geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

, Bernician Series was a term proposed by

Samuel Pickworth Woodward Samuel Pickworth Woodward (17 September 1821 – 11 July 1865) was an English geologist and malacologist. Biography He was the son of the geologist Samuel Woodward. In 1845, S. P. Woodward became the professor of geology and natural history in ...

in 1856 (''Manual of Mollusca'', p. 409) for the lower portion of the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...

System, below the Millstone Grit. The name was suggested by that of the ancient province of

Bernicia Bernicia ( ang, Bernice, Bryneich, Beornice; la, Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England. The Anglian territory of Bernicia was ap ...

on the Anglo-Scottish borderland. It is practically equivalent to the "

Dinantian Dinantian is the name of a series (stratigraphy), series or Epoch (reference date), epoch from the Lower Carboniferous system (stratigraphy), system in Europe. It can stand for a series of rocks in Europe or the time span in which they were deposit ...

" of

Albert Auguste de Lapparent Albert Auguste Cochon de Lapparent (30 December 18395 May 1908) was a French geologist. Life He was born at Bourges. After studying at the École polytechnique from 1858 to 1860 he became ''ingénieur au corps des mines'', and took part in drawi ...

and

Ernest Munier-Chalmas Ernest Charles Philippe Auguste Munier-Chalmas (7 April 1843 – 9 August 1903) was a French geologist, born at Tournus in Burgundy, who is known for his contributions to the understanding of the Cretaceous, but who also isolated and defined the Pri ...

(1893). In 1875 George Tate's "Calcareous and Carbonaceous" groups of the Carboniferous Limestone series of

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

were united by George Lebour into a single series, to which he applied the name "Bernician"; but later he spoke of the whole of the Carboniferous rocks of Northumberland and its borders as of the "Bernician type". "Demetian" was the corresponding designation proposed by Woodward for the Upper Carboniferous rocks. The sequence of rocks below the Bernician were referred to as the Tuedian. Because the terms ''Bernician'' and ''Tuedian'' cannot be satisfactorily applied to areas beyond those where they were originally described, they are no longer used in modern stratigraphy.

References

{{EB1911 article with no significant updates Stratigraphy Geology of Scotland