Dinoflagellate cyst biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironments of the Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian to basal
Northwest European micropalaeontology and …, 1989
ABSTRACT Palynomorph assemblages from the Upper Jurassic, fault -controlled submarine slope depos... more ABSTRACT Palynomorph assemblages from the Upper Jurassic, fault -controlled submarine slope deposits, of east Sutherland have yielded miospores and microplankton in varying abundances. The Adnatosphaeridium caulleryi group, Cribroperidirrium spp. and Cyolonephelium hystrix are abundant throughout the section: Shorter-ranging taxa include Cribroperidinium longicorne, Dichadogonyaulax? pannea, Egmontodinium expiratum, Gochteodinia mutabilia, Kleithriasphaeridium porosispinum, Oligosphaeridium pulcherrimum sense Ioannides et AI. 1977 and Senoniasphaera iurassica. The base of the Pavlovia rotunda and the top of the Virgatopavlovia fittoni ammonite zones are recognized by the appearance of MUderongie sp.A Davey 1979 and the extinction of Dingodinium tuberosum and Occisucysta balia respectively. The youngest rocks exposed are assigned to the Progalbanites albani ammonite Zone of the Lower Portlandian. Increase in the ratio of microplankton to miospores in the Upper Kimmeridgian and Lower Portlandian is interpreted as indicating increasing distance from the terrestrial source due to fault-controlled widening of the submarine shelf.
Silurian palynology and correlation of inliers in the Midland Valley of Scotland. Palaeozoic Palynology in the Third Millenium: new directions in acritarch, chitinozoan and miospore research
Silurian successions in the Midland Valley of Scotland record the infilling of a Llandovery-Wenlo... more Silurian successions in the Midland Valley of Scotland record the infilling of a Llandovery-Wenlock basin, but differences of detail between Silurian inliers suggest the presence of local sub-basins with different histories of sedimentation. Unravelling the sedimentary and tectonic history of the Midland Valley depends on correlation between the inliers. Llandovery marine facies have yielded graptolite and shelly faunas, and both have been used for correlation, but marine palynomorphs (acritarchs, chitinozoa) are also present. In the North Esk Inlier, the lowest palynological assemblage, from the late Llandovery Reservoir Formation, is reasonably diverse, but dominated by sphaeromorph acritarchs and species of Tylotopalla (T. deerlijkianum, T. astrifera). The assemblage suggests a comparatively shallow marine environment, consistent with interpretation of the graptolite fauna. The sphaeromorph-Tylotopalla assemblage also occurs in the Drumyork Flags Formation of the Girvan Main Inli...
Cover Art "Big Finnan and the Buffalo" and three ethnic icons (Highlander, Lowlander, Scotch-Irish) by Matthew Horton, student at the Appomattox Regional Governor's School
Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 2000
A new model for the provenance, depositional environment and tectonic setting of the Northern Bel... more A new model for the provenance, depositional environment and tectonic setting of the Northern Belt of the Southern Uplands is presented. This turbiditic sandstone dominated sequence was deposited in a sand-rich submarine fan environment, overlying hemipelagic mudstones. The oldest sandstones are rich in juvenile ophiolitic material and record the first clastic input into the Southern Uplands basin. The bulk of the Northern Belt sedimentary sequence, however, is dominated by relatively quartzose sandstones derived from a Proterozoic continental/metamorphic source represented by the Midland Valley terrane of Scotland and Ireland. The quartzose dominated sequence was punctuated by the input of fresh volcanic detritus shed from a oceanic/continental island-arc situated to the W/NW of the Southern Uplands basin, with sediment dispersal turning to the NE along the axis of the basin in Scotland. The tectonic setting of the Southern Upland basin remains uncertain. The complex provenance of the sandstones and recognition of major olistostrome units within the Northern Belt succession suggest that it was tectonically active. The onset of clastic deposition within the Southern Uplands broadly corresponds to ophiolite obduction in both Scotland and Ireland, possibly in response to collision of a Cambrian-early Ordovician island-arc system with the Laurentian continental margin. If this interpretation is correct then the possibility arises that the Southern Uplands-Midland Valley terranes record the dismembering of this island-arc complex within an overall transpressional regime.
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