Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T18:35:05.612Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Depositional environment and preservation of biota in the Lower Devonian hot-springs of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

Nigel H. Trewin
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology, University of Aberdeen, Kings College, Aberdeen AB9 2UE, UK

Abstract

The Lower Devonian plant- and arthropod-bearing cherts of the Rhynie area of Aberdeenshire, NE Scotland, were deposited from silica-rich waters emanating from the hot-springs of a precious-metal (Au) bearing epithermal system. Cherts were deposited at temperatures up to 100°C. The hot-springs were active in the waning phase of local volcanism and reworked volcanic debris is associated with the hot-spring system. Plant and animal communities inhabited a low energy alluvial plain with small ponds. Hot-springs deposited surficial sinter and silicified standing plants and underlying plant litter in a generally terrestrial setting, but aquatic organisms were present in low temperature pools within areas of sinter deposition. Silicification also affected plants and sediment in the shallow subsurface. The cherts display massive, vuggy, laminated, lenticular, nodular and brecciated textures in laterally impersistent beds. Faunal and floral variation between beds is of local significance, possibly reflecting general water availability. Variations in preservation of plants reflect not only degrees of imperfection in the permineralisation process, but also silicification at different times in the cycle of plant growth and decay.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1993

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

Archer, R. 1972. The Old Red Sandstone outliers of Gamrie and Rhynie, Aberdeenshire. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Newcastle-upon-Tyne University.Google Scholar
Bateman, R. W. 1991. Palaeoecology. Ch 2 In Cleal, C. J. (Ed.) Plant fossils in geological investigation; the Palaeozoic. 34116. Ellis Horwood Series in Applied Geology. Chichester: Ellis Horwood.Google Scholar
Batten, D. J. 1989. Palynology of the Lower Old Red Sandstone of the Rhynie outlier. RHYNIE CHERT WORKSH ABSTR ABERDEEN. Unpaginated.Google Scholar
Bhutta, A. A. 1973. On the spores (including germinating spores) of Rhynia major Kidston & Lang. BIOLOGIA 19, 4757.Google Scholar
Boullard, B. & Lemoigne, Y. 1971. Les champignons endophytes du Rhynia gwynne-vaughanii K & L. Étude morphologique et déductions sur leur biologie. BOTANISTE 54, 989.Google Scholar
Chaloner, W. G. & Macdonald, P. 1980. Plants invade the land. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Croft, W. N. & George, E. A. 1959. Blue-green algae from the Middle Devonian of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire. BULL BR MUS NAT HIST (GEOL) 3, 341–53.Google Scholar
Edwards, D. S. 1986. Aglaophyton major, a non-vascular land plant from the Devonian Rhynie Chert. BOT J LINN SOC 93, 173206.Google Scholar
Edwards, D. S. & Lyon, A. G. 1983. Algae from the Rhynie Chert. BOT J LINN SOC 86, 3755.Google Scholar
El-Saadawy, W. E. & Lacey, W. S. 1979a. Observations on Nothia aphylla Lyon ex Hoeg. REV PALAEOBOT PALYNOL 27, 119–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
El-Saadawy, W. E. & Lacey, W. S. 1979b. The sporangia of Horneophyton lignieri (Kidston & Lang) Barghoorn & Darrah. REV PALAEOBOT PALYNOL 28, 137–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ewers, G. R. 1991. Oxygen isotopes and the recognition of siliceous sinters in epithermal ore deposits. ECON GEOL 86, 173–78.Google Scholar
Geikie, A. 1878. On the Old Red Sandstone of western Europe. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 28, 345452.Google Scholar
Hirst, S. 1923. On some arachnid remains from the Old Red Sandstone (Rhynie Chert Bed, Aberdeenshire). ANN MAG NAT HIST 9, 455–74.Google Scholar
Hirst, S. & Maulik, S. 1926. On some arthropod remains from the Rhynie Chert (Old Red Sandstone). GEOL MAG 63, 6971.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horne, J., Mackie, W.Flett, J. S., Gordon, W. T., Hickling, G., Kidston, R., Peach, E. N. & Watson, D. M. S. 1916. The plant-bearing cherts at Rhynie. REP BR ASSOC ADV SCI 1916, 206–16.Google Scholar
Kevan, P. G., Chaloner, W. G. & Savil, D. B. O. 1975. Interrelationships of early terrestrial arthropods and plants. PALAEONTOL 18, 391417.Google Scholar
Kidston, R. & Lang, W. H. 1917. On Old Red Sandstone plants showing structure from the Rhynie Chert bed. Aberdeenshire. Part I. Rhynia gwynne-vaughani Kidston & Lang. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 51, 761–84.Google Scholar
Kidston, R. & Lang, W. H. 1920a. On Old Red Sandstone plants showing structure from the Rhynie Chert bed, Aberdeenshire. Part II. Additional notes on Rhynia gwynne-vaughani Kidston & Lang, descriptions of Rhynia major n. sp. and Hornea lignieri n g., n. sp. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 52, 643–80.Google Scholar
Kidston, R. & Lang, W. H. 1920b. On Old Red Sandstone plants showing structure, from the Rhynie Chert bed, Aberdeenshire. Part III. Asteroxylon mackiei, Kidston and Lang. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 52, 643–80.Google Scholar
Kidston, R. & Lang, W. H. 1921a. On Old Red Sandstone plants showing structure from the Rhynie Chert bed, Aberdeenshire Part IV. Restorations of the vascular cryptograms, and discussion of their bearing on the general morphology of the Pteridophyta and the origin of the organisation of land-plants. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 52, 831–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kidston, R. & Lang, W. H. 1921b. On Old Red Sandstone plants showing structure from the Rhynie chert bed, Aberdeenshire. Part V. The Thallophyta occurring in the peat-bed; the succession of the plants throughout a vertical section of the bed, and the conditions of accumulation and preservation of the deposit. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 52, 855902.Google Scholar
Knoll, A. H. 1985. Exceptional preservation of photosynthetic organisms in silicified carbonates and silicified peats. PHIL TRANS R SOC LONDON B 311, 111–22.Google Scholar
Laznicka, P. 1988. Breccias and coarse fragmentites. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Leo, R. F. & Barghoorn, E. S. 1976. Silicification of wood. BOTAN MUS LEAFL HARVARD UNIV 25, (1), 147.Google Scholar
Lyon, A. G. 1957. Germinating spores in the Rhynie Chert. NATURE 180, 1219.Google Scholar
Lyon, A. G. 1962. On the fragmentary remains of an organism referable to the Nematophytales, from the Rhynie chert, ‘Nematoplexus rhyniensis’ gen. et sp. nov. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 65, 7987.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyon, A. G. 1964. The probable fertile region of Asteroxylon mackiei K. and L. NATURE 203, 1082–3.Google Scholar
Lyon, A. G. & Edwards, D. 1991. The first zosterophyll from the Lower Devonian Rhynie Chert, Aberdeenshire. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH: EARTH SCI 82, 323–32.Google Scholar
Mackie, W. 1913. The rock series of Craigbeg and Ord Hill, Rhynie, Aberdeenshire. TRANS EDINBURGH GEOL SOC 10, 205–36.Google Scholar
Pearson, M. R. 1989. Organic geochemistry and maturity of Rhynie shales. RHYNIE CHERT WORKSH ABSTR ABERDEEN. Unpaginated.Google Scholar
Powell, C. L., Trewin, N. H. & Edwards, D. 1991. Sinter textures and plant preservation in the Rhynie Chert. BSRG ABSTR POST EDINBURGH (unpaginated).Google Scholar
Read, H. H. 1923. The geology of the country around Banff, Huntly and Turriff (Sheets 86 and 96). MEM GEOL SURV.Google Scholar
Remy, W. & Remy, W. 1980. Devonian gametophytes with anatomically preserved gametangia. SCIENCE 208, 295–6.Google Scholar
Rice, C. M. & Trewin, H. N. 1988. A Lower Devonian gold-bearing hot-spring system, Rhynie, Scotland. TRANS INST MIN METALL (SECT B APPL EARTH SCI) 97, 141–4.Google Scholar
Rice, C. M., Ashcroft, W. A., Batten, D. J. et al. (in press). The geology of an Early Devonian hot spring system near Rhynie, Scotland. J GEOL SOC.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. B. 1967. Some British Lower Devonian spore assemblages and their stratigraphic significance. REV PALAEOBOT PALYNOL 1, 111–29.Google Scholar
Rolfe, W. D. I. 1980. Early invertebrate terrestrial faunas. In Panchen, A. L. (Ed.) The terrestrial environment and the origin of land vertebrates, 117–57. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Rolfe, W. D. I. 1985. Early terrestrial arthropods: a fragmentary record. PHIL TRANS R SOC LOND B 309, 207–18.Google Scholar
Scourfield, D. J. 1925. On a new type of crustacean from the Old Red Sandstone (Rhynie Chert Bed, Aberdeenshire) — Lepidocaris rhyniensis gen. and sp. nov. PHIL TRANS R SOC LONDON 214, 153–87.Google Scholar
Selden, P. A., Shear, W. A. & Bonamo, P. M. 1991. A spider and other arachnids from the Devonian of New York, and reinterpretations of Devonian Araneae. PALAEONTOLOGY 34, 241–81.Google Scholar
Shear, W. A., Selden, P. A., Rolfe, W. D. I., Bonamo, P. M. & Grierson, J. D. 1987. New terrestrial arachnids from the Devonian of Gilboa, New York. (Arachnida, Trigonotarbida). NOVITATES 290, 174.Google Scholar
Tasch, P. 1957. Flora and fauna of the Rhynie Chert: a palaeoecological reevaluation of published evidence. UNIV WICHITA BULL 32, 324.Google Scholar
Taylor, T. N., Remy, W. & Haas, H. 1992a. Parasitism in a 400-million-year-old green alga. NATURE 357, 493–4.Google Scholar
Taylor, T. N., Hass, H. & Remy, W. 1992b. Devonian fungi: interactions with the green alga Palaeonitella. MYCOLOGIA 84, 901–10.Google Scholar
Trewin, N. H. 1989. The Rhynie hot-spring deposit. EARTH SCI CONSERV 26, 1012.Google Scholar
Trewin, N. H. & Rice, C. M. 1992. Stratigraphy and sedimentology of the Devonian Rhynie chert locality. SCOTT J GEOL 28, 3747.Google Scholar
Walter, M. R. 1976a. Hot-spring sediments in Yellowstone National Park. In Walter, M. R. (Ed.) Stromatolites. DEV SEDIMENTOL 20, 489498.Google Scholar
Walter, M. R. 1976b. Geyserites of Yellowstone National Park: an example of abiogenic stromatolites. In Walter, M. R. (Ed.) Stromatolites. DEV SEDIMENTOL 20, 87112.Google Scholar
White, D. E., Thompson, G. A. & Sandberg, C. H. 1964. The rocks, structure and geologic history of the Steamboat Springs thermal area, Washo County, Nevada: US GEOL SURV PROF PAP 458–B, 163.Google Scholar
White, N. C., Wood, D. G. & Lee, M. C. 1989. Epithermal sinters of Palaeozoic age in north Queensland, Australia. GEOLOGY 17, 718–22.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, G. J. S. & Hinxman, L. W. 1890. Aberdeenshire (central). Inverurie, Alford, Tarland (Sheet 76) MEM GEOL SURV.Google Scholar