Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-19T12:35:12.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early Ordovician Dounans Limestone fauna, Highland Border Complex, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

J. Keith Ingham ,
Gordon B. Curry  and
Alwyn Williams
J. Keith Ingham
Affiliation:
Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland.
Gordon B. Curry
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland.
Alwyn Williams
Affiliation:
Principal's Office, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A diverse, but sparsely distributed silicified fauna of over 30 taxa has been recovered from 7·5 tonnes of acid-etched Lower Ordovician Dounans Limestone from the Highland Border Complex, near Aberfoyle. The 13 trilobite taxa obtained include 3 new formally named species: Distazeris adoceta, Punka aetholiciocorus and Ischyrotoma stubblefieldi. Other elements, representing Carolinites, Illaenus, Goniotelina, Sycophantia, Kawina, Heliomeroides, Strotactinus, Ectenonotus, Ceratocephala and an indeterminate bathyurelline are described under open nomenclature although at least 4 are also probably new and 2 more may be conspecific with previously described species. The brachiopods include representatives of Archaeorthis, Nothorthis, Orthidium, ?Camerella, Idiostrophia, Orthambonites and 4 other indeterminate stocks. Gastropods tentatively assigned to Murchisonia, Subulites, Straparollina, Maclurites and Cyrtodiscus are described, as are bryozoans, an orthocone, crinoids, and Incertae sedis.

This profoundly North American fauna is Late Canadian ( = mid Arenig) in age and equates with the Cassinian Stage: it is key evidence in showing that the Highland Border rocks are not part of the Dalradian Supergroup whose earliest deformations and metamorphism predate the Ordovician. The field relationships of the limestone, together with evidence from derived clasts in Middle Ordovician and Devonian sequences near Girvan in SW Scotland and at Stonehaven in eastern Scotland suggest that it forms part of a widespread sub-Old Red Sandstone carbonate sequence of Early Ordovician age beneath the northern Midland Valley.

Keywords

acid etchingArenigBathyurid ProvinceBrachiopodaBryozoacalcilutiteCanadianCassinianCephalopodaCrinozoaDalradianevolutionGastropodaGrampianIbexianMidland ValleypalaeoenvironmentsilicificationTrilobita.
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 76 , Issue 4 , 1985 , pp. 481 - 513
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1985

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

Andreeva, O. N. 1960. New species of ancient plants and invertebrates of the USSR, Part I (in Russian). In Markowskii, B. P. (ed.). Moscow.Google Scholar
Anstey, R. L. & Perry, T. G. 1972. Eden Shale bryozoans: A numerical study (Ordovician, Ohio Valley). PUBL MICHIGAN STATE UNIV MUS PAL SER 1 (1).Google Scholar
Balashov, et al. 1968. Field atlas of Ordovician faunas north-east USSR (in Russian). MINIST GEOL RSFSR MAGADAN.Google Scholar
Barnes, C. R., Norford, B. S. & Skevington, D. 1981. The Ordovician System in Canada. Correlation chart and explanatory notes. IUGS PUBL 8.Google Scholar
Barton, D. C. 1916. A revision of the Cheirurinae with notes on their evolution. WASHINGTON UNIV STUD SER 4 3, 101–52.Google Scholar
Billings, E. 1859. On some new genera and species of brachiopoda from the Silurian and Devonian rocks of Canada. CAN NAT GEOL 4, 1–131.Google Scholar
Billings, E. 1861–1865. Palaeozoic fossils: v. 1. Containing descriptions and figures of new or little known species of organic remains from the Silurian rocks. GEOL SURV CAN, pp. 1–24 (Nov. 1861), 25–56 (Jan. 1862), 57–168 (Jun. 1862), 169–394 (Feb. 1865), 395–426 (Oct. 1865).Google Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1983. Role of the Midland Valley of Scotland in the Caledonian orogeny. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH EARTH SCI 74, 119–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bockelie, J. F. 1984. The Diploporita of the Oslo region, Norway. PALAEONTOLOGY, 27, 1–68.Google Scholar
Bradley, J. H. 1925. Trilobites of the Beekmantown in the Phillipsburg region of Quebec. CAN FIELD NAT 39, 5–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burmeister, H. 1843. Der Organisation der Trilobiten. Berlin.Google Scholar
Chatterton, B. D. E. 1980. Ontogenetic studies of Middle Ordovician trilobites from the Esbataottine Formation, Mackenzie Mountains, Canada. PALAEONTOGRAPHICA ABT A 171, 1–74.Google Scholar
Chatterton, B. D. E. & Ludvigsen, R. 1976. Silicified Middle Ordovician trilobites from the South Nahanni River area, District of Mackenzie, Canada. PALAEONTOGRAPHICA ABT A 154, 1–106.Google Scholar
Chugaeva, M. N., Ivanova, V. A., Oradovskaya, M. M. & Yakovlev, V. N. 1973. Biostratigraphy of the lower part of the Ordovician in the North-east of the USSR, and biogeography of the uppermost Lower Ordovician (in Russian). TRUD GEOL INST MOSCOW 213, 1–304.Google Scholar
Chugaeva, M. N., Rozman, Kh. S. & Ivanova, V. A. 1964. Comparative biostratigraphy of Ordovician deposits in the North-East USSR (in Russian). TRUD GEOL INST LENINGRAD 106, 1–226.Google Scholar
Cooper, G. A. 1956. Chazyan and related brachiopods. SMITHSONIAN MISC COLLECTIONS 127 (I, II).Google Scholar
Curry, G. B. 1986. Fossils and tectonics along the Highland Boundary Fault in Scotland. J GEOL SOC LONDON 143, (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curry, G. B., Bluck, B. J., Burton, C. J., Ingham, J. K., Siveter, D. J. & Williams, A. 1984. Age, evolution and tectonic history of the Highland Border Complex, Scotland. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH EARTH SCI 75, 113–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curry, G. B., Ingham, J. K.Bluck, B. J. & Williams, A. 1982. The significance of a reliable Ordovician age for some Highland Border rocks in Central Scotland. J GEOL SOC LONDON 139, 451–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curry, G. B. & Williams, A. 1984. Lower Ordovician brachiopods from the Ben Suardal Limestone Formation (Durness Group) of Skye, western Scotland. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH EARTH SCI 75, 301–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalman, J. W. 1827. Om Palaeaderna eller de såkallade Trilobiterna. K SVENSK VETENSK HANDL 1, 226–94.Google Scholar
Davidson, T. 1853. A monograph of the British fossil Brachiopods—vol. 1. PALAEONTOGR SOC [MONOGR], 1–136.Google Scholar
Demeter, E. J. 1973. Lower Ordovician pliomerids from western Utah. BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIV GEOL STUD 20, 37–65.Google Scholar
Evitt, W. R. 1951. Some Middle Ordovician trilobites of the families Cheiruridae, Harpidae and Lichidae. J PALEONT 25, 587–616.Google Scholar
Flower, R. H. 1964. The nautiloid order Ellesmeroceratidae (Cephalopoda). MEM NEW MEXICO BUR MINES MINER RESOUR 12.Google Scholar
Fortey, R. A. 1975a. Early Ordovician trilobite communities. FOSSILS AND STRATA 4, 339–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fortey, R. A. 1975b. The Ordovician trilobites of Spitzbergen II. Asaphidae, Nileidae, Raphiophoridae and Telephinidae of the Valhallfonna Formation. NORSK POLARINST SKR 162.Google Scholar
Fortey, R. A. 1979a. Early Ordovician trilobites from the Catoche Formation (St Georges Group), western Newfoundland. BULL GEOL SURV CAN 321, 61–114.Google Scholar
Fortey, R. A. 1979b. The Ordovician of Spitzbergen, and its relevance to the base of the Middle Ordovician in North America. In Wones, D. R. (ed.) The Caledonides in the U.S.A., 33–40, Blacksburg, Virginia: I.G.C.P.Google Scholar
Fortey, R. A. 1980. The Ordovician trilobites of Spitzbergen III. Remaining trilobites of the Valhallfonna Formation. NORSK POLARINST SKR 171.Google Scholar
Fortey, R. A. & Barnes, C. R. 1977. Early Ordovician conodont and trilobite communities of Spitzbergen: influence on biogeography. ALCHERINGA 1, 297–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, J. & Clarke, J. M. 1892. An introduction to the study of the genera of Palaeozoic Brachiopods. NEW YORK GEOL SURV PALAEONT 8, 1–367.Google Scholar
Hall, J. & Clarke, J. M. 1894. An introduction to the study of the Brachiopoda intended as a handbook for the use of students. 13TH ANN REP NEW YORK STATE GEOL FOR 1893 2, 751–943.Google Scholar
Havlicek, V. 1949. Orthoidea a Clitambonidea z ceského tremadoku (Orthoidea and Clitambonidea of the Bohemian Tremadoc). SB ST GEOL UST CSL REPUB 16, 93–144.Google Scholar
Hawle, I. & Corda, A. J. C. 1847. Prodrom einer Monographie der böhmischen Trilobiten. Prague.Google Scholar
Henderson, W. G. & Robertson, A. H. F. 1982. The Highland Border rocks and their relation to marginal basin development in the Scottish Caledonides. J GEOL SOC LONDON 139, 433–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hintze, L. F. 1953. Lower Ordovician trilobites from western Utah and eastern Nevada. BULL UTAH GEOL MINERAL SURV 48 (FOR 1952), 1–249.Google Scholar
Holliday, S. 1942. Ordovician trilobites from Nevada. J PALEONT 16, 471–8.Google Scholar
Hupé, P. 1953. Classification des trilobites. ANN PALEONT 39, 61–168 (1–110).Google Scholar
Huxley, T. H. 1896. An introduction to the classification of animals. London: John Churchill.Google Scholar
Ikin, N. P. & Harmon, R. S. 1984. Tectonic history of the ophiolitic rocks of the Highland Border fracture zone, Scotland: stable isotope evidence from rock-fluid interactions during obduction. TECTONOPHYSICS 106, 31–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaanusson, V. 1954. Zur Morphologie und Taxonomie der Illaeniden. ARK MINERAL GEOL 1, 545–83.Google Scholar
Jehu, T. J. & Campbell, R. 1917. The Highland Border rocks of the Aberfoyle district. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 52, 175–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, M. R. W. & Harris, A. L. 1967. Dalradian-?Arenig relations in part of the Highland Border, Scotland, and their significance in the chronology of the Caledonian orogeny. SCOTT J GEOL 3, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kobayashi, T. 1940. Lower Ordovician fossils from Caroline Creek, near Latrobe, Mersey River district, Tasmania. PAP PROC R SOC TASMANIA (for 1939), 67–76.Google Scholar
Lane, P. D. 1971. British Cheiruridae (Trilobita). PALAEONTOGR SOC [MONOGR].CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logan, W. E. 1863. Geology of Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, Report of progress from its commencement to 1863. Montreal: Geological Survey of Canada.Google Scholar
Lu, Yen-Hao. 1975. Ordovician trilobite faunas of central and southwestern China. PAL SINICA N S Bll, 1–463.Google Scholar
Ludvigsen, R. 1978a. Towards an Ordovician trilobite biostratigraphy of southern Ontario. MICHIGAN BASIN GEOL SOC SPEC PAP 3, 73–84.Google Scholar
Ludvigsen, R. 1978b. Middle Ordovician trilobite biofacies, southern Mackenzie Mountains. In Stelck, C. R. & Chatterton, B. D. E. [eds] Western and Arctic Canadian biostratigraphy. GEOL ASSOC CAN, SPEC PAP 18.Google Scholar
Ludvigsen, R. 1979a. Fossils of Ontario. Part 1: the trilobites. LIFE SCI MISC PUB ROY ONTARIO MUS.Google Scholar
Ludvigsen, R. 1979b. Lower Ordovician trilobites from the Oxford Formation, eastern Ontario. CAN J EARTH SCI 16, 859–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ludvigsen, R. 1979c. A trilobite zonation of Middle Ordovician rocks, southwestern District of Mackenzie. BULL GEOL SURV CAN 312, 1–99.Google Scholar
Marek, L. 1952. Contribution to the stratigraphy and fauna of the uppermost part of the Králuv Dvur Shales (Ashgillian). SB USTRED UST GEOL 19, 429–55.Google Scholar
Miller, S. A. 1889. North American Geology and Paleontology. Cincinnati.Google Scholar
Moore, R. C. [ed.]. 1959. Treatise on invertebrate paleontology. Part O, Arthropoda 1. Kansas: Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press.Google Scholar
Öpik, A. A. 1937. Trilobiten aus Estland. ACTA COMMENTAT UNIV TARTUENSIS A MATH PHYS MED 32, 1–163.Google Scholar
Rasetti, F. 1946. Early Upper Cambrian trilobites from western Gaspé. J PALEONT 20, 442–62.Google Scholar
Rasetti, F. 1954. Phylogeny of the Cambrian trilobite family Catillicephalidae and the ontogeny of Welleraspis. J PALEONT 28, 599–612.Google Scholar
Raymond, P. E. 1905. The trilobites of the Chazy Limestone. ANN CARNEGIE MUS 3, 328–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raymond, P. E. 1913. Some changes in the names of genera of trilobites. OTTAWA NAT 26, 137–42.Google Scholar
Raymond, P. E. 1920. Some new Ordovician trilobites. BULL MUS COMP ZOOL HARVARD 64, 271–96.Google Scholar
Raymond, P. E. 1924. New Upper Cambrian and Lower Ordovician trilobites from Vermont. PROC BOSTON SOC NAT HIST 37, 389–466.Google Scholar
Raymond, P. E. 1925. Some trilobites of the Lower Middle Ordovician of eastern North America. BULL MUS COMP ZOOL HARVARD 67, 3–180.Google Scholar
Raymond, P. E. 1937. Upper Cambrian and Lower Ordovician Trilobita and Ostracoda from Vermont. BULL GEOL SOC AM 48, 1079–1146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raymond, P. E. 1938. Supplement to BULL GEOL SOC AM 48, p. xv.Google Scholar
Reed, F. R. C. 1909. Palaeontological appendix. In Gardiner, C. I. & Reynolds, S. H. On the igneous and associated sedimentary rocks of the Tourmakeady district (County Mayo), Q J GEOL SOC LONDON 65, 141–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, F. R. C. 1910. Palaeontological notes. In Gardiner, C. I. & Reynolds, S. H. The igneous and associated sedimentary rocks of the Glensaul district (County Galway). Q J GEOL SOC LONDON 66, 271–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, F. R. C. 1945. Revision of certain Lower Ordovician faunas from Ireland. 1. Trilobites. GEOL MAG 82, 55–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richter, R. & Richter, E. 1917. Über die Einteilung der Familie Acidaspidae und über einiger ihrer devonischen Vertreter. CENTRALBL MINERAL GEOL PALAEONTOL JAHRG 1917, 462–72.Google Scholar
Ross, R. J. Jr., 1951. Stratigraphy of the Garden City Formation in north-eastern Utah, and its trilobite faunas. BULL PEABODY MUS NAT HIST 6, 1–161.Google Scholar
Ross, R. J. Jr., 1953. Additional Garden City (Early Ordovician) trilobites. J PALEONT 27, 633–46.Google Scholar
Ross, R. J. Jr., 1967. Some Middle Ordovician brachiopods and trilobites from the Basin Ranges, western United States, with stratigraphic sections A, North of Pyramid Peak, Calif., by R. J. Ross, Jr., and B, In Specter Range, Nev., by Harley Barnes. U S GEOL SURV PROF PAPER 523–D, 1–43.Google Scholar
Ross, R. J. Jr., 1972. Fossils from the Ordovician bioherm at Meiklejohn Peak, Nevada. U S GEOL SURV PROF PAPER 685, 1–47.Google Scholar
Ross, R. J. Jr. et al. , 1982. The Ordovician System in the United States. Correlation chart and explanatory notes. IUGS PUBL 12.Google Scholar
Ross, R. J. Jr., & Ingham, J. K. 1970. Distribution of the Toquima–Table Head (Middle Ordovician Whiterock) Faunal Realm in the northern hemisphere. BULL GEOL SOC AM 81, 393–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rushton, A. W. A. & Tripp, R. P. 1979. A fossiliferous lower Canadian (Tremadoc) boulder from the Benan Conglomerate of the Girvan district. SCOTT J GEOL 15, 321–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schuchert, C. & Cooper, G. A. 1931. Synopsis of the brachiopod genera of the suborders Orthoidea and Pentameroidea, with notes on the Telotremata. AM J SCI 22, 241–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schuchert, C. & Cooper, G. A. 1932. Brachiopod genera of the suborders Orthoidea and Pentameroidea. PEABODY MUS NAT HIST MEM 4 (1) 1–270.Google Scholar
Shaw, A. B. 1952. Paleontology of northwestern Vermont, II. Fauna of the Upper Cambrian Rockledge Conglomerate near St. Albans. J PALEONT 26, 458–83.Google Scholar
Shaw, F. C. 1968. Early Middle Ordovician Chazy trilobites of New York. MEM N Y STATE MUS NAT HIST 17, 1–163.Google Scholar
Shaw, F. C. 1974. Simpson Group (Middle Ordovician) trilobites of Oklahoma. J PALEONT 48, MEM PALAEONT SOC 6, 1–54.Google Scholar
Sun, Y. C. 1931. Ordovician Trilobites of Central and Southern China. PALAEONTOL SIN B7, 1–47.Google Scholar
Taylor, P. D. & Curry, G. B. 1985. The earliest known fenestrate bryozoan, with a short review of Lower Ordovician Bryozoa. PALAEONTOLOGY, 28, 147–58.Google Scholar
Tripp, R. P. 1967. Trilobites of the Upper Stinchar Limestone (Ordovician) of the Girvan district, Ayrshire. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 67, 43–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulrich, E. O. & Cooper, G. A. 1936. New genera and species of Ozarkian and Canadian brachiopods. J PALEONT 10, 616–31.Google Scholar
Ulrich, E. O. & Cooper, G. A. 1938. Ozarkian and Canadian brachiopods. SPEC PAP GEOL SOC AM 13.Google Scholar
Wahlenberg, G. 1818. Petrificata Telluris Svecanae. NOVA ACTA R SOC SCIENT UPSALA 8 (see bibliographic appendix to Hughes C. P., Ingham J. K. & Addison R. 1975. PHIL TRANS R SOC LONDON B272, p. 604 for arguments concerning the date of publication of this paper).Google Scholar
Walcott, C. D. 1886. Second contribution to the studies on the Cambrian faunas of North America. BULL U S GEOL SURV 30.Google Scholar
Warder, J. A. 1838. New trilobites. AM J SCI 34, 377–80.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B. 1953. North American Bathyuridae and Leiostegiidae (Trilobita). J PALEONT 27, 647–78.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B. 1956. Silicified Middle Ordovician trilobites: The Odontopleuridae. BULL MUS COMP ZOOL HARVARD 114, 155–288.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B. 1963. Middle Ordovician trilobites from Lower Head, western Newfoundland. BULL MUS COMP ZOOL HARVARD 129, 1–118.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B. 1961. Middle Ordovician Pliomeridae (Trilobita) from Nevada, New York, Quebec, Newfoundland. J PALEONT 35, 911–22.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B. 1965. Trilobites of the Ordovician Table Head Formation, western Newfoundland. BULL MUS COMP ZOOL HARVARD 132, 275–442.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B. 1968. Zonation and correlation of Canadian and Early Mohawkian Series. In Zen, E-An, White, W. S., Hadley, J. B. & Thompson, J. B. [eds] Studies of Appalachian Geology: Northern and Maritime, 49–60. New York: Interscience—John Wiley.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B. & Evitt, W. R. 1954. Silicified Middle Ordovician trilobites. MEM GEOL SOC AM 59, 1–137.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B. & Hughes, C. P. 1972. Ordovician geography and faunal provinces deduced from trilobite distribution. PHIL TRANS R SOC LONDON B263, 235–78.Google Scholar
Williams, A. 1962. The Barr and Lower Ardmillan Series (Caradoc) of the Girvan district, south-west Ayrshire, with descriptions of the Brachiopoda. MEM GEOL SOC LONDON 3.Google Scholar
Williams, A. & Curry, G. B. 1985. Lower Ordovician Brachiopoda from the Tourmakeady Limestone, Co. Mayo, Ireland. BULL BRIT MUS NAT HIST GEOL 38, 183–269.Google Scholar
Young, G. E. 1973. An Ordovician (Arenigian) trilobite faunule of great diversity from the Ibex area, western Utah. BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIV GEOL STUD 20, 91–115.Google Scholar