Petrology of the Permian Yellow Sands of northeastern England and their North Sea Basin equivalents
Abstract The Permian Yellow Sands of northeastern England and the Permian Weissliegendes of the English North Sea Basin are petrologically defined as multicycle, moderately sorted, subrounded graywackes, subgraywackes and subarkoses with post-depositionally etched and overgrown grains. These sandstones were derived by the marine reworking of the Permian Rotliegendes and transported from the east to the southwest. Petrologic data show that these Upper Permian sandstones were deposited in a shallow marine environment and that the commonly held aeolian dune interpretation for them should be rejected. Their formation during the transgression of the Zechstein Sea places them within the Zechstein sequence and therefore they are Thuringian in age rather than Saxonian.