The development of the relief of the Scottish Highlands is traced over the last 400 Ma. Evidence from Late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic sediments and near-surface volcanic and igneous rocks shows that post-Devonian erosion of basement has been < 1–2 km and that the main morphotectonic units of the Highlands were already established by the end of the Palaeozoic. During the Mesozoic, the Highlands experienced several major erosional cycles, beginning with uplift, reactivation of relief and stripping of cover rocks, followed by progressive reduction of relief through etchplanation and culminating in extensive marine transgressions in the Late Triassic, Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous. In the Early Tertiary major uplift affected the Highlands, with downwarping and block movements along basin margins, but levels of uplift and denudation around the Tertiary igneous centres cannot be extrapolated to other areas. Buchan and Caithness remained relatively stable and Mesozoic relief elements were maintained during gradual surface lowering. Earth movements of lesser magnitude continued episodically until at least the end of the Tertiary. After 50 Ma the Highland terrain evolved by dynamic etching, with deep weathering of varied geology under warm to temperate humid environments leading to a progressive differentiation of relief, with formation of basins, valleys, scarps and inselbergs often closely adjusted to lithostructural controls.

Sulphur isotopic data are presented for the four horizons of stratabound mineralisation in the Argyll Group Dalradian (Vendian) of the Central Highlands of Scotland. The styles of mineralisation reflect the stratigraphic and tectonic evolution of the Dalradian basin. The SEDEX-type Ba + (Zn + Pb) Loch Lyon Horizon has δ34S values for pyrite of +17% and for baryte of +27%. The baryte sulphur source was Dalradian sea-water although the values were modified by isotopic exchange with an H2S-rich metamorphic fluid derived from the surrounding graphitic schists. The sulphur source for sulphide in the horizon was probably the underlying strata; sulphide values were only slightly affected by metamorphism. Sulphides in the Pyrite Horizon are isotopically indistinguishable from those in the remainder of the volcanogenic Ben Lawers Schist Formation (0 ± 4%); these values suggest that, at least in the Tyndrum area, sulphides in the Pyrite Horizon are of igneous origin. VMS-type Cu + Zn + Pb mineralisation in the Ben Challum Quartzite Formation has a narrow range of values around + ll%. The likely source of this sulphide sulphur is reduced sea-water sulphate, the isotopic values remaining consistent owing to the buffering effect of anhydrite in the underlying calcium-rich rocks.

The Carboniferous trilobite Paladin eichwaldi shunnerensis (King 1914), at its type locality in northern England is exceptionally well-preserved, and shows all stages of growth from the degree 0 meraspis onwards. The post-protaspid ontogenyis described here with particular reference to the development of cuticular sculpture. On the dorsal surface of the smallest specimens a polygonal network of raised ridges (cell polygons) is apparent. With size increase, granules progressively appear amongst the polygons, which in turn change into large tubercles as the polygonal network fades. As the trilobite grows into an adult, the tubercles become relatively smaller, and pits, the openings of cuticular canals, appear amongst them. Marginal terrace lines become pronounced. On the hypostome, however, terrace lines become effaced centrally, while large pits develop. In the early meraspis the eyes are “schizochroal”, but the lenses rapidly become closely packed and contiguous and the eye is soon of “holochroal” type. The meraspid phase is passed through very rapidly. Whereas the earlymeraspis could not enroll, its pygidium could be bent down vertically, and this facility might have allowed the larva an escape reaction.

The sensory fields of four Wenlock trilobites Proetus (Proetus) concinnus, Warburgella (Warburgella) stokesii, Warburgella (Warburgella) scutterdinensis, and Harpidella (Harpidella) maura are described and found to be species specific. Certain features, such as the small cell polygon size, and prismatic layer comprising about one tenth of the cuticle thickness are characteristic of Order Proetida. Intraspecific variation is related to ontogenetic development, most markedly in the field of the free cheek of P. (P.) concinnus. The proetid occipital pustule may have functioned as a light-sensitive organ. The tropidium W. (W.) stokesii is a ridge with a central canal or groove, rather than a tubular structure, and probably contained a sensory receptor rather than a circulatory system. Despite microstructural distribution being species specific, it is of limited practical value in taxonomy as the fine details are easily lost during diagenesis.

Dolomites form in a range of environments by processes able to drive large volumes of magnesium-rich waters through existing carbonate sediments or rocks. These fluids need not be of unusual composition but there are kinetic barriers to crystallisation which is influenced by factors such as the Mg/Ca ratio, salinity, temperature, the /Ca2+ ratio and time. Dolomite is able to form at near-surface temperatures and pressures within a few thousand years.

Textures in dolomitic rocks are controlled by their conditions of formation. A large proportion are replacive but few of these are mimetic, preserving primary structures. Crystals vary from euhedral to anhedral with boundaries ranging from planar to consertal. Solution chemistry and temperatures influence the density and distribution of nuclei together with growth rates and crystal morphology. There is still doubt whether irregular crystal faces are products of high or low temperatures or saturation. Dolomite cements are more important than has previously been realised in massively dolomitised rocks. Differential dissolution of aragonite, calcite, or evaporite minerals leaves space for these cements to occupy. Dolomitisation may also be allied to compaction, generating stylolitic rocks which are progressively enriched in dolomite. Dolomite may be replaced by calcite or it may be dissolved and the resulting pores filled with a calcite cement.

There is no general correlation between any set of petrographic features and particular geological models for dolomitisation. Similar physicochemical conditions are reproduced in a range of environments and the most effective guides to origin are in the geometry and regional petrographic variation of dolomite bodies.

In the SW part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland the relatively thin Moffat Shale Group (late Ordovician–early Silurian) is succeeded by a thick development of Silurian greywackes, of variable turbiditic facies. This includes late Llandovery (Telychian) quartzose greywackes with interbedded thin graptolitic shales of the turriculatus and crispus biozones, in the upper part of the Gala Group, a sequencewhich is laterally equivalent to the basal part of the Hawick Group. The age of the finer-grained calcareous Hawick Group, which here includes 1. the Ross Formation, ranges from late Llandovery (turriculatus Biozone) to early Wenlock (riccartonensis Biozone). The Riccarton Group, which contains thick units of thinly-bedded siltstones and mudstones, is of Wenlock age (riccartonensis to lundgreni biozones). Within this sequence, all the biozones of the standard graptolite zonal scheme have been recognised in the area, with the exception of the crenulata Biozone of the late Llandovery (Telychian Stage) and the murchisoni and ellesae biozones of the Wenlock (Sheinwoodian Stage). Details of the graptolite biostratigraphy areclosely comparable with those of the markedly thinner sequences of northern England. Acritarchs occur throughout the sequence but are most numerous and best preserved in the Gala Group. Poorly preserved chitinozoa and spores are also present, the former occurring sporadically throughout the succession but the latter become common only in the Riccarton Group.

Total contents of 21 trace elements were determined in particle size separates from the horizons of four profiles, two freely drained and two very poorly drained, of Scottish soils on drifts of basic igneous and granitic origin. Trace elements, including Co, Cu, Li, Mn, Ni, V, Zn and also Fe contained in the more easily weathered ferromagnesian minerals, tend to accumulate in the clay and silt. Elements such as Ti and Zr and also La and Y contained in resistant minerals accumulate in the silt or fine sand. Ti and Zr are mobilised to some extent, however, as these elements are present in the clay separates and in some cases show enrichment therein.

The alkali metals Li and Rb accumulate in the silt and clay particularly in the granitic soils, while the alkaline earth metals Ba and Sr occur in greatest concentrations in the sands due to their being held largely in resistant feldspar minerals. On release these elements are not strongly adsorbed by the clay.

Very poor pedological drainage leads to increased weathering and release of such elements as Co, Cu, Ni, V and Zn from the coarse or fine sands with correspondingly greater enrichment of the associated silt and clay. Weathering and enrichment of the fine fractions takes place largely in situ, there being little evidence of downward translocation due to leaching.

The Doularg Formation is defined within the Albany Group (Tappins Complex); the formation consists of the unfossiliferous Fence Member at the base, succeeded by the Gorse Member (formerly the “Albany mudstones with nodular limestones”), the Separation Sandstone and the Jubilation Member, a bedded, calcareous, silty mudstone. The last named has yielded the rich assemblage of trilobites described, representing thirty genera and including one new genus and seven new species—Bronteopsis matutina, Bumastoides? rivulus, Agerina laurentica, Tretaspis eximia, Ampyxina medici, Stiktocybele (gen. nov.) bathytera, Platycalymene metoeca: Nileus is the most common trilobite. The trilobite fauna indicates that the Doularg Formation should be correlated with some part of the Benan Conglomerate, the uppermost formation of the Barr Group to the north of the Stinchar Valley, and is probably of Llandeilo age. The trilobite association is most closely allied to that of the slightly older basal Superstes Mudstone, reflecting the strong ecological control affecting deeper water faunas. The affinity of the Jubilation Member trilobites with those of the middle Table Head Formation (Llanvirn) of western Newfoundland, is evidenced by the presence in both of Nileus, Cybelurus, Peraspis, and Bronteopsis. These are the four most common genera in the Jubilation Member, comprising over half the total trilobite specimens, and provide striking evidence of the longevity of deeper water genera.

The Steel Mountain terrane of the southern Long Range Mountains forms a fault-bounded massif of (meta)plutonic rocks including the Disappointment Hill complex (DHC), a sequence of granulite-facies lithologies containing charnockite emplaced at 1498 Ma (U-Pb, zircon). Quartzofeldspathic gneiss of the DHC contains garnet + biotite + orthopyroxene ± cordierite assemblages indicative of metamorphic P–T conditions of ca 750°C and 400 MPa. The relatively high thermal gradient (ca 70°C km−1) inferred for the DHC is attributed to a magmatic heat source.

On grounds of lithology, age and metamorphic grade, the DHC correlates to granulites of the Long Range Inlier (LRI) exposed farther north. Both complexes occur in blocks thrust westward over Taconic allochthons capped by ophiolite nappes. The block containing the DHC, however, preserves younger cover rocks, suggesting that it originated at a higher structural level than the LRI. This model is supported by lower pressure estimates for the DHC relative to the LRI (400 MPa vs 500–800 MPa). The DHC forms a link between Grenvillian rocks of the northern Long Range of Newfoundland and those of Cape Breton Island. The structural position of these massifs suggests that their emplacement was a post-Taconic event.

A new taxon of probable early gymnosperms is described from permineralised specimens showing excellent preservation of the tissues, from the late Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian), Brigantian, deposits of the Midland Valley of Scotland. Stanwoodia gen. nov., represented by the single species S. kirktonensis sp. nov., shows the combination of a primitive protostelic organisation with a dense secondary wood. It closely compares to the enigmatic genus Bilignea which was formerly referred with some reservations to the Cordaitales. Another interest of the new plant concerns the excellent preservation of the phloem with at least three different types of constituent cells including fibres. Stanwoodia also exhibits the oldest well-documented evidence of a sequent periderm or rhytidome in fossil plants.

Fragmentary remains of a vascular sporophyte from the Rhynie Chert are described as a new genus and species, Trichopherophyton teuchansii. The plant, which is characterised by the possession of unicellular spinous hairs, exarch xylem and laterally attached, marginally dehiscent sporangia, is assigned to the Zosterophyllophytina, but lack of information on the arrangement of sporangia prevents its more precise positioning within the subdivision. Unusual features include the combination of circinate tips to axes with almost terete xylem strands, and the lack of a thick-walled outer cortical zone. Associated axes, lacking spinous hairs, but having papillate or rhizoid-like epidermal emergences, are interpreted as likely rhizomes of Trichopherophyton. Features, such as unicellular spinous hairs, rhizoid-like emergences, circinate tipsand parenchymatous cortex are considered in relation to the functioning and growth of aplant inhabiting an early Devonian wetland.

Twenty six of the more important species of monograptids (s.l.), retiolitids and Cyrtograptus (from a total fauna of 52 species) are described from Wenlock strata of the Cape Phillips Formation, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Of this fauna, eight new species or subspecies, Monograptus firmus festinolatus, M. instrenuus, M. opimus, M. testis incomptus, Cyrtograptus falcatus, C. hamatus brevis, C. kolobus and C. pseudomancki, are described and illustrated.

Wenlock biostratigraphic zones comprise the Cyrtograptus centrifugus-C. insectus Zone (earliest Wenlock), M. instrenuus-C. kolobus Zone, tentatively divisible into lower and upper subzones, C. perneri-M. opimus Zone possibly divisible into lower and upper subzones, C. lundgreni-M. testis Zone divisible into a lower M. testis incomptus Subzone and an upper M. testis testis Subzone, and the Pristiograptus ludensis Zone (latest Wenlock).

A phylogenetic analysis is performed on all species previously assigned to the odontopleurid trilobite genus Leonaspis. The PAUP analysis shows this genus, as conventionally defined, to be polyphyletic, composed of four groups of equal taxonomie rank. Leonaspis (s.s.) is here restricted to one of these groups only, a monophyletic set of species characterised by ‘four-spined’ pygidia (i.e. with four spines between the major border spines) and a thorax of nine segments. Kettneraspis is recognised for the largest of these four groups, and is composed of ‘two-spined’ species with nine thoracic segments. Leonaspis and Kettneraspis belong to the Odontopleurinae. A third group of previous ‘Leonaspis’ species constitute a new genus of the Acidaspidinae. Its species are characterised by being ‘four-spined’ and having ten thoracic segments. For these the new genus Exallaspis is erected, with type species E. bufo. A fourth group of ‘Leonaspis’ species, being ‘four-spined’ with nine thoracic segments, belongs to Eoleonaspis, an Ordovician odontopleurine genus. Leonaspis and Exallaspis are temporally and spatially non-overlapping, Leonaspis being exclusively Gondwanan post-Wenlock, whereas Exallaspis is restricted to areas north of the Rheic Ocean and ranges from basal Llandovery to Ludlow. Kettneraspis is pandemic. The condition of five epiborder spines and ten border spines on the free cheek is proposed as plesiomorphic for odontopleurids, and the border spines are shown to originate as two separate rows with alternating spines. A shift in position of the facial suture is shown to transfer the genal spine from the cranidium to the free cheek in Kettneraspis meraspides of degree 1 or 2, and the previously suggested co-occurrence of a fixigenal and librigenal spine in these stages is refuted. Earlier proposed dimorphism is rejected, and two mechanisms for reduction in the number of pygidial border spines are proposed. Kettneraspis reetae sp. nov. is described.

The Order Adelospondyli, an isolated group of amphibians from the Carboniferous of the Edinburgh area, is redescribed and distinguished from other early tetrapods. Although systematics of genera and species is unsatisfactory, the group seems monophyletic, since as far as they are known, all conform to a single overall structural plan. There is an entire skull roof with a reduced complement of bones in an unique pattern, a highly characteristic marginal dentition, a massive hyoid apparatus, at least 70 holospondylous trunk vertebrae, and (like some other Lower Carboniferous tetrapods) a shoulder region with a heavy dermal girdle but no trace of ossified limbs or endochondral girdle. Adelogyrinids show no special affinity with other Palaeozoic amphibians: the vertebral characters in which they resemble microsaurs, lysorophids, aïstopods, and nectrideans may have evolved more than once among early tetrapods, and the shoulder girdle and neural arch characters shared with labyrinthodonts are probably primitive. The adelogyrinids thus illustrate the more general problems of establishing interrelationships among early tetrapods. Their way of life is discussed.

The subfamily Koneprusiinae is revised as part of a larger study of the Odontopleuridae, and Laethoprusia gen. nov. is described. The type species L. salax sp. nov. is from the Wenlock of Gotland, Sweden, and the genus is known also from the Wenlock of the Montagne Noire in south France, and from the Lower Devonian of Australia. The type species is most unusual among trilobites in possessing large fenestrae perforating the exoskeleton on segmental boundaries from the cephalic posterior margin to within the pygidium. The fenestrae were probably covered with soft tissues. Their function is enigmatic. Laethoprusia gen. nov. is the sister taxon to Isoprusia and/or Koneprusia. These genera are revised, and a review of all species assigned to them is given. A cladistic analysis of the best known taxa of Laethoprusia, Isoprusia, and Koneprusia is presented. Laethoprusia is the most derived genus of the subfamily, although stratigraphically it is the earliest.

Newly discovered crustaceans from the Granton ‘shrimp-bed’ (Dinantian, Lower Oil Shale Group) are described: Bairdops elegans, Minicaris sp., Palaemysis, Tealliocaris cf. woodwardi, Pseudogalathea ornatissima, Anthracocaris scotica, Paraparchites cf. okeni, Beyrichiopsis plicata, and Eocypridina cf. aciculata, and new observations on Waterstonella grantonensis are reported. Tealliocaris woodwardi alone is recorded from bed o, a level ca 1 m below the ‘shrimp-bed’. The Granton ‘shrimp-bed’ biota is reviewed—the geological and lithological context of the deposit, the distribution and taphonomy of the biota, its life environment, palaeoecology, the likely causes of mortality, and comparisons are made with contemporaneous shrimp biotas. The nature of this unusual Konservat-Lagerstätte reflects conditions in the sheltered, periodically emergent lagoon which it represents.

The systematics of parts of the Odontopleuridae are revised using character analyses tracing homologous structures, and a computerised cladistic analysis. The choice of outgroup is shown to affect the result of the analysis. Several synapomorphies place Selenopeltis, the type genus of the Selenopeltinae Hawle & Corda, 1847 as sister genus to Dicranurus. The latter's close relationship to Miraspis, type genus of the Miraspidinae Richter & Richter, 1917 is confirmed. The Selenopeltinae therefore becomes a senior subjective synonym of the Miraspidinae. The Selenopeltinae includes about 90 of the over 380 named odontopleurid species known to date (excluding accepted synonyms). The Ceratocephalinae is recognised, including about 30 species. The paired, large pygidial border spines present in most odontopleurids are in some species not homologous, and a falsifiable hypothesis is proposed for the homology of the ‘true major border spines’. This structure is the posterior pleural spine of the tenth postcephalic segment in selenopeltines, ceratocephalines and odontopleurines, and in acidaspidines and apianurines it is the serially homologous spine of the eleventh postcephalic segment. The spine belongs to the first pygidial segment in all taxa except ceratocephalines, where it is on the last thoracic segment. The homology in selenopeltines of the progressive restructuring of the cheek border is reviewed, explaining the supramarginal appearance of the genal spine. The presence and homology of the sublobation of L1 in odontopleurids is discussed, and it may be homologous with the sublobation in lichids. The strongly differentiated thoracic segmental lengths (exsag.), with maximum length reached in the anterior part of thorax, and the much reduced length of the posterior segments, are aspects of a single character-complex, uniquely derived within the Selenopeltinae. The ontogenetic origin of the anterior and posterior pleural spines is reviewed. The presence in Ceratocephala of two instars in one meraspid degree is discussed. A cladistic analysis of selenopeltine and ceratocephaline genera does not entirely resolve the topology of the phylogenetic tree of these taxa, but it confirms Selenopeltis as sister taxon to Dicranurus. These two genera belong in a clade also including Miraspis, Selenopeltoides, and Ceratonurus. Two new genera are erected, Ceratocara and Archaeopleura, the latter with type species A. kazakhensis sp. nov.

The Early Tertiary basalt plateau of the Faeroe Islands is cut by dykes and sills. Chemical analyses show a two-fold division of the intrusive rocks into a group of low-TiO2 (0·73–1·93%), MORB-type tholeiitic basalts and a group of high-TiO2 (2·09–3·90%) tholeiitic basalts. The low-TiO2 group comprises about 15% picrites and olivine-phyric basalts and 85% plagioclase-phyric basalts, and shows a chemical range largely explicable in terms of low-pressure fractional crystallisation of olivine ± plagioclase ± clinopyroxene. The high-TiO2 group is strongly dominated by plagioclase-phyric basalts with only few olivine-phyric compositions. The chemical trends are less regular than those formed by the low-TiO2 basalt dykes and a number of subgroups may be identified on the basis of bulk rock chemistry. Dykes belonging to a specific subgroup were probably fed from the same magma chamber.

Petrographically and chemically the dykes and sills are clearly related to the upper 2·5 km of the lava sequence. Field evidence suggests that some of the dykes were contemporaneous with the exposed lavas, while other dykes and the sills were intruded in response to a slight doming of the plateau during the final stages of volcanic activity. Our investigations demonstrate that high-TiO2 and low-TiO2 magmas were both emplaced until the very end of magmatism, with the latter being mainly concentrated in the northern part of the archipelago. We briefly sketch a possible relationship between the supposed NE-Atlantic mantle plume, the distribution of the various magma types and the location of the Early Tertiary continental splitting zone north of the islands.

While congratulating the authors for the wealth of geochemical data on a very important Precambrian lithological assemblage of India, known commonly as khondalites, which constitute a major part of the Eastern Ghats mobile belt bordering the eastern fringes of the Indian Peninsula, we have a few comments to offer on the hypothesis propounded by the authors (Dash et al. 1987).