earth science

Kimmeridge Clay

Kimmeridge Clay is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kimmeridge Clay rather than just read about it. In short: The Kimmeridge Clay is a sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Late Jurassic to lowermost Cretaceous age and occurs in southern and eastern England and in the North Sea. This rock formation is the major source rock for North Sea oil.

Key takeaways

Kimmeridge Clay belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kimmeridge Clay to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kimmeridge Clay from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Kimmeridge Clay is a sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Late Jurassic to lowermost Cretaceous age and occurs in southern and eastern England and in the North Sea. This rock formation is the major source rock for North Sea oil. The fossil fauna of the Kimmeridge Clay includes turtles, thalattosuchians, sauropods, plesiosaurs, pliosaurs and ichthyosaurs, as well as a number of invertebrate species.

Description

Kimmeridge Clay is named after the village of Kimmeridge on the Dorset coast of England, where it is well exposed and forms part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. Onshore, it is of Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) age and outcrops across England, in a band stretching from Dorset in the south-west, north-east to North Yorkshire. Offshore, it extends into the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian Stage) and it is found throughout the Southern, Central and Northern North Sea. The Kimmeridge Clay crops out in an somewhat interrupted band from Dorset to Lincolnshire. Further northeast, beneath the North Sea, where it attains a huge thickness, it is the source for much of the North Sea Oil. The characteristics that make this formation a rich oil source are present in Buckinghamshire too - a high fossil organic component, although it has not been subjected to sufficient temperature to yield any hydrocarbon. The foundations of the Humber Bridge on the southern (Barton) side of the bridge are on Kimmeridge Clay beneath superficial deposits, under the Humber estuary.

Economic importance Kimmeridge Clay is of great economic importance, being the major source rock for oil fields in the North Sea hydrocarbon province. It has distinctive physical properties and log responses.

Vertebrate fauna

Fauna uncovered from the Kimmeridge Clay include:

Ray-finned fish

Lobe-finned fish

Cartilaginous fish

Turtles

Archosaurs

Thalattosuchians

Ornithischians Indeterminate ankylosaur osteoderms have been found in Wiltshire, England. Indeterminate stegosaurid remains have been found in Dorset and Wiltshire, England.

Saurischians Indeterminate ornithomimmid remains have been found in Dorset, England. An undescribed theropod genus was found in Dorset.

Pterosaurs

Plesiosaurs

Ichthyosaurs

Invertebrates

The invertebrate fauna of the Kimmeridge Clay includes:

Mollusca: Cardium striatulum Ostrea deltoidea Gryphaea (Exogyra) virgula Trigonellites Belemnotheutis Etchesia Arthropoda: Phlyctosoma sp. Eryma sp. Magila latimana Mecochirus sp. Archaeolepas redtenbacheri

See also List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations

References

Bibliography Galton, P.M. 1999. Cranial anatomy of the hypsilophodontid dinosaur Bugenasaura infernalis (Ornithischia: Ornithopoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of North America. Revue Pale´obiologie, 18, 517–534.

Further reading Martill, D.M., Naish, D. & Earland, S. 2006. Dinosaurs in marine strata: evidence from the British Jurassic, including a review of the allochthonous vertebrate assemblage from the marine Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic) of Great Britain. In: Colectivo Arqueologico y Paleontologico Salense, (ed.) Actas de las III Jornadas Intrernacionales sobre Paleontologı´a de Dinosaurios y su Entorno, 16–17 September 2004. Salas de los Infantes, Burgos, 47–84.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kimmeridge Clay

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kimmeridge Clay claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kimmeridge Clay before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kimmeridge Clay ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kimmeridge Clay

In research: Kimmeridge Clay appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kimmeridge Clay in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kimmeridge Clay is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Berriasian Stage, Cretaceous England, Energy in Europe, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kimmeridge Clay outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kimmeridge Clay in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kimmeridge Clay means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kimmeridge Clay out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kimmeridge Clay in simple terms?

Why does Kimmeridge Clay matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kimmeridge Clay?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kimmeridge Clay.