Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T07:27:59.816Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Stigmaria Brongniart: a new specimen from Duckmantian (Lower Pennsylvanian) Brymbo (Wrexham, North Wales) together with a review of known casts and how they were preserved

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2015

BARRY A. THOMAS  and
LEYLA J. SEYFULLAH
BARRY A. THOMAS*
Affiliation:
Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Penglais, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3DA, UK
LEYLA J. SEYFULLAH
Affiliation:
Department of Geobiology, Georg-August Universität Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
*
†Author for correspondence: bat@aber.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Stigmaria is one of the iconic plant fossils of the Carboniferous and fragments of the narrower parts of the rhizomorph are found in most museum collections. However, very few almost entire specimens have been found and preserved. A new specimen of Stigmaria from Brymbo, North Wales is described and compared with other preserved examples from Europe and North America. The Brymbo specimen shows a large portion of trunk still attached to the large stigmarian base, which is a rare find, and this specimen supports our ideas of how these impressively large casts were formed. Stigmarias were preserved by the deposition of minerals around them following a sediment inundation, which gave sufficient support while the tissues rotted and filled with sediments. Remnants of the outer tissues were compressed to form a thin surrounding coal layer.

Keywords

Carboniferouslycophytespreservationrhizomorph
Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 152 , Issue 5 , September 2015 , pp. 858 - 870
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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

Anon. 1967. The Whitfield Stump. Carolina Tips 30, No. 9. Burlington, North Carolina: Carolina Biological Supply Company.Google Scholar
Appleton, P., Malpas, J., Thomas, B. A. & Cleal, C. J. 2011. The Brymbo Fossil Forest. Geology Today 27, 109–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balfour, J. H. 1872. Introduction to the Study of Palaeontological Botany. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 118 pp.Google Scholar
Binney, E. W. 1844. On the remarkable fossil trees lately discovered near St. Helen's. Philosophical Magazine 3 (24), 165–73.Google Scholar
Boon, G. 2004. Buried treasure: Sheffield's lost fossil forest laid to rest (again). Earth Heritage 22, 8–9.Google Scholar
Brongniart, A. 1822. Sur la classification et la distribution des végétaux fossiles en général, et sur ceux des terrains de sediment supérieur en particulier. Memoires Museum de Histoire Naturelle, Paris 8, 203–348.Google Scholar
Brongniart, A. 1828. Histoire des Végétaux Fossiles ou Recherche Botanique et Géologique sur les Végétaux Renfermés dans les Diverse Couches du Globe. Paris: G. Dufour and Ed. D’Ocagne, I.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brongniart, A. 1839. Observations sur la structure intérieure du Sigillaria elegans comparée à celle des Lepidodendron et des Stigmaria et à celle des végétaux vivants. Archives du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris. 407–61.Google Scholar
Brown, R. 1846. On a group of erect fossil trees in the Sydney Coal Field of Cape Breton. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 2, 393–6.Google Scholar
Brown, R. 1848. Description of an upright Lepidodendron with Stigmaria roots, in the roof of the Sydney Main Coal, in the Island of Cape Breton. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 4, 46–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, R. 1849. Description of erect Sigillariae with conical tap roots in the roof of the Sydney Main coal in the Island of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Journal of the Geological Society of London 5, 354–60.Google Scholar
Buckland, W. 1840. Anniversary Address to the Geological Society of London. Proceedings of the Geological Society, London III, 231.Google Scholar
Calder, J. H., Gibling, M. R., Eble, C. F., Scott, A. C. & MacNeil, D. J. 1996. The Westphalian D fossil lepidodendroid forest at Table Head, Sydney Basin, Nova Scotia: Sedimentology, paleoecology and floral response to changing edaphic conditions. International Journal of Coal Geology 31, 277–313.Google Scholar
Chaloner, W. C. 1967. Lycophyta. In Traité de Paléobotanique (ed. Boureau, E.), pp. 435–802. Paris: Mason et Cie. Vol. 2.Google Scholar
Chase, F. E. & Sames, G. P. 1983. Kettle bottoms: Their relation to mine roof and support. United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations no. 8185, 1–12.Google Scholar
Cleal, J. C. & Thomas, B. A. 1995. Palaeozoic Palaeobotany of Great Britain. GCR series no 9. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Cleal, J. C. & Thomas, B. A. 2009. An Introduction to Plant Fossils. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Corda, A. J. 1845. Beiträge zur Flora der Vorwelt. Prague: J.G. Calve.Google Scholar
Dawson, J. W. 1853. Of the coal measures of the South Joggins, Nova Scotia. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London 10, 1–51.Google Scholar
Dawson, J. W. 1859. On a terrestrial mollusk, a chilognathus myriapod and some new species of reptiles from the coal-formation of Nova Scotia. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London 16, 268–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, J. W. 1882. On the results of recent explorations of erect trees containing animal remains in the coal formation of Nova Scotia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London 173, 621–59.Google Scholar
DiMichele, W. D., Eble, C. F. & Chaney, D. S. 1996. A drowned lycopsid forest above the Mahoning coal (Conemaugh Group, Upper Pennsylvanian) in eastern Ohio. International Journal of Coal Geology 31, 249–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DiMichele, W. A., Nelson, W. J., Elrick, S. & Ames, P. R. 2009. Catastrophically buried Middle Pennsylvanian Sigillaria and Calamitean Sphenopsids from Indiana, USA: what kind of vegetation was this? Palaios 24,159–66.Google Scholar
Falcon-Lang, H. J. & Calder, J. H. 2004. UNESCO World Heritage and the Joggins Cliffs of Nova Scotia. Geology Today 20, 139–43.Google Scholar
Ferguson, L. 1988. The ‘Fossil Cliff’ at Joggins, Nova Scotia: A Canadian case study. Palaeontology, Special Papers 40, 191–200.Google Scholar
Frankenberg, J. M. & Eggert, D. A. 1969. Petrified Stigmaria from North America: Part I. Stigmaria ficoides. The underground portions of Lepidodendraceae. Palaeontographica B 128, 1–47.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R. A. 1986 a. An explanation for lycopod configuration. ‘Fossil Grove’ Victoria Park, Glasgow. Scottish Journal of Geology 22, 77–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gastaldo, R. A. 1986 b. Implications on the paleoecology of autochthonous lycopods in clastic sedimentary environments of the Early Pennsylvanian of Alabama. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 53, 191–212.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R. A., Stevanovic-Walls, I. & Ware, W. N. 2004. Erect forests are evidence for large-magnitude, coseismic base-level changes within Pennsylvanian Cyclothems of the Black Warrior Basin, USA. In: Coal-bearing Strata: Sequence Stratigraphy, Paleoclimate, and Tectonics (eds Pashin, J.C. & Gastaldo, R.A.), pp. 219–38. AAPG, Studies in Geology no. 51.Google Scholar
Göppert, H. R. 1841. Die Gattungen der Fossilen Pflanzen. Bonn: Henry & Cohen.Google Scholar
Gothan, W. & Remy, R. 1957. Steinkohlenpflanzen. Leitfaden zum Bestimmen der wichtigsten pflanzlichen Fossilien der Päozoikums im rheinisch-westfälischen Steinkohlengebiet. Essen: Verlag Glückauf.Google Scholar
Hawkshaw, J. 1839. Description of the fossil trees found in the excavations for the Manchester and Bolton railway. Transactions of the Geological Society of London 2:VI, 38–42.Google Scholar
Hooker, J. D. 1848. On some peculiarities in the structure of Stigmaria . Memoires of the Geological Survey of Great Britain 2 (2), 431–9.Google Scholar
Hunter, J. 2013. Sheffield's fossil stump. Friends of the Botanic Gardens Newsletter 40, 16–18.Google Scholar
Jongmans, W. 1936. Fossilium catalogus II: Plantae. Pars 21 Lycopodiales. ‘s-Gravenhage: V. W. Junk.Google Scholar
Kidston, R. 1891. On the fossil flora of the Staffordshire Coal Fields. Part II. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 36, 63–98.Google Scholar
Lawson, J. A. & Lawson, J. D. 1976. Geology Explained Around Glasgow and South-west Scotland, Including Arran. Newton Abbott: David & Charles.Google Scholar
Lindley, J. & Hutton, W. 1831–1837. The Fossil Flora of Great Britain; or, Figures and Descriptions of the Vegetable Remains Found in a Fossil State in this Country 1 (1833); 2 (1835); 3 (1837). London: John Ridgeway.Google Scholar
Lyell, C. 1843. On the upright fossil trees found at different levels in the coal strata of Cumberland, Nova Scotia. Proceedings of the Geological Society, London 4, 176–8.Google Scholar
Lyell, C. & Dawson, J. W. 1853. On the remains of a reptile (Dendrerpeton acadinnus, Wyman and Owen) and of a land shell discovered in the interior of an erect fossil tree in the coal measures of Nova Scotia. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London 9, 58–63.Google Scholar
Martin, W. 1809. Petrificata Derbiensia, or figures and descriptions of petrifactions collected in Derbyshire. Wigan: D. Lyon.Google Scholar
McGregor, M. & Walton, J. 1948. The story of the Fossil Grove at Glasgow Public Parks and Botanical Gardens, Glasgow. Glasgow: Glasgow DC Parks Department.Google Scholar
McGregor, M. & Walton, J. 1972. The Story of the Fossil Grove at Glasgow Public Parks and Botanical Gardens, Glasgow, revised edition. Glasgow: Glasgow DC Parks Department.Google Scholar
McLean, A.C. 1973. Excursion 1: Fossil Grove. In: Excursion Guide to the Geology of the Glasgow District (ed. Bluck, B.J.). Glasgow: Geological Society of Glasgow.Google Scholar
Petiver, J. 1704. Gazophylacii Naturae et Artis. II, 1–18. London: Christopher Bateman.Google Scholar
Potonié, H. 1899. Wechselzonenbildung der Sigillariaceen. Jahrbuch der Kgl. Preuss. Geol. Landesantalt. Vienna: Gilbert Anger.Google Scholar
Remy, W. & Remy, R. 1977. Die Floren des Erdaltertums. Glück, Essen: Bilder Verlag.Google Scholar
Rothwell, G. W. 1984. The apex of Stigmaria (Lycopsida), rooting organ of Lepidodendrales. American Journal of Botany 1971, 1031–34.Google Scholar
Scott, A. C. 1998. The legacy of Charles Lyell: advances in our knowledge of coal and coal-bearing strata. In Lyell: The Past is the Key to the Present (eds Blundell, J. & Scott, A. C.), pp. 243–60. Geological Society, London, Special Publication no. 143.Google Scholar
Sorby, H. C. 1875. On the remains of a fossil forest in the Coal-measures at Wadsley, near Sheffield. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London 31, 458–500.Google Scholar
Spicer, R. A. 1977. The pre-depositional formation of some leaf impressions. Palaeontology 20, 907–12.Google Scholar
Sternberg, K. M. von 1820. Versuch einer Geognostisch-botanischen Darstellung der Flora der Vorwelt, Volume 1, Part 1. Leipzig: F. Fleischer.Google Scholar
Stewart, W. S. & Rothwell, G. W. 1993. Paleobiology and the Evolution of Plants, 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, B. A. 2005. The palaeobotanical beginnings of geological conservation: with case studies from the USA, Canada and Great Britain. In History of Palaeobotany: Selected Essays (eds Bowden, A. J., Bureck, C. V. & Wilding, R.), pp. 95–110. Geological Society, London, Special Publication no. 24l.Google Scholar
Thomas, B. A. 2014. In situ stems: preservation states and growth habits of the Pennsylvanian (Carboniferous) calamitaleans based upon new studies of Calamites Sternberg 1820 in the Duckmantian at Brymbo, North Wales, UK. Palaeontology 57, 21–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, B. A. & Cleal, C. J. 2005. Geological conservation in the United Kingdom. Law, Science and Policy 2, 269–84.Google Scholar
Thomas, B. A. & Warren, L. M. 2008. Geological conservation in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In The History of Geoconservation (eds Burek, C. V. & Prosser, C. D.), pp. 17–30. Geological Society, Special Publication no. 300.Google Scholar
Volkmann, G. A. 1720. Silesia Subterranea, oder Schlesien, mit seinen unterirdischen Schatzen. Leipzig: M.G. Beissman.Google Scholar
Williamson, W. C. 1887. A monograph on the morphology and histology of Stigmaria ficoides . Palaeontographical Society (Monographs) 40, 1–62.Google Scholar
Williamson, W. C. 1896. Reminiscences of a Yorkshire Naturalist. London: George Redwave. Reprinted with additions 1985 (eds Watson, J. & Thomas, B. A.), University of Manchester.Google Scholar
Woodward, J. 1729. An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England. London: F. Fayeam.Google Scholar
Young, J. 1868. Note on the section of strata in the Gilmorehill Quarry and Boulder Clay on the site of the new University buildings. Transactions of the Geological Society, Glasgow III, 298.Google Scholar
Young, J. & Glen, D. C. 1888. Notes on a section of Carboniferous Strata containing erect stems of fossil trees and beds of intrusive dolerite in the old Whinstone Quarry Victoria Park. Transactions of the Geological Society, Glasgow VIII, 227–35.Google Scholar
Zee, van der, C., Roberts, D. R., Rancourt, D. G. & Slomp, C. P. 2003. Nanogoethite is the dominant reactive oxyhydroxide phase in lake and marine sediments. Geology 31, 993–6.Google Scholar