Polyphase erosion of subaerial omission surfaces in the Late Dinantian of Anglesey,

North Wales

G O R D O N WALKDEN* and J E R R Y DAVIESt

*Department of Geology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB9 1AS and
flnstitute of Geological Sciences, Bryn Eithyn Hall, Aberystwyth. Dyfed SY23 4B Y

ABSTRACT

The Lower Carboniferous of Anglesey consists of bioclastic carbonates and subsidiary terrigenous
siliciclastics built as a cyclic succession against the northern flank of the contemporary Welsh landmass.
Cycle boundaries are marked by subaerial erosive features that are unlike the normal Late Dinantian
palaeokarst association, and one such surface, at Red Wharf Bay, shows remarkable evidence of polyphase
erosion indicating at least three distinct periods of karstification and one of fluvial channelling. Each
erosive period was succeeded by an interval of lithification during which newly arrived siliciclastic
sediment was stabilized.
Diagenetic textures in the underlying limestones reveal no evidence of this complex surface history, and
seen in cathodolurninescence the earliest pore filling cements evidently post-date the entire emergent
episode.
The karsts occupy positions adjacent to channels and are attributable to overbank flooding rather than
atmospheric weathering. Autocyclic mechanisms may be responsible for the polyphase development but
the overall control of sedimentary cyclicity is considered to have been eustatic.

INTRODUCTION

Omission surfaces are recognized in sediinentary
sequences through a variety of organic, diagenetic or
erosive phenomena which can be used to infer lengthy
breaks of sedimentation (e.g. Bromley, 1968, 1975;
Purser, 1969; Palmer, 1978). Undetected hiatuses are
undoubtedly present in all types of sedimentary
sequence, especially where contemporaneous rework-
ing removed the critical evidence, but in carbonate
sediments early lithification can greatly inhibit re-
working (e.g. Dravis, 1979) and it is from these
successions that omission surfaces are best docu-
mented.
In Late Dinantian shelf and platform carbonates of
Britain and elsewhere there is a special type of
omission surface, recognized by an association of
microkarsts, palaeosols and calcretes, that is directly
00374746/83/ I2004861 $02.00
01983 InternationalAssociation of Sedimentologists
indicative of subaerial exposure (Walkden, 1974;
Somerville, 1979a, b). These mark the tops of
carbonate cycles and not only do they establish cyclic
emergence but an actual timespan can be estimated
for the emergent periods ranging from a few thousand
to a few tens of thousands of years (Walkden, 1974,
1983; Wright, 1982).
In Anglesey, North Wales (Figs 1 and 2) such
subaerial omission surfaces are commonly incised by
channels formed during the emergent phases when
clastic sediments from the nearby hinterland were
being transported seawards across the exposed shelf.
Associated with these are the so-called sandstone
pipes of Anglesey (Greenly, 1901) which comprise
general!y cylindrical pits up to 5 m deep and 3 m wide
filled with sandstone (Fig. 3). These are unlike the
normal Late Dinantian palaeokarst phenomena as
they are considerably deeper structures, and are filled
with detrital siliciclastics rather than palaeosol.

861
 862 G . Walkden and J . Davies
dominantly carbonate lLlll
shallow shelf a n d llill
platform facies
Fig. 1. Early Brigantian palaeogeography of North Wales and northern England (adapted from Walkden, 1983)
The best known locality is on the west side of Red
Wharf Bay, south of Trwyn Dwlban (Fig. 2) where
two 'piped' horizons are exposed. The upper level
(Fig. 3) is distinctive for the size and complexity of
the structures but this paper is largely concerned with
the lower horizon (Figs 6-12) where the contents of
the pipes and their relationships provide remarkable
evidence of repeated depositional, diagenetic and
erosive events at a single minor cycle boundary. This
one horizon is a classic exampleof a subaerial omission
surface, as it yields valuable information on a number
of factors such as the palaeoenvironmental interpret-
ation of palaeokarsts, the relationship between initial
induration and cement stratigraphy, and the factors
controlling Late Dinantian cyclicity in general.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHIC SETTING
The Dinantian sequences in North Wales record the
Yoredale and m i x e d , I ~ I , ~ ~ tIu~r b
I ,i d l t e
and
c a r b o n a t e /elastic 11I basinal shale
facies I 11111'11 facies
pulsed but progressive inundation of the northern
flanks of St Georges Land, the residual core of a
Caledonian upland (George, 1958). The sequence
represents deposition on a shallow water carbonate
shelf to the south of a deep water basin whichoccupied
the site of the present Irish Sea (Fig. 1 and Ramsbot-
tom, 1980). The margin of the shelf was probably
marked by a zone of knoll reefs (Ramsbottom, 1969),
remnants of which may be seen at Dyserth and near
Llandudno, and data presented by Neaverson (1929)
suggest that this area was the general location of a
thick shelf-slope or ramp deposit, at the crest of which
were high energy shoal complexes which protected
the shallow shelf lagoon. The Dinantian stratigraphy
and palaeoenvironments of Anglesey have recently
been revised by one of us (Davies, 1983) and the
sequence, which spans the Asbian and Brigantian
stages (George et al., 1976), now comprises five
carbonate formations resting upon a basal sandstone
 PoIyphase erosion of omission surfaces in Wales
Fig. 2. Location map of Trwyn Dwlban, Red Wharf Bay, and its regional setting.
(Fig. 4). The succession is unique as it represents the
only significant thickness of strata preserved which
accumulated at the landward margin of the shelf
lagoon.
The limestone sequence is constructed throughout
of minor cycles which record alternating periods of
marine deposition and subaerial exposure, superim-
posed upon an overall transgressive pattern. Cycles
commonly contain siliciclastic components, especially
in the Brigantian, and these were derived directly
from the adjacent highlands of Precambrian and older
Palaeozoic rocks. During periods of inundation and
active carbonate deposition this detritus appears to
have been confined to the near-shore zone but during
the regressive phases it was carried right across the
shelf, cutting into the newly lithified carbonates and
producing anastomosing channels more than 20 m
deep and 200m wide. Channel sand bodies and
conglomerates have been recognized at many levels
863
ban
throughout the sequence (Fig. 4) and rounding and
sorting characteristics, together with unimodal current
trends away from contemporary upland areas, point
to their fluvial origin. These deposits commonly give
way upwards to dark silty shales with thin, sharp-
based, planar laminated sandstone beds with sym-
metrical ripples on top. A restricted marine fauna
shows that the deposition of such units took place
during the ensuing marine transgressions when the
channel systems were becoming drowned. The sand-
stones represent river flood generated sheet sandstones
with wave reworked tops (Davies, 1983).
The sandstone pipes which occur throughout the
sequence, appear to be marginal features of the
channel complexes (Fig. 5). The pipes occur on the
irregular, possibly even terraced, sides of the channels
and have been observed piercing adjacent surfaces up
to 300m beyond the channel margins. Sandstone
pipes within or close to the channels tend to be
864 G. Walkden and J . Davies

Fig 3. A large sandstone plug with typical round base and cylindrical sides pierces the limestone of Brigantian cycle 10.
Solution was evidently accompanied by several phases of reworking of the blanketing sand as the degree of disturbance due to
subsidence reduces across successive hiatuses. The last such hiatus (arrowed) is 50 cm from the top of the sandstone. Trwyn
Dwlban (SH532817), Red Wharf Bay.

contiguous with overlying sandstone units, whereas
those with a more distal setting often occur as isolated
plugs immediately overlain by limestone of the next
minor cycle.
T H E S A N D S T O N E P I P E S AT TRWYN
DWLBAN
The lower of the two horizons of pipes at Trwyn
Dwlban (Fig. 2), referable to high Brigantian (Fig. 4),
cropsout for 100 m along the intertidal zone. Typically
the pipes are downward extensions of the overlying
buff weathering Dwlban Sandstone (Fig. 6) and take
the form of round-based cylindrical plugs seldom more
than 1.5 m wide. These are irregularly distributed,
and pierce the limestone without disturbance or
displacement to depths of 3 m.
Origin
The pipes were first noted by Henslow (1 822) and later
by Morton (1901), but Greenly (1901) made the first
serious attempt to explain them. Unable to find
pebbles capable of drilling potholes in the strict sense
he invoked contemporaneous reworking of carbonate
sediment. Hobbs (1907) thought they were a form of
sand volcano resulting from earthquakes, which led
Greenly (1919) to further suggest a soft sediment
loading mechanism.
The first unequivocal attribution to karstic processes
was by North (1930, p. 128), endorsed by George
(1974), but Challinor & Bates (1973) argued for
mechanical potholing. Walkden (1970) and Power
(1977) produced evidence for a solutional origin,
linking piped horizons to similar phenomena in
Asbian and Brigantian successions elsewhere. Re-
cently Baughen & Walsh (1980) concurred but
considered that an upward movement of water out of
the water table might be responsible for their
formation.
The lack of post-depositional disturbance in the
limestone, combined with the existence of part-eroded
 Polyphase erosion of omission surfaces in Wales 865
(A) (B) (C)
S T R A T I G R A P H I C D I V I S I O N S OF L O C A L SUCCESSION ON T H E NORTH-
THE ANGLESEY D I N A N T I A N WEST S I D E OF R E 0 WHARF B A Y

CASTELL-MAWR
_ ~BEDS
_ _ - - I
RED WHARF CASTELL-MAWR S
Sd
CHERTY LIMESTONE
FORMTION
(*55 M )
S T , D A V I D S BEDS

UPPER OWLBAN BEDS

__----
S T . D A V I D S SST
c
1 1 - 1 - 1

LOWER DWLBAN BEDS

TRAETH BYCHAN PEN-Y-COED BEDS

LIMESTONE
FORMATION UPPER
(%96 M ) D I N A S BEDS

LOWER D I N A S BEDS
UPPER MORCYN
- _ BEDS
_ _ _ _
MOELFRE J S T H B_Y_CHAN SST
LIMESTONE
FORMATION LOWER MORCYN BEDS
- (%32 M )
~~~

FLAGSTAFF PORTH-Y-RHOS BEDS

ST. DAVIDS
LIMESTONE SANDSTONE
FORMATION ABER SST
(*38 M )
~.
CAREG ONEN
EGLWYS S I G L E N BEDS

BASAL

' (up t o 50m

7-
LOWER HARBOUR BEDS
DWLBAN
SANDSTONE
UPPER LOOKOUT BEDS
-- ~~

LOWER LOOKOUT BEDS

Ise o f Lower Dwlban

\L - - - _ _I Beds n o t exposed

Key t o column ( 6 ) M I D D L E HELAETH BEDS

Key t o column (C)
-~
LOWER HELAETH BEDS

F--i Bedded C h e r t s

Massive, s k e l e t a l packstones
and g r a i n s t o n e s
PEDOLAU BEDS
_- ~

Sheet
~ - - - gSq Sandstones
UPPER MORYN BEDS I r r e g u l a r l y bedded
s kel e t a 1 packs tones
LOWER MORYN BEDS

PORTH FORLLWYD BEDS

Sandstone and
L L I G W Y BEDS Conglomerate
. . . . . . .. . . .. ... . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
BASAL SANDSTONES -- C h e r t nodules

-c-c- Corals
1 11l -
Fig. 4. The lithostratigraphy of the Dinantian of Anglesey with particular reference to the Late Rrigantian of Red Wharf Bay
(adapted from Davies, 1983).
866 G. Walkden and J . Davies
Fig. 5. A regressive episode during the Anglesey Dinantian: anastomosing channels flanked by karstic features incise the
uplifted carbonates and carry siliciclastic sediment across the former shelf.
fossils abutting directly against plugs, clearly demon-
strate that the structures are not injection or loading
phenomena but were formed by direct erosion. These
so-called sandstone pipes are thus better described as
sandstone-filled pits, or sandstone plugs, but the
absence of suitable pebbles at their bases, as observed
by Greenly (1901) together with their considerable
depth makes a mechanical origin most unlikely.
Perhaps the clearest evidence for origin by solution
is provided by a thin bed of mudstone that marks the
interface between the limestone and the overlying
blanket of sandstone (Fig. 6). Between sandstone
plugs this mudstone lies on a flat or gently undulose
limestone surface, and is up to 10 cm thick, but where
the limestone is penetrated by a plug it turns sharply
down and extends around and beneath the plug,
apparently forming a continuous but attenuated
marginal sheath. Clearly the mud could not have been
deposited at this attitude and the only feasible
emplacement process involves stretching it into
position beneath a subsiding column of unlithified
sand as the pit developed.
The sandstone pipes are thus palaeokarstic features
but represent an unusual variety of this widely
developed phenomenon found marking minor cycle
boundaries in shallow water Asbian and Brigantian
carbonates throughout England and Wales (Walkden,
1983).
EVIDENCE O F P O L Y P H A S E EROSION
More than one karstic phase
Amongst the 160 or so plugs distributed across the
Dwlban palaeokarst a proportion can be found with
lithologies clearly distinct from the uniform buff-
weathering structureless arenite of the majority.
Approximately 15-20% of the plugs consist of fine
white-weathering quartz arenite, usually laminated,
whereas a further 10% consist of buff-weathering
poorly sorted conglomerate, with rounded quartz
pebbles up to 3 cm. Very few of these atypical plugs
have large diameters and, more important, they lack
the surrounding sheath of black mudstone. Instead
this passes flush across the plugs, separating them
from the Dwlban sandstone and isolating them in the
limestone surface (Fig. 8).
These white sand and buff conglomerate plugs
obviously represent an entirely separate and earlier
period of pit formation and one which was also
demonstrably karstic. For example, the conglomerate
filled pits, although usually not particularly wide, are
nearly always the deepest in relation to their width.
One example, 55 cm across, has a width to depth ratio
of 1 :6 and such pits are too deep to be the result of any
widespread mechanical potholing. In the case of the
white sandstone filled pits, which moreoften approach
a ratio of 1 : 1, it is their internal laminae that provide
 Polyphase erosion of omission surfaces in Wales
Fig. 6. The top of Brigantian cycle 9 is marked by a large
number of sandstone filled palaeokarstic pits. Where the
contiguous sandstone blanket is not broken by recent erosion
the areas between plugs are marked by hollows, here filled
with water. Trwyn Dwlban (SH532819), Red Wharf Bay.
the evidence. These become increasingly concave
with depth to the extent that the peripheral regions of
the lowest laminae now rest at angles that exceed their
original stability as unlithified surface sediments (Fig.
9). Clearly the laminae could not have been deposited
at this attitude, and like the mudstone beneath the
buff sand plugs they must have become draped into
position as a result of progressive deepening and
concomitant fill of an actively forming pit.
Intervening mechanical erosion
Towards the northern end of its outcrop the steady
southerly dip of the palaeokarst surface brings it to
the top of the low cliffs, but shortly before this point
the entire surface is intersected by a broad linear
north-east to south-west trending erosive feature some
12 m wide and 3 m deep (Fig. 10). Despite associated
boulder clay and ice striations at its landward end the
867
antiquity of this feature is in no doubt as it contains
scattered remnants of a former Carboniferous fill,
especially close to its central axis. These consist of
limestone breccia with angular lithoclasts up to 4 cm
in a matrix of siliciclastic debris mostly not more than
1 cm.
The feature is clearly a mechanically-eroded chan-
nel comparable with those seen elsewhere in the
succession (Fig. 5 ) , and the fill represents a mixture of
lithified carbonate and terrigenous clastics formed as
a debouching drainage system crossed and incised the
exposed carbonate shelf. This breccia fill is not
confined only to the channel but extends as a thin
veneer for up to 100 m on the south side, cemented
directly to the limestone surface. This veneer is always
pierced by the buff sandstone plugs, and insoluble
quartz pebbles from the breccia occasionally stud the
sides of these plugs, but it is never pierced by the
earlier series of white sandstone and conglomerate
plugs. In fact the breccia can sometimes be seen to
thicken into a moat eroded at the contacts of these
earlier plugs with the limestone (Fig. 8). The age
relationship of the breccia, and thus by implication
the channel, is therefore clear as it separates the two
periods of karstic solution (Fig. 13,2-4).
On the floor of the channel some sharply defined 2
or 3 m wide pits (Fig. lo), now filled with sea water
and beach debris, may represent a separate karstic
event prior to the arrival of the breccia. Alternatively
they may be oversized expressions of the buff
sandstone plugs on the southern flank of the channel
which have evidently penetrated a substantial thick-
ness of breccia before reaching bedrock. These plugs
now stand proud as short columns following the
removal of their surrounding breccia by the sea (Fig.
13,4 and 5).
For some unknown reason buff sandstone plugs are
almost entirely absent to the north of the channel.
Apart from a single example on the northern flanks of
the channel all the plugs in this area are of pre-channel
age.
Two phase karstification in the pre-channel series
The presence of two strongly contrasting lithologies
amongst the pre-channel plugs, the buff conglomerate
and the white laminated sandstone, indicates that
even amongst these earlier solution features there may
be more than one phase of pit development repre-
sented. In particular there are several plugs to the
north of the channel which consist of buff conglomer-
ate containing a core of white sandstone; the contact
868 G . Walkden and J . Davies

Fig. 7. A mudstone, in places an argillaceous siltstone, separates the blanketing sand (above) from the limestone surface. Here
the mudstone dips steeply (left) where it descends below a plug extending down from the blanketing sand.

between the two lithologies being either sharp and A S U C C E S S I O N OF EROSIVE A N D

fretted or else mixed and gradational. The best
example displays a fretted white sandstone core,
complete with typical dished laminae (Fig. 1l), lying
at a slight angle within poorly sorted conglomerate at
a depth of nearly 3 m from the original surface. The
shapes, positions and attitudes of these cores of white
sandstone indicate that they are the remains of earlier
plugs that have become incorporated in the buff
conglomerate fills. Since they are always central and
largely upright it is most unlikely that they tumbled
into place and they must therefore represent the more
or less intact remains of pre-conglomerate plugs,
which have survived a phase of further solution during
which the conglomerate was introduced into the same
pit. Evidently this renewed solution produced a
cylindrical space between the original plug and the
limestone rather like a downward extension of the
moats described earlier, and this space concomitantly
filled with conglomerate (Fig. 13,2) until the original
core was entirely surrounded. This residual core was
then carried downwards as the pit continued to
penetrate and fill from above.
E A R L Y DIAGENETIC EVENTS
The recognition of two entirely separate karstic phases
amongst the pre-channel plugs brings to four the total
number of distinct erosive events that have affected
this single minor cycle boundary. In addition the
surface has been bypassed by three sediment types
that can now be recognized only as fills of the erosive
features.
Erosive phase 1 was the formation of generally
small solution pits with the accompanying introduc-
tion of layers of well sorted white sand (Fig. 13,l).
Erosive phase 2 was the appearance of buff
conglomerate filled pits and the renewal of solution
around some of the earlier plugs to liberate the white
sandstone cores (Fig. 13,2).
Erosive phase 3 was the excavation of the channel
and its eventual burial withlimestone breccia, together
with the formation of moats around phase 1 and 2
plugs (Fig. 13,3).
Erosive phase 4 followed the deposition of the thin
mudstone and the buff sandstone and is represented
by the buff sandstone plugs (Fig. 13.4).
 Polyphase erosion of omission surfaces in Wales 869

Fig. 8. A first generation plug (1 m tape extended) lies beneath a veneer of breccia, and breccia fills a moat developed at the
contact of the plug with the limestone. There is no marginal envelope of mudstone around this plug as the mud formerly passed
over the top, isolating the plug in the surface. Behind and right are phase 4 plugs with the marginal envelope of mudstone and
which are in continuity with the blanketing sand.

The notable feature of each renewed phase of
erosion is the limited effect it had upon existing pit
fills. Normally loose fills would be eroded by scour or
reactivated by solution but neither of these effects is
detectable. Instead new pits were formed with each
solution phase and existing fills remained intact. There
are even a few cases in which an active pit together
with its fill has enlarged itself radially and impinged
upon the margin of a pre-existing plug (Fig. 12). The
insoluble sediment liberated from the passive first
plug was presumably carried away downwards by the
active second one. This lack of reactivation during
subsequent phases of solution can only be understood
if the pit fills became lithified during the intervening
period. The fretted nature of the white sandstone
cores within buff conglomerate plugs is further
evidence of this, as is the moating of the phase 1 and
2 plugs around the time of arrival of the breccia.
Surprisingly there seem to have been at least four
separate phases of this early lithification:
Lithification 1 followed the deposition of the
limestone, possibly accompanying its initial emerg-
ence. It will have preceded the penetration by the
white sand pits since it is most unlikely that the latter
were formed and filled in an unlithified surface.
Lithification 2 followed the solution of the phase 1
white sand filled pits and produced coherent plugs
that were later to be incorporated as fretted cores in
the subsequent series of buff conglomerate pits.
Lithification 3 indurated the conglomerate-filled
pits and prevented their re-excavation with the arrival
of the channel breccia.
Lithification 4 is less clear but it is likely to have
followed the arrival of the breccia, indurating it prior
to the emplacement of the phase 4 plugs.
A fifth phase of lithification certainly followed the
870 G . Walkden and J . Davies

Fig. 9. A storm-liberated plug of fine white laminated sandstone lies loose on the surface. The laminae are increasingly dished
with depth but converge at the lip reflecting periodic introduction of sediment into a progressively developing pit.

formation of the phase 4 plugs but again there is no
chronological evidence and the indications are that it
was delayed. The top of the buff sandstone cap to the
phase 4 fills is markedly uneven, forming a series of
smooth domes and hollows (Fig. 6 ) but, perhaps
unexpectedly, it is the domes rather than the hollows
that directly overlie the plugs. The hollows evidently
result from the compaction of the underlying mudstone
which is at its thickest between plugs, and deformation
of the sand was evidently achieved without fracturing
indicating that lithification was delayed until after the
development of a compressive overburden.
T H E SIGNIFICANCE A N D O R I G I N OF
T H E DWLBAN PALAEOKARST
Comparison with palaeokarstselsewhere
Despite the successive phases of erosion shown by the
Dwlban palaeokarst there is nothing to suggest that
the surface represents any more than a single minor
cycle boundary. In particular, correlations reveal no
thinning out of cycles attributable to non-deposition,
and pit filling sediments show no evidence of marine
influence.
Polyphase erosion is not unusual at minor cycle
boundaries in Anglesey, other examples (Fig. 4) being
the higher palaeokarst in Red Wharf Bay (Fig. 3) and
another at Huslan (SK 523835). In other respects too
the Anglesey palaeokarsts are similar, for example
their association with channels (e.g. Huslan), the
dominance of discrete pits, the large size of pits, and
their siliciclastic fills (the sandstone pipe association).
However, these features are in strong contrast with
Late Dinantian palaeokarsts elsewhere, such as the
Welshmainland (Somerville, 1979a,b)and Derbyshire
(Walkden, 1974), where morphologies are hummocky
or rolling and pits, if developed, are usually less than
1 m deep. These palaeokarsts are covered not by sand
but by bentonitic clays which represent the former
soils beneath which the karsts were moulded.
The contrasts between the Anglesey palaeokarsts
 Polyphase erosion of omission surfaces in Wales 87 1

Fig. 10. A left to right trending ridge consisting mainly of limestone breccia marks the central axis of a broad linear hollow
comprising the channel. Remnants of the breccia are also found in several places in the immediate foreground plastered either
against the limestone or on the sides of phase 4 plugs. On the floor of the channel are several larger pits up to 3 m across with
indeterminate fills. They are clearly post-channel in age and probably co-date the final (phase 4)pit forming phase represented
by the plug seen bottom right. However, it is possible that these indeterminate pits represent an earlier and perhaps separate
solution event, confined to the floor of the channel.

and those elsewhere apparently reflect the operation
of distinctly different palaeoenvironmental controls
and these are now examined.
The possible influence of plant action in the generation
of the Dwlban pits
The size of the phase 4 pits clearly indicates that they
were the major solutional event in the Dwlban
palaeokarst and yet modification of the subjacent
limestone surface at this time was very localized. The
limestone breccia remains easily recognizable even
where it is spread across the insoluble tops of phase 1
and 2 plugs (Fig. 8), and these original plugs lie flush
with the soluble limestone surface rather than standing
proud. Evidently the thin mudstone which separates
the limestone from the sand above served as a
protective layer and only where this protection failed
could large quantities of undersaturated water break
through into the vadose zone and lead to solution
subsidence.
One possibility is that this protective cover was
disturbed by organic agencies such as root systems.
Wright (1982) has looked at the possible influence of
plants in the generation of small-scale palaeokarsts
where moderate-sized root systems are directly under-
lain by pits generated through the local influence of
organic reactions. This model was intended to fit the
mammillated palaeokarsts of Derbyshire and else-
where (Walkden, 1974) but because discrete pits are
not an essential characteristic of such generally smooth
and rolling surfaces it does not apply too well.
However, the strongly pitted palaeokarsts of Anglesey
might be a better candidate, especially as they lie on
the banks of a permanent landmass, and the polyphase
evolution might reflect the growth and demise of
successive communities.
Nevertheless the clastic fills of the Anglesey
872 G . Walkden and J . Davies
Fig. I I . The margin of a white sandstone core (s) found
within a buff Conglomerate plug shows a fretted contact, and
is invaded by veins and pockets of fine polymict conglomerate
(c). Scale bar I cm.
palaeokarsts make unlikely palaeosols, and it is not
unusual to find sedimentary laminae throughout them
(Fig. 9). The phase 4 pit fills of Red Wharf Bay are
structureless, but this merely reflects the nature of the
parental sand body above. Pit fills in the overlying
palaeokarst (Fig. 3) display a complex pattern of
slumped and subsided bedding (Baughen & Walsh,
1980) that is most unlikely to have survived the growth
and disintegration of a root system, and in the crucial
areas there is no evidence for this anyway. In general,
solution through the influence of root systems is an
unlikely agent in the development of the Anglesey
palaeokarsts but plants cannot be discounted as a
possible factor in the initiation of pits through the
puncturing of the protective mud. Alternatively, the
mud may have been deposited across an originally
uneven surface, and pits broke through where the
mud was thinnest.
Climatic versus fluvial factors in polyphase erosion
Noting calcretes associated with palaeokarsts in the
South Wales Dinantian, Wright (1980) made a case of
climatic oscillation to explain the evident interplay of
humid and arid conditions. Calcretes are not seen on
the Dwlban surface although they are widespread at
Late Dinantian cycle boundaries and usually coexist
with palaeokarsts. The close association of the two is
therefore normal and whilst it might be attributable
to persistent climatic oscilltitions, strong seasonality
of rainfall or the natural evolution of the surface as a
consequence of regolith buildup cannot be discounted.
In the Dwlban palaeokarst the analogous alterna-
tion of pit fill penetration and pit fill lithification, two
mutually exclusive processes, might also be taken as
climatic effects, perhaps reflecting changing patterns
of rainfall. However, the general association of
Anglesey karsts with both fluvial channels and
terrigenous sediments clearly indicates an alternative
and perhaps far more important source of water
coming directly off the Precambrian and Lower
Palaeozoic hinterland. This water may have been
considerably undersaturated and capable of much
solution, particularly at flood stage when it quickly
occupied the overbank areas.
In terms of an overbank solution model the
polyphase development of the Dwlban palaeokarst
could reflect periodic switching of distributaries with
resultant abandonment of entire sections, the termi-
nation of solution in these and the onset of lithification.
Alternatively, depending upon the frequency of
flooding, perhaps static water ponded within the
abandoned sections could have promoted some solu-
tion. Either way, the blanketing mudstone and over-
lying Dwlban sandstone assume a significance as
probable overbank mud and sheet flood or crevasse
splay sands respectively. As the next transgression
commenced, but long before marine conditions be-
came established in the area, the channels and
overbank surfaces will have become increasingly
prone to flooding and sediment accumulation. More
frequent or more protracted periods of penetration by
undersaturated water will have resulted, culminating
in the development of the final and largest phase 4
structures.
Returning briefly to the climatic model, a preferable
refinement might be to combine wet and dry cycles
with the overbank model. Thus periods of wet
 Polyphase erosion of omission surfaces in Wales 873

Fig. 12. A late (phase 4) pit fill (1 m tape extended) impinges on an earlier (phase 2) plug. Following its initiation the second
pit enlarged itself radially and downwards, and began to eat into the flanks of a dormant earlier plug. The lack of reactivation
of this earlier plug is a clear demonstration of prior lithification

conditions and frequent flooding would reflect in
solution events, whilst rare or seasonal flooding might
permit lithification to dominate.
EARLY D I A G E N E S I S FROM
PETROGRAPHY
These conclusions regarding the complex early history
of the Dwlban palaeokarst are arrived at using
sedimentological evidence alone, without reference to
petrography. This provides the opportunity for an
independent check on the textural evolution of the
rock to determine what influence these early lithifica-
tion and erosive events might have had.
Disappointingly, the clastic plugs, the earlier of
which ought to record the first cements, have at some
stage been wiped of their early diagenetic record and
are now devoid of carbonate altogether. Instead, the
quartz grains are all tightly bound by syntaxial silica
overgrowths and without the independent sedimen-
tological evidence there would be little to suggest that
this was a substitute for an original carbonate.
Within the limestone itself, however, there are clear
signs of early diagenetic effects, including the dissolu-
tion of aragonitic grains which is likely to have
accompanied subaerial diagenesis. The rock is largely
a crinoid/peloid packstone, with a high original
porosity now filled by clear, mostly syntaxial calcite
spar. In cathodoluminescence a single generation of
these syntaxial overgrowths contains the entire history
of pore occlusion, and changing conditions are
reflected in distinct growth zones (Fig. 14A, B). A
prominent hiatus separates an early series of non-
luminescent zones, containing one or more thin bright
bands, from a subsequent series of very uniform
cements with intermediate luminescence.
This succession is very like that seen in comparable
rocks from Derbyshire and elsewhere (Walkden &
Berry, 1983) in which the early generation of non-
luminescent zones reflects a well oxygenated and
unstable open system (e.g. Meyers, 1978),whereas the
874 G . Walkden and J . Davies

I I I I I I I I I I I
I I 1 I I I I I I

I I
..
1.1 .* II
1 I I 1 I 1 1

I 1 I 1 I I I I I I 1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5
Fig. 13. Diagrammatic history of the Trwyn Dwlban palaeokarst. (1) Uplift of the carbonate sediments and lithification,
followed by karsting and the introduction of white laminated sand. Further lithification produces resistant plugs. ( 2 ) Arrival
of the buff conglomerate and resumed solution produces conglomerate filled pits. A number of earlier plugs are liberated, and
some moating takes place around others. Lithification of the conglomerate follows. (3) The channel is cut and filled with
limestone breccia: further moating takes place around existing plugs followed by fill with breccia. The channel may have been
cut earlier but the abundance of limestone in the breccia suggests that the surface was still easily eroded at this stage.
Renewed lithification. (4) Deposition of mud followed by buff sandstone, the mud possibly thickening over a spread of
conglomerate to the north to preclude further pit formation in this area. Renewed solution produces buff sand filled pits with
an envelope of shale, and some pits penetrate the breccia. Further lithification following compaction of the shale. ( 5 )
Quaternary marine and glacial modification of the surface. Isolated phase 4 plugs stand proud where they penetrated a
thickness of breccia. Most of the breccia is removed from the channel.

Fig. 14. (A) An echinoid/peloid grainstone containing foraminifera and shell material from 3 m below the top of the Dwlban
palaeokarst. Plane polarized light; field of view 2.5 mm. (B) Under cathodoluminescence: fine dark equant calcite cements
outlined by a thin bright zone, fringe most grains. However, mon.ocrystalline echinoid grains have acted as substrates for large
fast grown syntaxial crystals which reveal a further phase of dark cement followed by a marked hiatus, then uniform
intermediate cements. The hiatus is the only boundary showing any erosive effects, and corresponds to the widespread removal
of sponge spicules (Walkden, in preparation). The alternating periods of subaerial solution and lithification predate this, and
the cements clearly reflect persistent phreatic conditions (see text).
Polyphase erosion of omission surfaces in Wales 875
876 G. Walkden and J . Davies
subsequent uniform series represents a highly stable
relatively closed system independent of direct surface-
derived fluctuations. The hiatus between the two
series of cements in the Dwlban rocks corresponds to
a phase of silica removal which almost certainly
postdates shallow subaerial diagenesis (Walkden, in
preparation).
It is therefore amongst the earlier series of pre-
hiatus cements that we should seek evidence of early
meteoric vadose cementation, and yet the indications
are of persistent phreatic conditions during this stage.
For example the cements are strongly substrate
selective, being poorly developed on non-crinoidal
substrates; they are euhedral, and they show no sign
of surface tension effects. They also demonstrably
post-date aragonite dissolution since they are detecta-
ble on the insides of micrite envelopes. These
characteristics are consistent even in specimens
collected from immediately next to karstic pits where
conditions during formation must have been persist-
ently vadose. These early mostly non-luminescent
cements thus evidently post-date solution and there-
fore also post-date the lithification events inferred by
sedimentological evidence.
Where, then, are the cements corresponding to the
early lithifications? In fact they may have consisted of
fine micrite or microspar-sized crystals (e.g. Steinen,
1974) which occupied grain contacts. They are likely
to have grown at the same time as aragonite removal
and could now be invisible owing to overgrowth or
recrystallization. Alternatively they may still be
present within the micritic component of the rock.
The implications of this study are that the meteoric
phreatic cements now seen within the pores belong to
a phase of emergence that followed further marine
sedimentation on the Dwlban surface, possibly corre-
sponding to the next palaeokarst above (Fig. 4). The
equivalent cements corresponding to the Dwlban
palaeokarst will be present somewhere deeper in the
succession. The other important point is that there
was a clear distinction between the initial induration
and subsequent passive cementation.
T H E ANGLESEY PALAEOKARSTS
A N D LATE D I N A N T I A N M I N O R
CYCLICITY
The particular characteristics displayed by the Angle-
sey palaeokarsts are not a result of the direct effects of
climate and pedogenesis that moulded the more
normal Late Dinantian cycle boundaries elsewhere.
Instead they result from overbank solution associated
with river systems draining a nearby major hinterland,
and they are thus an accurate reflectionof their special
palaeogeographic setting.
Some of the erosive features have a further
significance, however, in terms of identifying factors
controlling the minor cyclicity itself. The general
characteristics of Late Dinantian minor cycles are
reviewed by Walkden (1983) and mixed carbonate/
clastic Brigantian sequences similar to Anglesey are
seen elsewhere. In particular they are developed in
the Bristol area, on the south side of the Welsh
landmass (Dearnley, 1967), and are extensive across
northern England in the form of the Yoredale paralic
facies. The main difference between Yoredale se-
quences and those of Anglesey lies in the amount of
clastic sediment originally available, which on the
northern flanks of St Georges land was never sufficient
to build out any sizeable paralic shelf.
Bott & Johnson (1967), endorsed by George
(1978), proposed a tectonic subsidence model to
account for Yoredale cyclicity, in which fairly rapid
subsidence was followed by deposition of a shallowing-
up cycle starting ideally with a marine limestone and
finishing with clastic silting-up and the development
of terrestrial vegetation. Cyclic effects were supposed
to reduce towards marginal areas and no provision
was made for upward movements. However in
Anglesey, a typical marginal area on the flanks of an
important landmass, the succession is strongly cyclic
and marine limestones are usually directly capped by
pitted palaeokarsts indicating that actual emergence
took place with the development of a meteoric vadose
zone.
More reliably, some erosive channels in Anglesey
are locally over 20 m deep (e.g. Benllech Sandstone)
indicating a drop in erosive base level of at least the
same amount. In addition the topmost carbonates in
the Dwlban and some other cycles are actually subtidal
grainstones and packstones and show no evidence in
any case for build up to sea-level prior to emergence
and karstification. Rather than subsidence alone these
lines of evidence show that cycles are terminated by
relatively rapid emergence involving a transition of at
least 10 m from subtidal to high supratidal levels, and
demonstrably more in a few cases.
Such characteristics are shown by Walkden (1983)
to be typical of Late Dinantian minor cycles, and this
widespread similarity in style, and also scale and
numbers, fits better a model involving cyclic changes
of sea-level (e.g. Ramsbottom, 1973, 1977). These
changes would be superimposed upon any locally or
 Polyphase erosion of omission surfaces in Wales
regionally operative tectonic effects producing con-
trasts in succession thicknesses.
CONCLUSIONS
(1) The Late Dinantian (Brigantian) succession of
Anglesey is strongly cyclic, comprising alternations of
marine carbonates and terrigenous siliciclastics. The
siliciclastics are generally subordinate, commonly
only filling fluvial channel systems or palaeokarstic
pits at the cycle boundaries.
(2) The Dwlban palaeokarst at Red Wharf Bay is a
cycle boundary showing evidence of at least four
separate phases of erosion, of which the first two were
karstic, the third was by fluvial channelling, and the
fourth was a major karstic episode. Erosive phases
were separated from one another by periods of
lithification, during which newly formed pit or channel
fills were indurated, thus preventing their later
reactivation.
(3) The close association of palaeokarstic and
fluvial phenomena demonstrates that the karstifica-
tion of Anglesey cycle boundaries is principally
attributable to overbank solution rather than direct
climatic effects. The successive erosive and diagenetic
events may result from fluctuations caused by distri-
butary switching but climatic changes are a possible
alternative.
(4)The alternations of erosion and lithification left
no specific petrographic record, and the earliest zoned
cements seen under cathodoluminescence post-date
these events.
( 5 ) The depth of penetration of palaeokarsts and
channels at cycle boundaries in Anglesey, together
with the nature of the topmost carbonates, show that
cycles were characterized by relatively abrupt terminal
emergence, and an eustatic explanation of the cyclicity
is preferred.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Drs R. Goldring, J . A. D. Dickson and V.
P. Wright for useful comments on earlier drafts. Dr
George Power (I.G.S.) gave considerable practical
support in the initial stages of the work.
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