Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T01:23:18.724Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Stromatolites from the Middle Old Red Sandstone of Western Orkney

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

N. G. T. Fannin
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Reading.

Summary

The structures are comparable with stromatolites seen in modern “flats” environments and tufa occurring in joints in the granite—gneiss basement is compared with modern and fossil forms. Finely laminated (? varved) carbonates with a large lateral persistency (1: 50,000) are referred to periods of high water level and are believed to show evidence of seasonal algal bloom. The presence of widespread stromatolite structures is consistent with earlier environmental interpretations of the Orkney rocks.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

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

REFERENCES

Anderson, F. W., 1950. Some Reef-building calcareous algae from the Carboniferous rocks of Northern England and Southern Scotland. Proc. Yorks. geol. Soc., 28, 528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, M., 1933. The Algal Sediments of Andros Island, Bahamas. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Ser. B., 222, 165192.Google Scholar
Bradley, W. H., 1928. Algal Reefs and Oolites of the Green River Formation. Prof. Pap. U.S. geol. Surv., 154G, 203223, plates 29–48.Google Scholar
Bretz, J. H., & Horberg, L., 1949. Caliche in South-eastern New Mexico. J. Geol., 57, 491511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carozzi, A. V., 1962. Observations on Algal Biostromes in the Great Salt Lake, Utah. J. Geol., 70, 246252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, E., De, C., & Teichert, C., 1946. Algal Structures in a Western Australian Salt Lake. Am. J. Sci., 244, 271–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cloud, P. E. Jr, 1942. Notes on Stromatolites. Am. J. Sci., 240, 263279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J. R., 1953. The Origin of the Deposits of Tufa in Mono Lake. J. sedim. Petrol., 23, 1823.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donaldson, J. A., 1963. Stromatolites in the Denault Formation, Marion Lake, Coast of Labrador, Newfoundland. Bull. geol. Surv. Canada, 102, 133.Google Scholar
Geikie, A., 1879. On the Old Red Sandstone of Western Europe. Part 1. Trans. R. Soc. Edinb., 28, 345452.Google Scholar
Ginsburg, R. N., 1960. Ancient Anologs of Recent Stromatolites. International Geol. Congress. 21st Session, Report. pt. 22, 2635.Google Scholar
Ginsburg, R. N., 1967. Stromatolites (Conference report from The Johns Hopkins University). Science, 157, 339340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greensmith, J. T., & Tucker, E. V., 1966. Morphology and Evolution of inshore shell ridges and mud mounds on modern intertidal fiats, near Bradwell, Essex. Proc. Geol. Ass., 77, 329346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, D., 1961. Algal Growths in the Rhaetic Cotham Marble of Southern England Palaeontology, 4, 324333, plates 39–41.Google Scholar
Heddle, M. F., 1880. The Geognosy and Mineralogy of Scotland. Mineralog. Mag., 3, 147177.Google Scholar
Jones, J. C., 1914. The Tufa Deposits of the Salton Sink. In The Salton Sea, by MacDougal, D. T. et al. Publs. Carnegie Instn.Google Scholar
Kendall, C. G. ST. C., & Skipwith, P. A. P'D. Bt., 1966. Recent algal Stromatolites of the Khor al Bazam, Abu Dhabi, the Southwest Persian Gulf. Abs. geol. Soc. Am. Annual Meeting, p. 108.Google Scholar
Lalou, C., 1957. Studies on bacterial precipitation of carbonates in sea water. J. sedim. Petrol., 27, 190–5.Google Scholar
Logan, B. W., 1961. Cryptozoon and associate stromatolites from the Recent of Shark Bay, Western Australia. J. Geol., 69, 517533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logan, B. W. Rezak, R., & Ginsburg, R. N., 1964. Classification and environmental significance of algal stromatolites. J. Geol., 72, 6883.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mawson, D., 1929. South Australian Algal Limestones in the process of formation Q. Jlgeol. Soc. Lond., 85, 613623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miles, R. S., & Westoll, T. S., 1963. Two new Genera of Coccosteid Arthrodira from the Middle Old Red Sandstone of Scotland and their Stratigraphical Distribution. Trans. R. Soc. Edinb., 65, 179209.Google Scholar
Playford, P. E., & Lowry, D. C., 1966. Devonian reef complexes of the Canning Basin, Western Australia. Bull. geol. Surv. Western Australia, 118.Google Scholar
Rayner, D. H., 1963. The Achanarras Limestone of the Middle Old Red Sandstone, Caithness, Scotland. Proc. Yorks. geol. Soc., 34, 117138, plates 17 and 18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rezak, R., 1957. Stromatolites of the Belt Series in Glacier National Park and Vicinity, Montana. Prof. Pap. U.S. geol. Surv., 294–D, 127153, plates 19–24.Google Scholar
Roehl, P. O., 1967. Stony Mountain (Ordovician) and Interlake (Silurian) Facies analogs of Recent low energy Marine and Subaerial Carbonates, Bahamas. Bull. Am. Ass. Petrol. Geol., 51, 19792032.Google Scholar
Russell, I. C., 1885. Geological History of Lake Lahonton. U.S. geol. Survey Mon. 11, 288 p.Google Scholar
Ruttner, F., 1953. Fundamentals of Limnology. Univ. of Toronto Press 242 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scholl, D. W., & Taft, W. H., 1964. Algal Contributors to the formation of Calcareous Tufa, Mono Lake, California. J. sedim. Petrol., 34, 309319.Google Scholar
Seibold, E., 1963. Geological investigation of near shore sand transport. In Progress in Oceanography, Vol. 1. Ed. Sears, M.. Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Swineford, A., Leonard, A. B., & Frye, J. C., 1958. Petrology of the Pliocene Pisolitic Limestone in the Great Plains. Bull. State geol. Surv. Kansas, 130, 97116.Google Scholar
Williams, L. G., 1963. The role of Algae in Stabilizing Beach Sand. Furman Studies, 33, 6163.Google Scholar
Wilson, G. V., Edwards, W., Knox, J., Jones, R. C. B., & Stephens, J. V., 1935. The Geology of the Orkneys. Mem. geol. Survey Scotland, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Young, R. B., 1934. A Comparison of certain stromatolitic rocks in the Dolomite Series of South Africa with modern Algal Sediments in the Bahamas. Trans. geol. Soc. South Africa, 37, 153162.Google Scholar