Cryptospores and miospores, their distribution patterns in the Lower Old Red Sandstone of the Anglo-Welsh Basin, and the habitat of their parent plants

 

Authors: Richardson JB

Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences, volume 82, issue 4; pages: 355 - 364; Received 24 August 2007; Accepted in revised form 21 November 2007;

Keywords: Lower Old Red Sandstone, cryptospores, miospores, palynofacies, plant habitats,

full text (PDF, 0.2 MB)

Export to RIS

 

Abstract

Palynomorphs are abundant in some fine-grained rocks of the Lower Old Red Sandstone (Lower O.R.S.) of the Anglo-Welsh Basin. In this study the distribution and relative abundance of sporomorphs (cryptospores and miospores) have been examined from samples collected from the uppermost Raglan Marl and St. Maughan’s formations from Ammons Hill and Ross on Wye [Ross-Tewkesbury Spur Motorway (M. 50) Herefordshire in the south and from uppermost Red Downton Formation (Ledbury Formation) and Ditton Formation from the Clee Hills (Shropshire) in the north (a distance of over 100 km)]. The stratigraphical interval examined equates largely to the lower and middle parts of the Lochkovian Stage except in the Clee Hills where the uppermost part of the stage may be present. The Lower O.R.S. sequence in the Anglo-Welsh Basin shows progressive offlap with the migration of medial and proximal facies (fluvial environments) to overlie the distal facies (marine-influenced environments) in the south. Dispersed palynomorphs have been examined from sections from the distal margins of the floodplain in the south [Ammons Hill and Ross-Tewkesbury Spur Motorway (M. 50) Herefordshire Sections] to more proximal areas of the floodplain in the north (Clee Hills). The relative abundance of major groups of cryptospores and miospores varies stratigraphically in the M. 50 and Clee Hill Sections reflecting the southern migration of facies belts and, although influenced by water transport, sporomorph distribution data may be used with caution to interpret potential habitats of their parent plants. In some cases cryptospores were dominant in sporomorph assemblages from distal sediments, deposited in a marine-influenced coastal plain, and their parent plants may therefore have been halophytic. In contrast, in the more proximal (upstream) sediments, except for those from the higher parts of the Brown Clee Hill sequence, cryptospores with granulate to apiculate sculpture and miospores, especially those with apiculate sculpture, are dominant.

References

Allen, J.R.L. 1974. Sedimentology of the Old Red Sandstone (Siluro-Devonian) in the Clee Hills area, Shropshire, England. Sedimentary Geology 12, 73–167.View article

Allen, J.R.L. 1986. Pedogenic calcretes in the Old Red Sandstone facies (Late Silurian-Early Carboniferous) of the Anglo-Welsh Area, southern Britain, 58–86. In Wright, V.P. (ed.) Palaeosols: Their recognition and interpretation. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford.

Allen, J.R.L. & Dineley, D.L. 1976. The succession of the Lower Old Red Sandstone (Siluro-Devonian) along the Ross–Tewkesbury Spur Motorway (M. 50), Hereford and Worcester. Geological Journal 11, 1–14.View article

Allen, J.R.L. & Tarlo, L.B. 1963. The Downtonian and Dittonian facies of the Welsh Borderland. Geological Magazine 100, 15–29.View article

Allen, J.R.L. & Williams, B.P.J. 1979. Interfluvial drainage on Siluro-Devonian alluvial plains in Wales and the Welsh Borders. Journal of the Geological Society, London 136, 361–366.View article

Allen, J.R.L.&Williams, B.P.J. 1981. Sedimentology and stratigraphy of the Townsend Tuff Bed (Lower Old Red Sandstone) in South Wales and the Welsh Borders. Journal of the Geological Society, London 18, 15–29.View article

Ball, H.W. & Dineley, D.L. 1961. The Old Red Sandstone of Brown Clee Hill and the adjacent area. 1. Stratigraphy. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology 5, 175–242.View article

Balme, B.E. 1988. Miospores from Late Devonian (Early Frasnian) strata, Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia. Palaeontographica B 209, 109–166.

Barclay, W.J., Rathbone, P.A., White, D.E. & Richardson, J.B. 1994. Brackish water faunas from the St. Maughan’s Formation: the Old Red Sandstone section at Ammons Hill, Hereford and Worcester, UK, re-examined. Geological Journal 29, 369–379.View article

Boehmer, G.R. 1760. Flora Lipsiae indigena. 340 pp. Apud Ioh. Gothofred Dyckium, Lipsiae.

Breuer, P., Stricanne, L. & Steemans, P. 2005. Morphometric analysis of proposed evolutionary lineages of Early Devonian land plant spores. Geological Magazine 142, 241–253.View article

Burgess, N.D. 1987. Micro- and megafossil from the Silurian and Lower Devonian of the Anglo-Welsh Basin. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Wales, Cardiff.

Burgess, N.D. 1991. Silurian cryptospores and miospores from the type Llandovery area, south-west Wales. Palaeontology 34, 575–599.

Burgess, N.D. & Richardson, J.B. 1991. Silurian cryptospores and miospores from the type Wenlock, Shropshire, England. Palaeontology 34, 601–628.

Burgess, N.D. & Richardson, J.B. 1995. Late Wenlock to Early Přídolí cryptospores and miospores from South and southwest Wales, Great Britain. Palaeontographica B 236, 1–44.

Chibrikova, E.V. 1959. Spores from the Devonian and older rocks of Bashkiria. Academy of Sciences U.S.S.R., Bashkiri Filial, Data on Palaeontology and Stratigraphy of Devonian and older deposits, Bashkiria, 3–116 (in Russian).

Cramer, F.H. & Diez, C. 1975. Earliest Devonian miospores from the Province of León, Spain. Pollen et Spores 17, 331–344.

Edwards, D. 1968. A new plant from the Lower Old Red Sandstone of South Wales. Palaeontology 11, 683–690.

Edwards, D. 1969. Zosterophyllum from the Lower Old Red Sandstone of South Wales. New Phytologist 68, 923–931.View article

Edwards,D. 1970. Fertile Rhyniophytina from the Lower Devonian of Britain. Palaeontology 13, 451–461.

Edwards, D. 1981. Studies on Lower Devonian petrifactions from Britain. 2. Sennicaulis, a new form genus for sterile axes based on pyretic and limonitic petrifactions from the Senni Beds. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 32, 207–226.View article

Edwards, D. 2003. Xylem in early tracheophytes. Plant Cell and Environment 26, 57–72.View article

Edwards, D. & Feehan, J. 1980. Records of Cooksonia-type sporangia from Late Wenlock strata in Ireland. Nature 287, 41–42.View article

Edwards, D. & Richardson, J.B. 1974. Lower Devonian (Dittonian) plants from the Welsh Borderland. Palaeontology 17, 311–324.

Edwards, D. & Richardson, J.B. 2000. Progress in reconstructing vegetation on the Old Red Sandstone Continent: two Emphanisporites producers from the Lochkovian sequence of the Welsh Borderland, 355–370. In Friend, P.D. & Williams, B.P.J. (eds) New Perspectives on the Old Red Sandstone. Geological Society of London, Special Publications 180.View article

Edwards, D. & Richardson, J.B. 2004. Silurian and Lower Devonian plant assemblages from the Anglo-Welsh Basin: a palaeobotanical and palynological synthesis. Geological Journal 39, 375–402.View article

Fanning, U., Richardson, J.B. & Edwards, D. 1988. Cryptic evolution in an early land plant. Evolutionary Trends in Plants 2, 13–24.

Fanning, U., Richardson, J.B. & Edwards, D. 1991. A review of in situ spores in Silurian land plants, 27–47. In Blackmore, S. & Barnes, S.H. (eds) Pollen and spores, patterns of diversification, Systematics Association Special Volume 44.

Goldring, W. 1924. The Upper Devonian forest of seed ferns in Eastern New York. New York State Museum Bulletin 267, 85–87.

Gray, J. 1985. The microfossil record of early land plants: advances in understanding of early terrestrialisation, 1970–1984. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 309, 167–195.View article

Hassan, A.M. 1982. Palynology, stratigraphy and provenance of the Lower Old Red Sandstone of the Brecon Beacons (Powys) and Black Mountains (Gwent and Powys), south Wales. 440 pp. Ph.D. thesis, University of London (King’s College).

Lang, W.H. 1937. On the plant-remains from the Downtonian of England and Wales. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 227, 245–291.View article

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species plantarum: exhibentes plantas rite cognitas, ad genera relatas, cum differentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis selectis, locis natalibus, secundum systema sexuale digestas. 1138 pp. Impensis Laurentii, Holmiae.View article

Marriott, S.B. & Wright, V.P. 2004. Mudrock deposition in an Ancient Dryland System: Moorcliffs Formation, Lower Old Red Sandstone, Southwest Wales, UK. Geological Journal 39, 277–298.View article

Mogensen, G.S. 1981. The biological significance of morphological characters in bryophytes: The spore. The Bryologist 84, 187–207.View article

Muller, J. 1959. Palynology of Recent Orinoco delta and shelf sediments. Reports of the Orinoco Shelf Expedition 5. Micropaleontology 5, 1–32.View article

Penhallow, D.P. 1892. Additional notes on Devonian plants from Scotland. Canadian Record of Science 5, 1–13.

Richardson, J.B. 1967. Some British Lower Devonian spore assemblages and their stratigraphical significance. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 1, 111–129.View article

Richardson, J.B. 1980. International Palynological Conference Cambridge conference abstracts.

Richardson, J.B. 1985. Lower Palaeozoic sporomorphs: their stratigraphical distribution and possible affinities. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 309, 201–205.View article

Richardson, J.B. 1988. Late Ordovician and Early Silurian cryptospores and miospores from Northeast Libya, 89–110. In El-Arnauti, A., Owens, B. & Thusu, B. (eds) Subsurface Palynostratigraphy of northeast Libya. Garyounis University Publications, Benghazi, Libya.

Richardson, J.B. 1992. Origin and evolution of the earliest land plants, 95–118. In Schopf, J.M. (ed.) Major events in the history of life, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Boston.

Richardson, J.B. 1996a. Abnormal spores and possible interspecific hybridization as a factor in the evolution of Early Devonian land plants. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 93, 333–340.View article

Richardson, J.B. 1996b. Chapter 18A. Lower and Middle Palaeozoic records of terrestrial palynomorphs, Vol. 2, 555–574. In Jansonius, J. & McGregor, D.C. (eds) Palynology: principles and applications. American Association of Stratigraphical Palynologists Foundation, Dallas.

Richardson, J.B. 1996c. Taxonomy and classification of some new Early Devonian cryptospores from England. Special Papers in Palaeontology 55, 7–40.

Richardson, J.B. 2002. English Lower Devonian cryptospores and the habit and habitat of their parent plants. In Brock, G.A. & Talent, J.A. (eds) IPC 2002, First International Palaeontological Congress Geological Society of Australia, Abstracts 68, 137.

Richardson, J.B. 2006. Lower Devonian cryptospores and miospores, their distribution patterns in the Lower Old Red Sandstone of the Anglo-Welsh Basin and the habitat of their parent plants, 44–45. In Bek, J., Brocke, R., Dašková, J. & Fatka, O. (eds) Abstracts, Palaeozoic Palynology in Space and Time, CIMP Meeting Prague.

Richardson, J.B. & Burgess, N. 1999. Sporomorph evolution in the Anglo-Welsh Basin: tempo and parallelism, 35–49. In Kurmann, M.H. & Hemsley, A.R. (eds) The evolution of Plant Architecture. Whitstable Lith Printers Ltd., Linnaean Society London and The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Richardson, J.B., Ford, J.H. & Parker, F. 1984. Miospores, correlation and age of some Scottish Lower Old Red Sandstone sediments from the Strathmore region (Fife and Angus). Journal of Micropalaeontology 3, 109–124.View article

Richardson, J.B., Streel, M., Hassan, A.M. & Steemans, P. 1982. A new spore assemblage to correlate between the Breconian (British Isles) and the Gedinnian (Belgium). Annales de la Société Géologique de Belgique 105, 135–143.

Richardson, J.B. & Lister, T.R. 1969. Upper Silurian and Lower Devonian spore assemblages from the Welsh Borderland and South Wales. Palaeontology 12, 201–252.

Richardson, J.B. & McGregor, D.C. 1986. Silurian and Devonian spore zones of the Old Red Sandstone continent and adjacent regions. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 364, 1–79.

Richardson, J.B. & Rasul, S.M. 1978. Palynomorphs in Lower Devonian sediments from the Apley Barn Borehole, southern England. Pollen et Spores 20, 423–462.

Richardson, J.B. & Rasul, S.M. 1979. Palynological evidence for the age and provenance of the Lower Old Red Sandstone from the Apley Barn Borehole, Witney, Oxfordshire. Proceedings of the Geological Association 90, 27–42.View article

Richardson, J.B. & Rasul, S.M. 1990. Palynofacies in a Late Silurian regressive sequence in the Welsh Borderland and Wales. Journal of the Geological Society, London 147, 675–686.View article

Richardson, J.B., Rodriguez, R.M. & Sutherland, S.J.E. 2000. Palynology and recognition of the Silurian/Devonian boundary in some British terrestrial sediments by correlation with Cantabrian and other European marine sequences – A progress report. In Bultynck, P. (ed.) Subcommission of Devonian Stratigraphy Fossil groups important for boundary definition, Courier Forschungsinstitut Senkenberg 220, 1–7.

Richardson, J.B., Rodriguez, R.M. & Sutherland, S.J.E. 2001. Palynological zonation of Mid-Palaeozoic sequences from the Cantabrian Mountains, NW Spain: implications for inter-regional and interfacies correlation of the Ludford/ Přídolí and Silurian/ Devonian boundaries, and plant dispersal patterns. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Geology 57, 115–162.

Richardson, J.B., Streel, M., Hassan, A. & Steemans, P. 1982. A new assemblage to correlate between the Breconian (British Isles) and the Gedinnian (Belgium). Annales de la Société Géologique de Belgique 105, 135–143.

Rodriguez, R.M. 1983. Palinologia de las formaciones del Silúrico superior-Devónico inferior de la Cordillera Cantábrica, noroeste de Espana. 231 pp. Institucion Fray Bernardino de Sahagun de la Excelentisima Diputacion Provincial de Leon y del Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Leon.

Schopf, J.M.,Mencher, E., Boucot, A.J. & Andrews, J.N. 1966. Erect plants in the early Silurian of Maine. US Geological Survey Professional Paper 550 D, D69–D75.

Wellman, C.H., Edwards, D. & Axe, L. 1998. Permanent dyads in sporangia and spore masses from the Lower Devonian of the Welsh Borderland. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society of London 127, 117–147.View article