Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T04:02:52.827Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Downtonian and Dittonian Facies of the Welsh Borderland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

J. R. L. Allen  and
L. B. Tarlo
J. R. L. Allen
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Reading.
L. B. Tarlo
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Reading.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The succession of Lower Old Red Sandstone rocks found in the Welsh Borderland, is reinterpreted to reveal a shifting pattern of facies of far greater complexity than was hitherto realized. The sequence of vertebrate faunas is examined in conjunction with the sediments, and in this way a fuller account is given of the conditions of life of these early vertebrates, than was previously possible. The boundary between the Downtonian and Dittonian Stages is revised to coincide with the major palaeontological break in the region, and this is shown to approximate to a major lithological break, which is here accepted as the division between the local rock units known as the Downton and Ditton Series.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 100 , Issue 2 , April 1963 , pp. 129 - 155
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1963

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

REFERENCES

Alexander, F. E. S., 1936. The Aymestrey Limestone of the main outcrop. Quart. J. Geol. Soc. Lond., 92, 102–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. R. L. and Wells, J. W., 1962. Recent coral banks and subsidence in the Niger Delta. J. Geol., 70, 381–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Austin, J. E., 1925. Notes on the highest Silurian rocks of the Long Mountain. Proc. Geol. Ass. Lond., 36, 381–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ball, H. W., 1951. The Silurian and Devonian rocks of Turner's Hill and Gornal, South Staffordshire. Proc. Geol. Ass. Lond., 62, 225–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ball, H. W., and Dineley, D. L., 1951. Notes on the Old Red Sandstone of the Clee Hills. Proc. Geol. Ass. Lond., 63, 207–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ball, H. W., and Dineley, D. L., and White, E. I., 1961. The Old Red Sandstone of Brown Clee Hill and the adjecent area. Bull. Brit. Mus. Geol. 5, 177–310.Google Scholar
Banks, R. W., 1856. On the Tilestones, or Downton Sandstones in the neighbourhood of Kington. Quart. J. geol. Soc. Lond., 12, 93–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bucher, W. H., 1938. Key to papers published by an institute for the study of modern sediments in shallow seas. J. Geol., 46, 726–755.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, B. B., 1952. The geology of Dinmore Hill, Herefordshire, with a description of a new myriapod from the Dittonian rocks there. Trans. Woolhope Nat. Fld. Cl. 33, 222–236.Google Scholar
Clarke, B. B., 1955. The Old Red Sandstone of the Merbach Ridge, with an account of the Middlewood Sandstone, a new fossiliferous horizon 500 feet below the Psammosteus Limestone. Trans. Woolhope Nat. Fld. Cl. 34, 195–218.Google Scholar
Craig, G. Y., 1952. A comparative study of the ecology and palaeoecology of Lingula. Trans. Edinb. geol. Soc., 15, 110–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denison, R. H., 1956. A review of the habitat of the earliest vertebrates. Fieldiana (Geol.), 11, 359–457.Google Scholar
Dineley, D. L., 1951. The northern part of the Lower Old Red Sandstone outcrop of the Welsh Borderland. Trans. Woolhope Nat. Fld. Cl., 14, 127–147.Google Scholar
Dineley, D. L., and Gossage, D. W., 1959. The Old Red Sandstone of the Cleobury Mortimer area, Shropshire. Proc. Geol. Ass. Lond., 70, 221–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Earp, J. R., 1938. The higher Silurian rocks of the Kerry district, Montgomeryshire. Quart. J. geol. Soc. Lond., 94, 125–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Earp, J. R., 1940. The geology of the south-western part of Clun Forest. Quart. J. geol. Soc. Lond., 96, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elles, G. L. and Slater, I. L., 1906. The highest Silurian rocks of the Ludlow district. Quart. J. geol. Soc. Lond., 62, 195–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisk, H. N., 1944. Geological investigations in the alluvial valley of the lower Mississippi River. Vicksburg!Google Scholar
Fisk, H. N., McFarlan, E., Kolb, C. R., and Wilbert, L.J., 1954. Sedimentary framework of the modern Mississippi Delta. J. sediment. Petrol., 24, 76–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisk, H. N., McFarlan, E., Kolb, C. R., and Wilbert, L. J., 1955. Late Quaternary deltaic deposits of the Mississippi River. Spec. Pap. geol. Soc. Amer. No. 62.Google Scholar
Gross, W., 1950. Die paläontologische und stratigraphische Bedeutung der Wirbeltierfaunen des Old Reds und der marinen altpaläozoischen Schichten. Abh. dtsch. Akad. Wiss. Berl, math.-nat. Kl., 1949, 1, 1–130.Google Scholar
Holland, C. H., 1959. The Ludlovian and Downtonian rocks of the Knighton district, Radnorshire. Quart. J. geol. Soc. Lond., 114, 449–478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, W. W., 1921. The geology of Trimpley. Trans. Worcs. Nat. Cl., 7, 319–322.Google Scholar
King, W. W., 1925. Notes on the “Old Red Sandstone” of Shropshire. Proc. Geol. Ass. Lond., 36, 383–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, W. W., 1934. The Downtonian and Dittonian strata of Great Britain and North-western Europe. Quart. J. geol. Soc. Lond., 90, 526–566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, W. W., and Lewis, W. J., 1917. The Downtonian of South Staffordshire. Proc. Birm. Nat. Hist. Phil. Soc. 14, 90–99.Google Scholar
Kirk, N. H., 1951. The Silurian and Downtonian rocks of the anticlinal disturbance of Breconshire and Radnorshire: Pont Faen to Presteigne. Proc. geol. Soc. Lond., 1474, 72–4.Google Scholar
Koldewijn, B. W., 1958. Sediments of the Paria-Trinidad Shelf. Reports of the Orinoco Shelf Expedition. Vol. III. Paris.Google Scholar
Kruit, C., 1955. Sediments of the Rhone Delta. I. Grain size and micro-fauna. Verhand. Kon. Nederland. Geol.-Mijn. Genoot., 15, 357–514.Google Scholar
Lang, W. H., 1937. On the plant-remains from the Downtonian of England and Wales. Phil. Trans. B., 227, 245–291.Google Scholar
Lankester, E. R., 1868–1870. A monograph of the fishes of the Old Red Sandstone of Britain. Part I. The Cephalaspidae. Palaeont. Soc. Lond.Google Scholar
Lapworth, C., 1879–1880. Table showing the classification and correlation of the graptolite-bearing rocks of Europe and America. 1879. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Lond., (5) 3, 455 (text, 1880. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Lond, (5), 5, 48.Google Scholar
Lawson, J. D., 1954. The Silurian succession at Gorseley, Herefordshire. Geol. Mag., 91, 227–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawson, J. D., 1955. The geology of the May Hill inlier. Quart. J. geol. Soc. Lond., 111, 85–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKee, E. D., 1939. Some types of bedding in the Colorado River Delta. J. Geol., 47, 64–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKee, E. D., 1957. Primary structures in some recent sediments. Bull. Amer. Ass. Petrol. Geol., 41, 1704–1747.Google Scholar
Murchison, R. I., 1839. The Silurian System. London.Google Scholar
Nota, D. J. G., 1958. Sediments of the Western Guiana Shelf. Reports of the Orinoco Shelf Expedition. Vol. II. Mededel. Landbouwhog. Wageningen, 58, Pt. 2, 1–98.Google Scholar
Parker, R. H., 1956. Macro-invertebrate assemblages as indicators of sedimentary environments in east Mississippi Delta region. Bull. Amer. Ass. Petrol. Geol., 40, 295–376.Google Scholar
Peach, B. N. and Horne, J., 1889. The Silurian Rocks of Britain. I. Scotland. Mem. geol. Surv. 9B.Google Scholar
Pepper, J. F., de Witt, W., and Demarest, D. F., 1954. Geology of the Bedford Shale and Berea Sandstone in the Appalachian Basin. U.S. geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 259, pp. 109.Google Scholar
Phillips, J., 1848. The Malvern Hills compared with the Palaeozoic districts of Abberley. Mem. geol. Surv. Engld. and Wales.Google Scholar
Piper, G. H., 1898. The passage Beds at Ledbury. Trans. Woolhope Nat. Fld. Cl. 1895–1897, 310–313.Google Scholar
Reineck, H.-E., 1956. Der Wattenboden und das Leben im Wattenboden. Natur u. Folk., 86, 268–284.Google Scholar
Reineck, H.-E., 1958. Über Gefüge von orientierten Grundproben aus der Nordsee. Senck. Leth., 39, 25–41., 54–56.Google Scholar
Richardson, L., 1935. Wells and springs of Herefordshire. Mem. Geol. Surv. Engld. and Wales.Google Scholar
Robertson, J. D., 1957. The habitat of the early vertebrates. Biol. Rev., 32, 156–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, T., 1927. The highest Silurian rocks of the Wenlock district. Summ. Progr. geol. Surv. G.B. for 1926, 80–97.Google Scholar
Scruton, P. C., 1955. Sediments of the Eastern Mississippi Delta. Soc. Econ. Palaeont. Mineral. Spec. Publ. 3, 21–50.Google Scholar
Shepard, F. P., 1956. Marginal sediments of Mississippi Delta. Bull. Amer. Ass. Petrol. Geol., 40, 865–955.Google Scholar
Shepard, F. P., 1959. Sediment environments of the Northwest Gulf of Mexico. Eclog. geol. Helv., 51, 598–608.Google Scholar
Squirrell, H. C., 1958. New occurrences of fish remains in the Silurian of the Welsh Borderland. Geol. Mag. 95, 328–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squirrell, H. C., and Tucker, E. V., 1960. The geology of the Woolhope inlier, Herefordshire. Quart. J. geol. Soc. Lond., 116, 139–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stamp, L. D., 1919. The highest Silurian rocks of the Clun Forest district (Shropshire). Quart. J. geol. Soc. Lond., 74, 221–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stamp, L. D., 1920. Note on the determination of the limit between the Silurian and Devonian systems. Geol. Mag., 57, 164–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stamp, L. D., 1923. The base of the Devonian, with especial reference to the Welsh Borderland. Geol. Mag., 60, 276–282, 331–336, 367–372, 385–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stensio, E. A., 1932. The Cephalaspids of Great Britain. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), London.Google Scholar
Straw, S. H., 1927. Fish remains from the Upper Ludlow rocks of the Ludlow district. Mem. Manchr. lit. phil. Soc., 71, 87–91.Google Scholar
Sykes, G., 1937a. The Colorado Delta. Carnegie Institute of Washington Publ. No. 460. Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Sykes, G., 1937b. Delta, estuary and lower portion of the channel of the Colorado River, 1933 to 1935. Carnegie Institute of Washington Publ. No. 480. Washington D.C.Google Scholar
Tarlo, L. B., 1961a. Psammosteids from the Middle and Upper Devonian of Scotland. Quart. J. geol. Soc. Lond., 117, 193–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tarlo, L. B., 1961b. Rhinopteraspis cornubica (McCoy), with notes on the classification and evolution of the pteraspids. Acta Palaeont. Polon., 6, 367–402.Google Scholar
Thompson, W. O., 1937. Original structures of beaches, bars, and dunes. Bull geol. Soc. Amer., 47, 723–752.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van, Andel T. and Postma, H., 1954. Recent sediments of the Gulf of Paria. Reports of the Orinoco Shelf Expedition. Vol. 1. Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Van Straaten, L. M. J. U., 1954. Composition and structure of Recent marine sediments in the Netherlands. Leidse. Geol. Mededel., 19, 1–110.Google Scholar
Van Straaten, L. M. J. U., 1959. Minor structures of some recent littoral and neritic sediments. Geol. en Mijn., 21, 197–216.Google Scholar
Van Straaten, L. M. J. U., 1960. Some recent advances in the study of deltaic sedimentation. Lpool. Manchr. geol. J. 2, 411–442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walmsley, V. G., 1959. The geology of the Usk inlier (Monmouthshire). Quart. J. geol. Soc. Lond., 114, 483–516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitaker, J. H. Mcd., 1961. The geology of the area around Leintwardine, Herefordshire. Proc. geol. Soc. Lond., 1584, 22–26.Google Scholar
White, E. I., 1935. The ostracoderm Pteraspis Kner and the relationships of the agnathous vertebrates. Phil. Trans. B., 225, 381–457.Google Scholar
White, E. I., 1946. The genus Phialaspis and the “Psammosteus Limestones”. Quart. J. geol. Soc. Lond., 101, 207–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, E. I., 1950. The vertebrate faunas of the Lower Old Red Sandstone of the Welsh Borders. Bull. Brit. Mus. Geol. 1, 51–67.Google Scholar
White, E. I., 1958. Original Environment of the Craniates. in Studies on Fossil Vertebrates. Ed. Westoll, T. S.. London.Google Scholar
White, E. I., 1960. Notes on Pteraspids from Artois and the Ardenne. Bull. Inst. roy. Sci. nat. Belg., 36, 1–16.Google Scholar
White, E. I., and Toombs, H. A., 1948. Guide to Excursion C 16. Vertebrate Palaeontology. Internat. Geol. Cong., 18th Session, London, 4–8.Google Scholar
Whitehead, T. W. and Pocock, R. W., 1947. Dudley and Bridgnorth. Mem. Geol. Surv. Engld. and Wales.Google Scholar
Wills, L. J., 1950. The palaeogeography of the Midlands. 2nd ed. Liverpool.Google Scholar