Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T03:34:54.438Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Devonian miospores from Papa Stour, Shetland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

J. E. A. Marshall
J. E. A. Marshall
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, The University, Highfield, Southampton SO9 5NH, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Devonian miospores have been discovered in the previously poorly dated Old Red Sandstone volcanic sequence of Papa Stour. They occur at two sites in minor sedimentary deposits between the lavas, and fossil fish remains are also present. The age range of the miospores is mid Eifelian to early Givetian, probably more specifically late Eifelian and from a position close to the Achanarras horizon. This allows a correlation of the Papa Stour volcanic sequence with that of the Upper Stromness Flags of Orkney and not the tuffaceous horizons in the Eday Sandstones. The good preservation and composition of the miospores indicate a close similarity to other Orcadian Basin sediments and support the view that the Old Red Sandstone sequences W of the Melby Fault have affinities with the Orkney and Caithness successions rather than with Shetland. The age of the volcanic sequence also provides a valuable datum point for plate tectonic models based on the geochemistry of Old Red Sandstone lavas.

Keywords

Achanarrasearly Givetianfossil fishgeochemistrymid Eifelianplate tectonicspreservationspore colourUpper Stromness Flagsvitrinite reflectancevolcanics
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 79 , Issue 1 , 1988 , pp. 13 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, K. C. 1965. Lower and Middle Devonian spores of north and central Vestspitsbergen. PALAEONTOLOGY 8, 687–748.Google Scholar
Allen, K. C. 1967. Spore assemblages and their stratigraphical application in the Lower and Middle Devonian of north and central Vestspitsbergen. PALAEONTOLOGY 10, 280–297.Google Scholar
Allen, P. A. & Marshall, J. E. A. 1981. Depositional environments and palynology of the Devonian SE Shetland Basin. SCOTT J GEOL 17, 257–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Astin, T. R. 1983. Discussion on implications for Caledonian plate tectonic models of chemical data from volcanic rocks of the British Old Red Sandstone. J GEOL SOC LONDON 140, 315–318.Google Scholar
Donovan, R. N., Archer, R., Turner, P. & Tarling, D. H. 1976. Devonian palaeogeography of the Orcadian Basin and the Great Glen Fault. NATURE LONDON 259, 550–551.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donovan, R. N., Foster, R. J. & Westoll, T. S. 1974. A stratigraphical revision of the Old Red Sandstone of NE Caithness. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 69, 167–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finlay, T. M. 1930. The Old Red Sandstone of Shetland. Pt II. North-Western Area. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 56, 671–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, M. J., Barnard, P. C. & Cooper, B. S. 1980. Organic maturation and hydrocarbon generation in the Mesozoic sediments of the Sverdrup Basin Arctic Canada. IV INT PALYNOL CONF LUCKNOW (1976–1977) 2, 581–588.Google Scholar
Flinn, D. 1977. Transcurrent faults and associated cataclasis in Shetland. GEOL SOC LONDON 133, 231–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flinn, D., Miller, J. A., Evans, A. L. & Pringle, I. R. 1968. On the age of the sediments and contemporaneous volcanic rocks of W Shetland. SCOTT J GEOL 4, 10–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kedo, G. I. & Obukhovskaya, T. G. 1981. Spores, Middle Devonian of the Baltic region and NE White Russia. In Sorokin, V. S., Liarskaya, L. A. & Sawaitova, L. S. (eds) Devonian and Carboniferous of the Baltic regions, 419–436. Riga: Zinatne.Google Scholar
Marshall, J. E. A. 1985. Insculptospora, a new genus of Devonian camerate spore with a sculptured intexine. POLLEN SPORES 27, 453–470.Google Scholar
Marshall, J. E. A., in press. Devonian miospores from the Walls Group, Shetland. SCOTT J GEOL.Google Scholar
Marshall, J. E. A. & Allen, K. C. 1982. Devonian miospore assemblages from Fair Isle, Shetland. PALAEONTOLOGY 25, 277–312.Google Scholar
Marshall, J. E. A., Brown, J. F. & Hindmarsh, S. 1985. Hydrocarbon source rock potential of the Devonian rocks of the Orcadian Basin. SCOTT J GEOL 21, 301–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGregor, D. C. 1973. Lower and Middle Devonian spores of eastern Gaspé, Canada. PALAEONTOGRAPHICA Abt. B42, 1–77.Google Scholar
McGregor, D. C. 1981. Spores and the Middle-Upper Devonian boundary. REV PALAEOBOT PALYN 34, 25–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGregor, D. C. & Camfield, M. 1976. Upper Silurian to Middle Devonian spores of the Moose River Basin, Ontario. BULL GEOL SURV CAN 263, 1–63.Google Scholar
McGregor, D. C. & Camfield, M. 1982. Middle Devonian miospores from the Cape de Bray, Weatherall, and Hecla Bay Formations of NE Melville Island, Canadian Arctic. BULL GEOL SURV CAN 348, 1–105.Google Scholar
Moreau-Benoit, A. 1980. Les spores du Dévonien de Libye. CAH MICROPALAEONTOL 1980. 1, 1–53.Google Scholar
Mykura, W. 1976. Orkney and Shetland. British Regional Geology. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Mykura, W. & Phemister, J. 1976. The Geology of W Shetland. MEM GEOL SURV GB.Google Scholar
Owens, B. 1971. Miospores from the Middle and Early Devonian rocks of the W Queen Elizabeth Islands, Arctic Archipelago. GEOL SURV CAN PAP 70–38, 1–157.Google Scholar
Owens, B. & Richardson, J. B. 1972. Some recent advances in Devonian palynology—a review, Report of C.I.M.P. Working Group No. 13B. C R SEPT CONGRESS INT DE STRAT ET DE GEOL DU CARBONIFERE KREFELD 1971, BAND 1, 325–343.Google Scholar
Pearson, D. L. 1982. Approaching a Pollen/Spore color standard. PALYNOLOGY 6, 289.Google Scholar
Playford, G. 1971. Lower Carboniferous spores from the Bonaparte Gulf Basin, Western Australia and Northern Territory. BULL BUR MINER RESOUR GEOL GEOPHYS AUST 115, 1–105.Google Scholar
Playford, G. 1983. The Devonian miospore genus Geminospora Balme 1962: a reappraisal based upon topotypic G. lemurata (type species). MEM ASS AUSTRALAS PALAEONTOL 1, 311–325.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. B. 1960. Spores from the Middle Old Red Sandstone of Cromarty, Scotland. PALAEONTOLOGY 3, 45–63.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. B. 1962. Spores with bifurcate processes from the Middle Old Red Sandstone of Scotland. PALAEONTOLOGY 5, 171–194.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. B. 1965. Middle Old Red Sandstone spore assemblages from the Orcadian Basin, NE Scotland. PALAEONTOLOGY 7, 559–605.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. B. & McGregor, D. C. 1986. Silurian and Devonian spore zones of the Old Red Sandstone Continent and adjacent regions. BULL GEOL SURV CAN 364, 1–79.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. B. & Rasul, , 1978. Palynomorphs in Lower Devonian sediments from the Apley Barn Borehole, southern England. POLLEN SPORES 20, 423–462.Google Scholar
Riegel, W. 1973. Sporenformen aus den Heisdorf-, Lauch- und Nohn-schichten (Emsium und Eifelium) der Eifel, Rheinland. PALAEONTOGRAPHICA Abt. B142, 78–104.Google Scholar
Riegel, W. 1982. Palynological aspects of the Lower/Middle Devonian transition in the Eifel region. COUR FORSCH-INST SENCKENBERG 55, 279–292.Google Scholar
Streel, M., Higgs, K., Lobziak, S., Riegel, W. & Steemans, P. 1987. Spore stratigraphy and correlation with faunas and floras in the type marine Devonian of the Ardennes-Rhenish regions. REV PALAEOBOT PALYN 50, 211–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thirlwall, M. F. 1981. Implications for Caledonian plate tectonic models of chemical data from volcanic rocks of the British Old Red Sandstone. J GEOL SOC 138, 123–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thirlwall, M. F. 1983. Discussion on implications for Caledonian plate tectonic models of geochemical data from volcanic rocks of the British Old Red Sandstone. J GEOL SOC 140, 315–318.Google Scholar
Westoll, T. S. 1979. Devonian fish biostratigraphy. In House, M. R., Scrutton, C. T. & Bassett, M. G. (eds) The Devonian System. SPEC PAP PALAEONTOL 23, 341–353.Google Scholar
Wilson, G. V., Robertson, T., Allan, J. K. & Buchan, S. 1935. Shetland. SUMM PROG GEOL SURV GB, in MEM GEOL SURV GB, 1935 for 1934, 67–69.Google Scholar