Geology of the area between Lindale and Witherslack

This report describes the bedrock and superficial deposits of the area between Lindale and Witherslack in Cumbria as depicted on 1:10 000-scale geological series sheet SD48SW, part of 1:50 000 geological series sheet 49 (Kirkby Lonsdale). The report should be read in conjunction with the map. The report and map were the result of a project undertaken by members of the Westmorland Geological Society. The bedrock succession comprises almost 3000 m of upper Silurian strata belonging to the highest part of the Windermere Supergroup. The uppermost unit of this sequence, the Kirkby Moor Formation has been recognised in this district for the first time. The mudstone and sandstone turbidites were folded and cleaved during the Acadian Orogeny. These rocks are overlain unconformably by a succession of limestones assigned to the Lower Carboniferous Great Scar Limestone Group. Bedrock is covered by a variable thickness of Quaternary deposits that range from sediments laid down as a result of melting of the Devensian ice sheet that covered the area, to the deposits of rivers and of Morecambe Bay. Deposits associated with a glacier within the Winster valley were influenced by the presence of a major rock barrier at its southern end. A late-glacial tufa deposit from the Whitbarrow Lodge area is described and interpreted to have filled an englacial tube.