Rhynie cherts (IBC 1964 collection) (Devonian of the United Kingdom)

Where: Scotland, United Kingdom (57.3° N, 2.9° W: paleocoordinates 22.4° S, 6.5° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Dryden Flags Formation, Pragian (410.8 - 407.6 Ma)

• The Rhynie and Windyfield cherts found at Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, both occurring in the Dryden Flags Formation (Rice et al. 2002), represent the surface expression of a metaliferous hydrothermal system that was active in the Rhynie area during the early Devonian (Pragian: Rice et al. 1995, 2002).

Environment/lithology: pond; lithified, stromatolitic, black, blue chert

• The background setting was an alluvial plain set in a narrow half-graben basin with mainly overbank deposition on floodplains and in ephemeral lakes, with occasional sheetflood events sourced from the axial river system and basin margins (Trewin 1994, 2001). The cherts were deposited as subaerial siliceous sinters, although some beds represent the silicified contents of freshwater pools (Anderson & Trewin 2003; Trewin et al. 2003).
• Bluish black,microbially laminated chert and internally massive nodular chert, set within a matrix of silicified sandstone (Fig. 2). Internally, the nodular chert displays filamentous, coprolitic and clotted microscopic textures (sensu Anderson & Trewin 2003) and a mixed terrestrial and freshwater biota, indicating silicification of the organic contents of a small freshwater pool.

Size classes: mesofossils, microfossils

Preservation: permineralized, replaced with silica

Collected by J. Pettitt, C. Shute in 1964; reposited in the BMNH

Collection methods: peel or thin section,

• Excavated during the International Botanical Congress in 1964

Primary reference: P. Whalley and E. A. Jarzembowski. 1981. A new assessment of Rhyniella, the earliest known insect, from the Devonian of Rhynie, Scotland. Nature 291:317 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 164613: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 06.12.2014

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Collembola
 Entomobryomorpha - Isotomidae
Rhyniella praecursor
Rhyniella praecursor Hirst and Maulik 1926 springtail