COPPER AND BARIUM MINERALISATION AT FORCETT QUARRY, EAST LAYTON, NORTH YORKSHIRE

摘要

Over at least 50 years the workings of Forcett Quarry have, from time to time, exposed copper- and barium-rich mineralisation within the Carboniferous (Namurian) Main Limestone. This mineralisation has been found both within fault-hosted veins and as vug fillings within extensive areas of dolomitisation within the host limestone and as veins and nodules in underlying beds. The mineralisation, together with its stratigraphical and structural setting, invites comparison with the nearby copper mineralisation of the Middleton Tyas area and the adjoining Askrigg and Alston portions of the Northern Pennine orefields. Aspects of the mineralisation are consistent with emplacement from saline fluids during Upper Permian times.