Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-pwrkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-18T01:15:37.209Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A study of the Dinantian marine macrofossils of central Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

R. B. Wilson
R. B. Wilson
Affiliation:
British Geological Survey, Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3LA, Scotland.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The stratigraphy, classification and correlation of the marine strata in the Dinantian (Lower Carboniferous) succession of central Scotland are discussed. Correlations of eight principal marine bands in the upper part of the sequence are proposed and four Hosie limestones are recognised in Fife. The marine macrofossils are listed and their vertical and lateral distribution discussed. Biofacies maps of the main marine faunas are presented, which indicate an eastern origin for the marine transgressions and suggest the existence of a river entering the region to the N of Glasgow. Observations are made on the range of host-sediments in which the most commonly occurring genera are found and palaeoecological interpretations are made concerning the main components of the faunas. Some evidence is given to suggest that some elements of the faunas migrated into the region from the E. The palaeogeography is discussed and a correlation is outlined between epifaunal forms at some horizons and areas of less subsidence in the general regional pattern of differential subsidence.

Keywords

differential subsidencelarval migrationpalaeoecologypalaeogeographystratigraphical palaeontology
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 80 , Issue 2 , 1989 , pp. 91 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1989

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

Allan, J. K. & Knox, J. 1934. The economic geology of the Fife Coalfields Area II. MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Anderson, F. W. 1963. The Geological Survey bore at Rashiehill, Stirlingshire (1951). BULL GEOL SURV G B 20, 43–106.Google Scholar
Bates, R. L. & Jackson, J. A. 1987. Glossary of geology, 3rd edn. Alexandria, Virginia: American Geological Institute.Google Scholar
Belt, E. S. 1975. Scottish Carboniferous cyclothem patterns and their paleoenvironmental significance. In Broussard, M. L. (ed.) Deltas, 427–49. Houston: Houston Geological Society.Google Scholar
Beus, S. S. 1984. Fossil associations in the High Tor Limestone (Lower Carboniferous) of South Wales. J PALEONTOL 58, 651–67.Google Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1978. Sedimentation in a late orogenic basin: the Old Red Sandstone of the Midland Valley of Scotland. In Bowes, D. R. & Leake, B. E. (eds) Crustal evolution in northwestern Britain and adjacent regions. SPEC ISSUE GEOL J 10, 249–78.Google Scholar
Brand, P. J., Armstrong, M. A. & Wilson, R. B. 1980. The Carboniferous strata at the Westfield Opencast Site, Fife, Scotland. REP INST GEOL SCI 79/11.Google Scholar
Bretsky, P. W. 1969. Evolution of Paleozoic benthic marine invertebrate communities. PALAEOGEOGR, PALAEOCLIMATOL, PALAEOECOL 6, 45–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Browne, M. A. E. 1980. The Upper Devonian and Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian) of the Firth of Tay. REP INST GEOL SCI 80/9.Google Scholar
Browne, M. A. E. 1986. The classification of the Lower Carboniferous in Fife and Lothian. SCOTT J GEOL 22, 422–5.Google Scholar
Browne, M. A. E., Hargreaves, R. L. & Smith, I. F. 1985. Investigation of the geothermal potential of the UK. The Upper Palaeozoic basins of the Midland Valley of Scotland. Keyworth: British Geological Survey.Google Scholar
Calver, M. A. 1968. Distribution of Westphalian marine faunas in northern England and adjoining areas. PROC YORKSHIRE GEOL SOC 37, 1–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, I. B. & Stephenson, D. 1985. The Midland Valley of Scotland, 3rd edn. BRIT REG GEOL, BRIT GEOL SURV.Google Scholar
Carruthers, R. G., Caldwell, W., Bailey, E. M. & Conacher, H. R. J. 1927. The oil-shales of the Lothians, 3rd edn. MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Chao, Y. T. 1928. Productidae of China Pt. 2 Chonetinae, Productinae and Richtofeninae. PAL SINICA SER(B) 5, fasc 3.Google Scholar
Christensen, O. B. 1971. Lower Carboniferous of the Boring Orslev No. 1. GEOL SURV DENMARK REP 5.Google Scholar
Craig, G. Y. 1952. A comparative study of the ecology and palaeoecology of Lingula. TRANS EDINBURGH GEOL SOC 15, 110–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, G. Y. 1954. The palaeoecology of the Top Hosie Shale (Lower Carboniferous) at a locality near Kilsyth. Q J GEOL SOC LONDON 110, 103–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, G. Y. 1956. The mode of life of certain Carboniferous animals from the West Kirkton Quarry, near Bathgate. TRANS EDINBURGH GEOL SOC 16, 272–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, G. Y. (ed.) 1983. Geology of Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.Google Scholar
Craig, G. Y. & Jones, N. S. 1966. Marine benthos, substrate and palaeoecology. PALAEONTOL 9, 30–8.Google Scholar
Currie, E. D. 1954. Scottish Carboniferous goniatites. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 62, 527–602.Google Scholar
Davidson, T. 1880. A monograph of British fossil Brachiopoda. Supplements, vol 4, pt 3, Supplement to the Permian and Carboniferous species. PALAEONTOGR SOC MONOGR.Google Scholar
Davies, A. 1972. Carboniferous rocks of the Muirkirk, Gass Water and Glenmuir areas of Ayrshire. BULL GEOL SURV G B 40, 1–49.Google Scholar
Davies, A. 1974. The Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian) sequence at Spilmersford, East Lothian, Scotland. BULL GEOL SURV G B 45, 1–38.Google Scholar
Davies, A., McAdam, A. D. & Cameron, I. B. 1986. Geology of the Dunbar district. MEM BRIT GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Earp, J. R., Magraw, D., Poole, E. G., Land, D. H. & Whiteman, A. J. 1961. Geology of the country around Clitheroe and Nelson. MEM GEOL SURV G B ENGLAND AND WALES.Google Scholar
Etheridge, R. jun., 1876. On an adherent form of Productus and a small Spiriferina from the Lower Carboniferous Limestone Group of the east of Scotland. Q J GEOL SOC LONDON 32, 454–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, L. 1962. The paleoecology of a Lower Carboniferous marine transgression. J PALEONTOL 36, 1090–107.Google Scholar
Ferguson, L. 1963. The paleoecology of Lingula squamiformis Phillips during a Scottish Mississippian marine transgression. J PALEONTOL 37, 669–81.Google Scholar
Ferm, J. C. & Williams, E. G. 1965. Characteristics of a Carboniferous marine invasion in Western Pennsylvania. J SEDIMENT PETROL 35, 319–30.Google Scholar
Forsyth, I. H. 1970. Geological Survey boreholes in the Lower Carboniferous of west Fife. BULL GEOL SURV G B 31, 1–18.Google Scholar
Forsyth, I. H. & Chisholm, J. 1968. Geological Survey boreholes in the Carboniferous of east Fife, 1963–4. BULL GEOL SURV GB 28, 61–101.Google Scholar
Forsyth, I. H. & Chisholm, J. I. 1977. The geology of East Fife. MEM GEOL SURV G B SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Forsyth, I. H. & Wilson, R. B. 1965. Recent sections in the Lower Carboniferous of the Glasgow area. BULL GEOL SURV G B 22, 65–79.Google Scholar
Francis, E. H. 1961. The economic geology of the Fife Coalfields Area II, 2nd edn. MEM GEOL SURV G B SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Francis, E. H., Forsyth, I. H., Read, W. A. & Armstrong, M. A. 1970. The geology of the Stirling district. MEM GEOL SURV G B SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Frost, D. V. & Smart, J. G. O. 1979. Geology of the country north of Derby. MEM GEOL SURV G B ENGLAND AND WALES.Google Scholar
Geikie, A. 1879. Explanation of Sheet 31. MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Geikie, A. 1902. Geology of eastern Fife. MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
George, T. M. 1958. Lower Carboniferous palaeogeography of the British Isles. PROC YORKSHIRE GEOL SOC 31, 227–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
George, T. N., Johnson, G. A. L., Mitchell, M., Prentice, J. E., Ramsbottom, W. H. C., Sevastopulo, G. D. & Wilson, R. B. 1976. A correlation of Dinantian rocks in the British Isles. SPEC REP GEOL SOC LONDON 7.Google Scholar
Gilligan, A. 1920. The petrography of the Millstone Grit of Yorkshire. Q J GEOL SOC LONDON 75, 251–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodlet, G. A. 1957. Lithological variation in the Lower Limestone Group in the Midland Valley of Scotland. BULL GEOL SURV G B 12, 52–65.Google Scholar
Goodlet, G. A. 1960. Mid-Carboniferous sedimentation in the Midland Valley of Scotland. TRANS EDINBURGH GEOL SOC 17, 217–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greensmith, J. T. 1965. Calciferous Sandstone Series sedimentation at the eastern end of the Midland Valley of Scotland. J SEDIMENT PETROL 35, 223–42.Google Scholar
Haldane, D. & Allan, J. K. 1931. The economic geology of the Fife Coalfields Area I. MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Harper, J. A. & Rollins, H. B. 1985. Infaunal or semi-infaunal bellerophont gastropods: an analysis of Euphemites and functionally related taxa. LETHAIA 18, 21–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hickey, D. R. & Younker, J. L. 1981. Structure and composition of a Pennsylvanian benthonic community. J PALEONTOL 55, 1–12.Google Scholar
Hill, D. 1981. In Teichert, C. (ed.) Treatise on invertebrate paleontology Part F Coelenterata, Supplement 1, Vol. 1. Boulder, Colorado & Lawrence, Kansas: Geological Society of America & University of Kansas.Google Scholar
Hinxman, L. W., Anderson, E. M. & Carruthers, R. G. 1920. The economic geology of the Central Coalfield of Scotland Area IV. MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Hinxman, L. W., Carruthers, R. G., Macgregor, M. & Dinham, C. D. 1921. The economic geology of the Central Coalfield of Scotland Area IX. MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Jameson, J. 1980. Depositional environments in the Petershill Formation, Bathgate, West Lothian. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Jameson, J. 1987. Carbonate sedimentation on a mid-basin high: the Petershill Formation, Midland Valley of Scotland. In Miller, J., Adams, A. E. & Wright, V. P. (eds) European Dinantian environments, 309–328. Chichester, New York: Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Jefferies, R. P. S. & Minton, P. 1965. The mode of life of two Jurassic species of ‘Posidonia’ (Bivalvia) PALAEONTOL 8, 156–85.Google Scholar
Johnson, R. G. 1962. Interspecific associations in Pennsylvanian fossil assemblages. J GEOL 70, 32–55.Google Scholar
Johnson, R. G. 1972. Conceptual models of benthonic communities. In Schopf, T. J. M. (ed.) Models in paleobiology, 148–59. San Francisco: Freeman, Cooper & Co.Google Scholar
Kauffman, E. G. 1969. In Moore, R. C. (ed.) Treatise on invertebrate paleontology Part N, Mollusca, Bivalvia, vol. 1. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas & Geological Society of America.Google Scholar
Kelly, S. M. & Horowitz, A. S. 1986. Growth forms and paleoecology of Mississippian bryozoans: critical application of Stach's 1936 Model, Eastern United States. In Ross, J. R. P. (ed.) Bryozoa: Present and past, 137–44. Bellingham, Washington: Western Washington University.Google Scholar
Kennedy, W. Q. 1958. The tectonic evolution of the Midland Valley of Scotland. TRANS GEOL SOC GLASGOW 23, 106–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korejwo, K. 1986. Biostratigraphy of the Carboniferous deposits of the Swidnik blocks (Lublin Coal Basin). ACTA GEOL POLONICA 36, 337–46.Google Scholar
Leeder, M. R. 1987. Tectonic and palaeogeographic models for Lower Carboniferous Europe. In Miller, J., Adams, A. E. & Wright, V. P. (eds). European Dinantian environments. Chichester, New York: J. Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Levinton, J. S. 1970. The paleoecological significance of opportunistic species. LETHAIA 3, 69–78.Google Scholar
Lumsden, G. I. 1967. The Carboniferous Limestone Series of Douglas, Lanarkshire. BULL GEOL SURV G B 26, 1–22.Google Scholar
McAdam, A. D. & Tulloch, W. 1985. Geology of the Haddington district. MEM BRIT GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
MacGregor, A. G. 1960. Divisions of the Carboniferous on Geological Survey Scottish maps. BULL GEOL SURV G B 16, 127–30.Google Scholar
Macgregor, M. 1930. Scottish Carboniferous stratigraphy: An introduction to the study of the Carboniferous rocks of Scotland. TRANS GEOL SOC GLASGOW 18, 442–558.Google Scholar
Macgregor, M., Anderson, E. M., Hinxman, L. W. & Lightfoot, B. 1923. The economic geology of the Central Coalfield of Scotland Area VI. MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Macgregor, M., Dinham, C. D., Bailey, E. B. & Anderson, E. M. 1925. The geology of the Glasgow district, 2nd edn. MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Macnair, P. 1917. The Hurlet sequence in the east of Scotland and the Abden Fauna as an index to the position of the Hurlet Limestone. PROC R SOC EDINBURGH 37, 173–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masurel, H. 1987. Macrofossils and their palaeoecology in deltaic sequences of the Lower Carboniferous Yoredale Series, Yorkshire, England. GEOL EN MIJNBOUWKD 66, 221–37.Google Scholar
Maufe, H. B. 1906. In SUMM PROG GEOL SURV for 1905.Google Scholar
Mitchell, A. H. G. & Reading, H. G. 1986. Sedimentation and tectonics. In Reading, H. B. (ed.) Sedimentary environments and fades, 2nd edn., 471–519. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Mitchell, G. H. & Mykura, W. 1962. The geology of the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, 3rd edn. MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Monro, S. K. 1985. Sedimentation controls in the Midland Valley of Scotland—the Dairy Basin case study. C R 10e CONGR INT STRATIGR GEOL CARBONIF 3, 343–53.Google Scholar
Muir-Wood, H. & Cooper, A. G. 1960. Morphology, classification and life habits of the Productoidea (Brachiopoda). GEOL SOC AM MEM 81.Google Scholar
Neves, R., Gueinn, K. J., Clayton, G., Ioannides, N. S., Neville, R. S. W. & Kruszewska, K. 1973. Palynological correlations within the Lower Carboniferous of Scotland and northern England. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 69, 23–70.Google Scholar
Newell, N. D. 1937. Late Paleozoic pelecypods: Pectinacea. KANSAS STATE GEOL SURV 10, 1–123.Google Scholar
Nudds, J. R. & Johnson, G. A. L. 1985. Carboniferous coral provinces and the geography of the period. C R 10e CONGR INT STRATIGR GEOL CARBONIF 4, 83–8.Google Scholar
Paterson, I. B. & Hall, I. H. S. 1986. Lithostratigraphy of the late Devonian and early Carboniferous rocks in the Midland Valley of Scotland. BRIT GEOL SURV REP 18(3), 1–14.Google Scholar
Ramsbottom, W. H. C. 1978. Carboniferous. In McKerrow, W. S. (ed.) The ecology of fossils an illustrated guide, 146–83. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Read, W. A. 1988. Controls on Silesian sedimentation in the Midland Valley of Scotland. In Besley, B. M. & Kelling, G. (eds) Sedimentation in a synorogenic basin complex, the Upper Carboniferous of northwestern Europe, 222–41. New York: Blackie/Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Read, W. A. & Dean, J. M. 1967. A qualitative study of a sequence of coal-bearing cycles in the Namurian of central Scotland. SEDIMENTOLOGY 9, 137–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Read, W. A. & Johnson, S. R. H. 1967. The sedimentology of sandstone formations within the Upper Old Red Sandstone and lowest Calciferous Sandstone Measures west of Stirling, Scotland. SCOTT J GEOL 3, 242–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richey, J. E. 1925. The Carboniferous strata below the Top Hosie Limestone in north Ayrshire. TRANS GEOL SOC GLASGOW 17, 204–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richey, J. E. 1937. Areas of sedimentation of Lower Carboniferous age in the Midland Valley of Scotland. SUMM PROG GEOL SURV for 1935, Part 2, 93–110.Google Scholar
Richey, J. E., Anderson, E. M. & MacGregor, A. G. 1930. The geology of north Ayrshire. MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Rowley, D. B., Baymond, A., Parrish, J. T., Lottes, A. L., Scotese, C. B. & Ziegler, A. M. 1985. Carboniferous paleogeographic, phytographic and paleoclimatic reconstructions. INT J COAL GEOL 5, 7–42.Google Scholar
Rudwick, M. J. S. 1965. In Moore, R. C. (ed.) Treatise on invertebrate paleontology Part H Brachiopoda, Vol. 1. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas & Geological Society of America.Google Scholar
Scheltema, R. S. 1974. Relationship of dispersal to geographical and morphological variation in the polychaete family Chaetopteridae. THALASSIA JUGOSLAVICA 10, 297–312.Google Scholar
Scheltema, R. S. 1977. Dispersal of marine invertebrate organisms: paleobiogeographic and biostratigraphic implications. In Kauffman, E. G. & Hazel, J. E. (eds) Concepts and methods of biostratigraphy, 73–108. Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania: Dowden, Hutchenson & Ross.Google Scholar
Simpson, S. (ed.) 1971. Lexique Stratigraphique International, Vol. 1, Europe, Fascicle 3a England, Wales and Scotland, Part 3a, VII Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian). Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1970. Relation of shell form to life habits of the Bivalvia (Mollusca). GEOL SOC AM MEM 125.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1972. Functional morphology and evolution of byssally attached bivalve mollusks. J PALEONTOL 46, 165–212.Google Scholar
Stevens, C. H. 1966. Paleoecologic implications of early Permian fossil communities in eastern Nevada and western Utah. GEOL SOC AM BULL 77, 1121–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, C. H. 1969. Water depth control of fusulinid distribution. LETHAIA 2, 121–32.Google Scholar
Swan, A. R. H. & Saunders, W. B. 1987. Function and shape in late Paleozoic (mid-Carboniferous) ammonoids. PALEOBIOL 13, 297–311.Google Scholar
Tarling, D. H. 1985. Carboniferous reconstructions based on palaeomagnetism. C R 10e CONGR INT STRATIGR GEOL CARBONIF 4, 153–62.Google Scholar
Tulloch, W. & Walton, H. S. 1958. The geology of the Midlothian Coalfield. MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Van, der Zwan C. J., Boulter, M. C. & Hubbard, R. N. L. B. 1985. Climatic changes during the Lower Carboniferous in Euramerica, based on multivariate statistical analysis of palynological data. PALAEOGEOGR, PALAEOCLIMATOL, PALAEOECOL 52, 1–20.Google Scholar
Walker, K. R. & Bambach, R. K. 1974. Feeding by benthic invertebrates: classification and terminology for paleoecological analysis. LETHAIA 7, 67–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watkins, R. 1975. Paleoecology of some Carboniferous Pectinacea. LETHAIA 8, 125–31.Google Scholar
Weller, J. M. 1957. Paleoecology of the Pennsylvanian period in Illinois and adjacent states. In Ladd, H. S. (ed.) Treatise on marine ecology and paleoecology. GEOL SOC AM MEM 67, vol. 2, 325–64.Google Scholar
Wilson, H. E. & Robbie, J. A. 1966. Geology of the country around Ballycastle. MEM GEOL SURV N IRELAND.Google Scholar
Wilson, J. B. 1982. In Stride, A. H. (ed.) Offshore tidal sands: processes and deposits. London, New York: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. B. 1959. Wilkingia gen. nov. to replace Allorisma for a genus of Upper Palaeozoic lamellibranchs. PALAEONTOL 1, 401–4.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. B. 1960. A revision of the types of Carboniferous lamellibranch species erected by J. Fleming. BULL GEOL SURV G B 16, 110–26.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. B. 1961. Palaeontology of the Archerbeck Borehole, Canonbie, Dumfriesshire. BULL GEOL SURV G B 18, 90–106.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. B. 1962. A revision of the Scottish Carboniferous lamellibranch species erected by R. Etheridge jun. BULL GEOL SURV G B 19, 53–74.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. B. 1965. A revision of some Carboniferous species of ‘Modiola’. BULL GEOL SURV G B 23, 9–15.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. B. 1966. A study of the Neilson Shell Bed, a Scottish Lower Carboniferous marine shale. BULL GEOL SURV G B 24, 105–30.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. B. 1967. A study of some Namurian marine faunas of central Scotland. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 66, 445–90.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. B. 1974. A study of the Dinantian marine faunas of south-east Scotland. BULL GEOL SURV G B 46, 35–65.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. B. 1979. The base of the Lower Limestone Group (Visean) in north Ayrshire. SCOTT J GEOL 15, 313–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, J. 1866. Notes on the occurrence and range of Lingula in the Carboniferous Series of the West of Scotland. TRANS GEOL SOC GLASGOW 2, 144–8.Google Scholar
Young, J. 1868. On the geology of the Campsie district (2nd edn) TRANS GEOL SOC GLASGOW 1, 1–68.Google Scholar
Zhang, R. & Pojeta, J. jr, 1986. New bivalves from the Datang Stage, Lower Carboniferous, Guangdong Province, China. J PALEONTOL 60, 669–79.Google Scholar