Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-hfldf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-08T04:36:15.263Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The sedimentology, palaeoecology and preservation of the Lower Carboniferous plant deposits at Pettycur, Fife, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Gillian M. Rex  and
Andrew C. Scott
Gillian M. Rex
Affiliation:
*Laboratoire de paléobotanique, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, Unité Associée 327 C.N.R.S, Université des Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, Place E. Bataillon, 34060 Montpellier, France
Andrew C. Scott
Affiliation:
Geology Department, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 OEX, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Lower Carboniferous (Asbian) sediments and volcanics of the Pettycur region in Fife, Scotland, yield several important anatomically preserved floras including that from the famous ‘Pettycur Limestone’. The plant fossils are preserved as calcareous permineralizations and fusain within limestone blocks which occur at the base of basaltic lava flows or within pyroclastic sequences. The geology and sedimentology of these plant deposits have been investigated, and it is demonstrated that a number of plant-bearing facies can be recognized which reflect different modes of transport, deposition and fossilization. Of these facies the ‘Pettycur Limestone’ is the most well known. The lithology is composed of a distinct assemblage dominated by lycopods and the pteridosperm, Heterangium. Other assemblages include a limestone dominated by zygopterid ferns which are frequently fusainized and the Kingswood Limestone which contains a completely different flora to that at Pettycur, being dominated by pteridosperms, other gymnosperms and the lycopod Oxroadia. Each sediment type is characterized by a distinct mineralization history of the plants reflecting different sites of fossilization.

A hypothesis concerning the original ecology of the plant assemblages within the basaltic volcanic terrain is proposed. It is suggested that the Pettycur Limestone represents an established original peat within which the plants were permineralized. The zygopterid ferns occupied sites which were susceptible to wildfire and did not establish long-lived peat-forming communities. The Kingswood flora was established in a region where plants were prone to fire and then subsequently transported into an area of limestone deposition along with unburnt plant fragments. This flora was separated by space and/or time from the Pettycur floras. Lakes developed on lava surfaces and provided sites of fossilization for plant fragments as compressions.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 124 , Issue 1 , January 1987 , pp. 43 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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

Allan, D. A. 1924. The igneous geology of the Burntisland district. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 53, 479–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, M. J. 1914. Sphaerostoma ovale (Conostoma ovate et intermedium, Williamson), a Lower Carboniferous ovule from Pettycur, Fifeshire, Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 50, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brack-Hanes, S. D. & Thomas, B. A. 1983. A re-examination of Lepidostrobus Brongniart. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 86, 125–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaloner, W. C. & Cope, M. J. 1982. Interaction of plant evolution, wildfire, atmospheric composition and climate. Proceedings of the Third North American Palaeontological Convention 1, 83–5.Google Scholar
Clayton, G. 1986. Plant miospores and Dinantian intercontinental correlation. Dixième Congrès International de Stratigraphie et de Géologie du Carbonifère, Madrid, 4, 9–23.Google Scholar
Cope, M. J. & Chaloner, W. G. 1980. Fossil charcoal as evidence of past atmospheric composition. Nature 283, 647–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Creber, G. T. & Chaloner, W. G. 1984 a. Climatic indications from growth rings in fossil wood, in Fossils and Climate (ed. Brenchley, P.) pp. 49–73. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Creber, G. T. & Chaloner, W. G. 1984 b. Influence of environmental factors on the wood structure of living and fossil trees. Botanical Review 50, 357–448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickson, J. A. D. 1965. Carbonate identification and genesis as revealed by staining. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 36, 491–505.Google Scholar
Francis, E. H. 1960. An excursion guide, Burntisland to Kirkaldy. In Edinburgh Geology (eds. Mitchell, G. H., Walton, E. K.&Grant, D.), pp. 206–13. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.Google Scholar
Francis, E. H. 1978. Igneous activity in a fractured craton, Carboniferous volcanism in Northern Britain, in Crustal Evolution in Northwest Britain and Adjacent Regions (ed. Bowes, D. R.& Leake, B. E.), pp. 279–96. Geological Journal Special Issue, no 10.Google Scholar
Francis, E. H. 1983 a. Carboniferous. In Geology of Scotland (ed. Craig, G. Y.), pp. 253–96. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.Google Scholar
Francis, E. H. 1983 b. Carboniferous-Permian igenous rocks. In Geology of Scotland (ed Craig, G. Y.), pp. 297–324. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.Google Scholar
Francis, E. H. & Hopgood, A. M. 1970. Volcanism and the Adross Fault, Fife, Scotland. Scottish Journal of Geology 6, 162–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galtier, J. 1986. Comparing compression and permineralized taxa. In Systematic and Taxonomic Approaches in Palaeobotany (ed. Spicer, R. A.& Thomas, B. A.). Systematics Association Series No 31 (in press).Google Scholar
George, T. N., Johnson, G. A. L., Mitchell, M., Prentice, J. E., Ramsbottom, W. H. C., Sevastopulo, G. D., & Wilson, R. B. 1976. A correlation of the Dinantian rocks in the British Isles. Geological Society of London Special Reports 7, 1–87.Google Scholar
Geikie, A. 1900. The geology of Central and Western Fife and Kinross. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Scotland.Google Scholar
Gordon, W. T. 1909. On the nature and occurrence of the plant-bearing rocks at Pettycur, Fife. Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society 9, 355–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, W. T. 1910 a. Note on the prothallus of Lepidodendron veltheimianum. Annals of Botany 24, 821–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, W. T. 1910 b. On a new species of Phytostoma from the Lower Carboniferous rocks of Pettycur (Fife). Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 15, 395–7.Google Scholar
Gordon, W. T. 1911 a. On the structure and affinities of Diplolabis romeri (Solms). Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 47, 711–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, W. T. 1911 b. On the structure and affinities of Metaclepsydropsis duplex (Williamson). Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 48, 163–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, W. T. 1912. On Rhetinangium arberi, a new genus of Cycadofilices from the Carboniferous Sandstone Series. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 48, 813–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, W. T. 1914. The country between Burntisland and Kirkaldy. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 25, 34–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hazeldine, R. S. 1984. Carboniferous North Atlantic palaeogeography: stratigraphic evidence for rifting, not megashear or subduction. Geological Magazine 121, 443–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hay, R. L. & Iijima, A. 1968. Nature and origin of palagonite tuffs of the Honolulu Group on Oahu, Hawaii. Memoirs of the Geological Society of America 116, 331–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joy, K. W., Willis, A. J. & Lacey, W. S. 1956. A rapid cellulose technique in palaeobotany. Annals of Botany N.S. 20, 635–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kidston, R. 1907. Note on a new species of Lepidodendron from Pettycur (Lepidodendron pettycurensis). Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 27, 207–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kidston, R. 1908. On a new species of Dineuron and of Botryopteris from Pettycur, Fife. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 46, 361–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
La Marche, V. C. Jr & Hirschbueck, K. K. 1984. Frost rings in trees as records of major volcanic eruptions. Nature 307, 121–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeder, M. R. 1976. Sedimentary facies and the origins of basin subsidence along the northern margin of the supposed Hercynian ocean. Tectonophysics 36, 167–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeder, M. R. 1986. Plate tectonics, palaeogeography and sedimentation in Lower Carboniferous Europe. In European Dinantian Environments (eds. Miller, J., Adams, A. E., Wright, V. P.), pp. 1–20. Geological Journal Special Issue no. 12.Google Scholar
Leys, C. A. 1983. Volcanic and sedimentary processes during the formation of the Saefell tuff-ring, Iceland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; Earth Sciences 74, 15–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer-Berthaud, B. 1986. Melissotheca gen.nov. a pollen organ from the Upper Visean of Scotland. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer-Berthaud, B. & Galtier, J. 1986. Studies on a Lower Carboniferous flora from Kingswood near Pettycur, Scotland. II. Phacelotheca- a new synangiate fructification of pteridospermous affinities. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 48, 181–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettijohn, F. J. 1957. Sedimentary Rocks New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Rex, G. M. & Chaloner, W. G. 1983. The experimental formation of plant compression fossils. Palaeontology 26, 231–52.Google Scholar
Rowley, D. B., Raymond, A., Parrish, J. T., Lottes, A. L., Scotese, C. R. & Zeigler, A. M. 1985. Carboniferous palaeogeographic, photogeographic and palaeoclimatic reconstructions. International Journal of Coal Geology 5, 7–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schopf, J. M. 1975. Modes of fossil plant preservation. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 20, 27–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, A. C. & Collinson, M. E. 1978. Organic sedimentary particles: results from the SEM of sedimentary particles. In SEM and the Study of Sediments (ed. Whalley, W. B.). pp. 137–67. Geoabstracts.Google Scholar
Scott, A. C. & Collinson, M. E. 1983 a. Investigating fossil plant beds. Part 1. The origin of fossil plants and their sediments. Geology Teaching 7, 114–22.Google Scholar
Scott, A. C. & Collinson, M. C. 1983 b. Investigating fossil plant beds. Part 2. Methods of palaeoenvironmental analysis and modelling and suggestions for experimental work. Geology Teaching 8, 12–26.Google Scholar
Scott, A. C., Galtier, J. & Clayton, G. 1984. The distribution of Lower Carboniferous anatomically preserved floras in Western Europe. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; Earth Sciences 75, 311–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, A. C., Meyer-Berthaud, B., Galtier, J., Rex, G. M., Brindley, S. A. & Clayton, G. 1986. Studies on a Lower Carboniferous flora from Kingswood near Pettycur, Scotland. I. Preliminary Report. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 48, 161–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, A. C. & Rex, G. M. 1985. The formation and significance of Carboniferous coal balls. In Extraordinary Fossil Biotas: Their Ecological and Evolutionary Significance (ed. Whittington, H. B., Conway Morris, S.), pp. 123–39. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 311.Google Scholar
Scott, A. C. & Rex, G. M. 1986. The accumulation and preservation of Dinantian plants from Scotland and its Borders. In European Dinantian Environments (eds. Miller, J., Adams, A. E., Wright, V. P.), pp. 329–44. Geological Journal Special Issue no. 12.Google Scholar
Scott, D. H. 1898. On the structure and affinities of fossil plants from the Palaeozoic rocks. Pt. 1. On Cheirostrobus. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 189, 1–34.Google Scholar
Scott, D. H. 1900. Studies in Fossil Botany. London: A. & C. Black.Google Scholar
Scott, D. H. 1901. On the seed-like fructification of Lepidocarpon. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 194, 291–333.Google Scholar
Scott, D. H. 1920. Studies in Fossil Botany. 3rd ed. Part I. London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scurfield, G., Sequit, E. R. & Anderson, C. A. 1974. Silicification of wood. Proceedings of the Workshop on Scanning Electron Microscopes and the Plant Sciences. IIT Research Institute, Chicago, 389–96.Google Scholar
Stewart, W. N. & Taylor, T. N. 1965. The peel technique. In Handbook of Palaeontological Techniques (ed. Kummel, B., Raup, D.), pp. 224–32. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Stopes, M. C. & Watson, D. M. S. 1908. On the present distribution and origin of the calcareous concretions in coal seams known as coal balls. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 200, 167–218.Google Scholar
Williamson, W. C. 1871–1995. On the organisation of the fossil plants of the Coal Measures. Parts 1–19. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 161–184.Google Scholar
Williamson, W. C. & Scott, D. H. 1895. Further observations on the organisation of the Fossil Plants of the Coal Measures. 1. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 185, 863–99.Google Scholar