The Much Wenlock Limestone Formation is a series of Silurian

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

beds that date back to the

Homerian In the geologic timescale, the Homerian is an age of the Wenlock Epoch of the Silurian Period of the Paleozoic Era of the Phanerozoic Eon that is comprehended between 430.5 ± 0.7 Ma and 427.4 ± 0.5 Ma (million years ago), approximately. Th ...

age, the later part of the Wenlock epoch.{{cite web , url=http://www.bgs.ac.uk/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?pub=WEL , title=Much Wenlock Limestone Formation , publisher= British Geological Survey , work=The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units , date=2013 , accessdate=11 July 2013 The formation comprises nodular to thinly bedded limestones, with variable development of

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock o ...

bodies that can be found exposed at

Wenlock Edge Wenlock Edge is a limestone escarpment near Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England and a site of special scientific interest because of its geology. It is over long, running southwest to northeast between Craven Arms and Much Wenlock, and is roughl ...

and in a small area near

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

known as

Wren's Nest The Wren's Nest is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Dudley Metropolitan Borough, north west of the town centre of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. It is one of the most important geological locations in Britai ...

. The formation is made up of three different members which have been classified as the Lower Quarried Limestone Member, the Nodular Beds Member and the Upper Quarried Limestone Member.Dorning, K. J. 1983. Palynology and stratigraphy of the Much Wenlock Limestone Formation, Dudley, Central England. Mercian Geologist, 20, 31-40. Many of the members can be subdivided into separate lithofacies that would have been deposited under different environmental conditions. However the overall environment of deposition for the formation is in a shallow, tropical marine setting that is located between the storm

wave base The wave base, in physical oceanography, is the maximum depth at which a water wave's passage causes significant water motion. At water depths deeper than the wave base, bottom sediments and the seafloor are no longer stirred by the wave motion a ...

and the fair weather wave base.

References

Geology of Shropshire Homerian Silurian southern paleotemperate deposits