A new section through the Corallian Group (Oxfordian, Upper Jurassic) rocks of Calne, Wiltshire, southern England

Information obtained during the digging of a pipeline trench southwest of Calne, Wiltshire, has enabled the compilation of the first complete sequence through the strata of the Corallian Group (Oxfordian) in this area of west Wiltshire. A detailed description of this sequence of sands, clays, ooidal and coralliferous limestones which represent the Kingston and Stanford Formations is provided, and the information obtained used to provide a new synthesis of the stratigraphy of the Corallian Group in west Wiltshire. The existence of a previously unrecognized sedimentary sub-basin of the Wessex Basin is demonstrated. Previously unrecorded stratal sequences and faults have been discovered, and the existence established within the Wiltshire Corallian of a new coralliferous horizon, the Westbrook Coral Bed. The setting of this sedimentary sequence within the tectonic regime which existed in this part of the Wessex Basin in the Late Jurassic is reviewed.