Dalradian Carbonate Rock Geochemistry Database.

The database contains a range of geochemical data for metamorphosed limestones from the Dalradian of Scotland and Northern Ireland. The data include a) whole-rock geochemical analyses by XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence) for major oxides and a range of trace elements for several hundred samples, b) a number of whole-carbonate O (oxygen) and C (carbon) stable isotope and Sr (strontium) data, c) electron microprobe mineral data on carbonates and calc-silicate minerals and d) ion-probe O stable isotope and mineral trace element data for calcites in a small number of samples. The samples from which the data have been derived were collected from a wide range of outcrops within the Scottish and Irish Dalradian, mainly concentrated in the North East Grampian Highlands of Scotland. The data have been collected mainly to support the mapping and scientific work being undertaken in the Grampian Highlands by BGS since the early 1980s. The database includes some data from the literature. All samples are located by British National Grid coordinates to the nearest 10m or better. The isotope data were acquired as part of a PhD study by C W Thomas in the late 1990s. The database is not currently being added to, but is still being used in various studies. The combined data provide wide-ranging insights into marine chemistry contemporary with deposition of the limestones and the way in which this chemistry changed with time during the Neoproterozoic, and they elucidate subsequent effects of diagenesis and metamorphism and the outcrop and grain-scale. The data set is largely complete with regard to geochemical data, but still requires some editing to bring all fields up to date, particularly with regard to lithostratigraphical assignation. The data are currently held in MS Access tables and can conveniently be displayed via GIS or abstracted in tabular form and used in spreadsheets, statistical analysis and graphing software.