The geology of strata exposed in Roade railway cutting, Northamptonshire : engineering phase Priority 3 sections and overall assessment

This report describes the geology of the bedrock strata at the Roade railway cutting (a Site of Special Scientific Interest), near Northampton, exposed by engineering works between 2006 and 2010 and made available to the BGS for detailed examination. Strata exposed previously during engineering works between 2005 and 2006 (engineering phases Priority 1 & 2) are described in a companion report (Barron and Woods, 2010). The exposed strata, totalling about 8 m in thickness, belong entirely to the Blisworth Limestone Formation of the Great Oolite Group, which is of Mid Jurassic age. Neither the base nor top of the formation are exposed. The current report includes text descriptions and graphic sections of the localities examined, a plan of the cutting showing locations and the distribution of the strata with correlations, close-up photographs of the bedrock exposed, and photographic panoramas of the cutting sides. It also includes an assessment of the exposed strata in terms of their sedimentary facies and lateral variability.