Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-22T00:53:19.657Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Shrimp-bearing sedimentary successions in the Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian) Cementstone and Oil Shale Groups of northern Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

J. M. L. Cater ,
D. E. G. Briggs  and
E. N. K. Clarkson
J. M. L. Cater
Affiliation:
J. M. L. Cater, Earth Sciences and Resources Institute, University of Bristol, 86 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ, U.K.
D. E. G. Briggs
Affiliation:
D. E. G. Briggs, Department of Geology, University of Bristol, Queen's Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ, U.K.
E. N. K. Clarkson
Affiliation:
E. N. K. Clarkson, Grant Institute of Geology, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JW, Scotland, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Lower Carboniferous of northern Britain is dominated by non-marine sequences which yield fish and crustacean faunas. These are rarely preserved and occur in thin layers. The sedimentology of twelve shrimp-bearing localities is described, in most cases for the first time, to shed light upon the habitats occupied by eumalacostracan crustaceans during their early Carboniferous adaptive radiation. Nearly all these sequences were deposited in coastal delta-plain settings or in interdistributary bays, environments of transitional salinity. The Gullane shrimp bed, however, was laid down in a thermally stratified non-marine lake, and its sole crustacean representative, Tealliocaris, seems to have been generally confined to waters of low salinity. None of the shrimp-beds was deposited in a fully marine environment, though most show evidence of at least some marine influence. Crustacean diversity increases with salinity, and the lack of shrimps in fully marine sediments is largely due to taphonomic factors rather than an environmental control.

Keywords

Carboniferouscrustaceanenvironmentsalinity.
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 80 , Issue 1 , 1989 , pp. 5 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1989

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

Aldridge, R. J., Briggs, D. E. G., Clarkson, E. N. K. & Smith, M. P. 1986. The affinities of conodonts—new evidence from the Carboniferous of Edinburgh, Scotland. LETHAIA 19, 279–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allison, P. A. 1988a. The decay and mineralization of proteinaceous macrofossils. PALEOBIOLOGY 14, 139–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allison, P. A. 1988b. Konservat-Lagerstätten: cause and classification. PALEOBIOLOGY (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allison, P. A. 1988c. Taphonomy of the Eocene London clay biota. PALAEONTOLOGY (in press).Google Scholar
Anderton, R. 1985. Sedimentology of the Dinantian of Foulden, Berwickshire, Scotland. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH EARTH SCI 76, 7–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balson, P. S. 1980. The origin and evolution of Tertiary phosphorites from eastern England. J GEOL SOC LONDON 137, 723–729.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bathurst, R. G. C. 1975. Carbonate Sediments and their Diagenesis, 2nd edn. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Belt, E. S., Freshney, E. C. & Read, W. A. 1967. Sedimentology of the Carboniferous cementstone facies, British Isles and eastern Canada. J GEOL 75, 711–721.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benmore, R. A., Coleman, M. L. & McArthur, J. M. 1983. Origin of sedimentary francolite from its sulphur and carbon isotope composition. NATURE 302, 516–518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, W. H., 1931. Origin and microfossils of the oil shale of the Green River Formation of Colorado and Utah. U.S. GEOL SURV PROF PAP 168.Google Scholar
Briggs, D. E. G. & Clarkson, E. N. K. 1983. The Lower Carboniferous Granton “shrimp-bed”, Edinburgh. In Briggs, D. E. G. & Lane, P. D. (eds) Trilobites and other arthropods: papers in honour of Professor H. B. Whittington, F.R.S. SPEC PAP PALAEONTOL 30, 161–178.Google Scholar
Briggs, D. E. G. & Clarkson, E. N. K. 1985a. Malacostracan Crustacea from the Dinantian of Foulden, Berwickshire, Scotland. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH: EARTH SCI 76, 35–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Briggs, D. E. G. & Clarkson, E. N. K. 1985b. The Lower Carboniferous shrimp Tealliocaris from Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH EARTH SCI 76, 173–201.Google Scholar
Briggs, D. E. G. & Clarkson, E. N. K. 1987a. An enigmatic chordate from the Lower Carboniferous Granton “shrimp-bed” of the Edinburgh district, Scotland. LETHAIA 20, 107–115.Google Scholar
Briggs, D. E. G. & Clarkson, E. N. K. 1987b. The first tomopterid, a polychaete from the Carboniferous of Scotland. LETHAIA 20, 257–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Briggs, D. E. G., Clarkson, E. N. K. & Aldridge, R. J. 1983. The conodont animal. LETHAIA 16, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cater, J. M. L. 1987. Sedimentology of part of the Lower Oil-Shale Group (Dinantian) sequence at Granton, including the Granton “shrimp-bed”. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH EARTH SCI 78, 29–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, M. L. 1985. Geochemistry of diagenetic non-silicate minerals: kinetic considerations. PHILOS TRANS R SOC LONDON A315, 39–56.Google Scholar
Day, J. B. W. 1970. Geology of the country around Newcastle. MEM GEOL SURV U.K.Google Scholar
Etheridge, R. 1877. On the occurrence of a macrurous decapod (Anthrapalaemon? woodwardi, sp. nov.) in the Red Sandstone, or lowest group of the Carboniferous formation in the south-east of Scotland. Q J GEOL SOC LONDON 33, 863–878.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gokcen, S. L. & Kelling, G. 1985. Oligocene storm deposits of the Zara-Hafik region (Sivas, Central Turkey): evolution from storm-influenced shelf to evaporitic basin. GEOL RUNDSCH 74, 139–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gulbrandsen, R. A. 1969. Physical and chemical factors in the formation of marine apatite. ECON GEOL 64, 365–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haszeldine, R. S. 1984. Muddy deltas in freshwater lakes, and tectonism in the Upper Carboniferous Coalfield in NE England. SEDIMENTOLOGY 31, 811–822.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hesselbo, S. P. & Trewin, N. H. 1984. Deposition, diagenesis and structures of the Cheese Bay Shrimp Bed, Lower Carboniferous, East Lothian. SCOTT J GEOL 20, 281–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kidston, R. 1882 Report on Fossil Plants collected by the Geological Survey of Scotland in Eskdale and Liddesdale. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 30, 531–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeder, M. R. 1974. Lower Border Group (Tournaisian) fluvio-deltaic sedimentation and palaeogeography of the Northumberland basin. PROC YORKS GEOL SOC 40, 129–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martill, D. M. 1988. Preservation of fish in the Cretaceous Santana formation of Brazil. PALAEONTOLOGY 31, 1–18.Google Scholar
Peach, B. N. 1882. On some new Crustacea from the Lower Carboniferous rocks of Eskdale and Liddesdale. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 30, 73–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peach, B. N. 1883. Further researches among the Crustacea and Arachnida of the Carboniferous rocks of the Scottish border. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 30, 511–529.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peach, B. N. 1908. A monograph of the higher Crustacea of the Carboniferous rocks of Scotland. MEM GEOL SURV GB PALAEONTOL.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peach, B. N. & Home, J. 1903. The Canonbie coalfield: its geological structure and relations to the Carboniferous rocks of the north of England and central Scotland. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 40, 835–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheiber, J. 1986. The possible role of benthic microbial mats during the formation of carbonaceous shales in shallow mid-Proterozoic basins. SEDIMENTOLOGY 33, 521–536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schram, F. R. 1979. British Carboniferous Malacostraca. FIELDIANA GEOL 40, 1–129.Google Scholar
Schram, F. R. 1981. Late Paleozoic crustacean communities. J PALEONTOL 55, 126–137.Google Scholar
Schram, F. R. 1983. Lower Carboniferous biota of Glencartholm, Eskdale, Dumfriesshire. SCOTT J GEOL 19, 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, T. E. 1967. A preliminary study of sandstone sedimentation in the Carboniferous of Berwickshire. SCOTT J GEOL 3, 282–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tait, D. 1925. Notice of a shrimp-bearing limestone in the Calciferous Sandstone Series at Granton, near Edinburgh. TRANS EDINBURGH GEOL SOC 11, 131–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Traquair, R. H. 1881. Report on fossil fishes collected by the Geological Survey of Scotland in Eskdale and Liddesdale. Part 1: Ganoidei. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 30, 15–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, S. P. & Rolfe, W. D. I. 1985. Introduction to the palaeontology of the Dinantian of Foulden, Berwickshire. Scotland. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH EARTH SCI 76, 1–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar