| Skiddaw Group | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Late Cambrian-Mid-Ordovician | |
 Slates of the Kirk Stile Formation, exposed just below Skiddaw summit ridge | |
| Type | Group |
| Sub-units | Bitter Beck, Watch Hill, Hope Beck, Loweswater, Kirk Stile, Catterpallot, Buttermere, Tarn Moor, Murton & Kirkland Formations |
| Underlies | Borrowdale Volcanic Group, Eycott Volcanic Group |
| Overlies | not observed |
| Thickness | ~5,000 m (16,000 ft) |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Mudstone |
| Other | Siltstone, sandstone |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 54°42′N 3°06′W / 54.7°N 3.1°W |
| Approximate paleocoordinates | 61°30′S 16°06′W / 61.5°S 16.1°W |
| Region | Cumbria |
| Country | England United Kingdom |
| Extent | northern Lake District, Black Combe & Cross Fell |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Skiddaw |
For the Skiddaw group of hills, see Skiddaw Group
The Skiddaw Group is a group of sedimentary rock formations named after the mountain Skiddaw in the English Lake District. The rocks are almost wholly Ordovician in age (Tremadoc through Arenig to Llanvirn epochs) though the lowermost beds are possibly of Cambrian age.[1] This rock sequence has previously been known as the Skiddaw Slates, the Skiddaw Slates Group and the Skiddavian Series. Its base is not exposed but in its main outcrop area, it is considered to be in excess of 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) thick though less elsewhere.[2] It consists largely of mudstones and siltstones with subordinate wacke-type sandstones. Their main occurrence is within the northern and central fells of the Lake District, either side of the major ENE-WSW aligned Causey Pike Fault, but inliers are found at Black Combe in the south of the Lake District and at Cross Fell in the North Pennines.
- ^ British Geological Survey 1999 Keswick England and Wales sheet 29 Solid 1:50,000 Keyworth, Nottingham, BGS
- ^ British Geological Survey. "Skiddaw Group". BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units. Retrieved 21 October 2019.