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A Lower Devonian sporomorph assemblage from the Midland Valley of Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

Charles H. Wellman
Affiliation:
Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London SW7 5BD

Abstract

A sporomorph assemblage recovered from the Sandy's Creek Beds, which constitute a diminutive fault bounded inlier on the west coast of the Midland Valley of Scotland, is described. Four species of trilete spore and the genus Fustisispora, a monospecific cryptospore genus, are proposed as new. The sporomorph assemblage is attributed an early Devonian, late–early to early–late Lochkovian age, and is interpreted as accumulating in a continental environment. The Sandy's Creek Beds are correlated herein with the upper part of the Arbuthnott Group which crops out in the north-east of the Midland Valley. Comparison with other sporomorph assemblages of similar age indicates that minor regional variation exists. It is suggested that this is related to small-scale regional variation in the composition of vegetation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1993

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