guide to the West Midlands by Besly (British Sedimentological Research Group, Upper Carboniferous Meeting — April 1986).

Description

The exposure shows 11 m of fluvial sandstones with pebbly lags and some trough cross-bedding. There are also some red mudstones, which although partially obscured by brick facing, are still visible on the west side of the wall (Figure 7.18).

Interpretation

This is the only good exposure of so-called 'breccias' of the Enville Formation of the English Midlands. They are in fact alluvial deposits, and belong to the alluvial fan association of Besly (1988). It is likely that they are part of a large complex of alluvial fans, that were derived from an actively uplifting horst lying just to the west, and which in Triassic times became inverted to form the Worcester Basin. They contrast with the more distal, fluvial sandstone deposits of the Enville Formation, such as seen at Webster's Claypit.

Conclusions

Gospel End Road Cutting provides the best exposure of rocks known as the Enville Formation, about 300 million years old. They are pebbly, alluvial fan deposits, probably formed under very dry, perhaps sub-desert conditions. They are thought to be among the youngest Carboniferous rocks known in Britain.

References