Rhynie cherts (Tait collection) (Devonian of the United Kingdom)

Where: Scotland, United Kingdom (57.3° N, 2.9° W: paleocoordinates 22.4° S, 6.5° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Dryden Flags Formation, Pragian (410.8 - 407.6 Ma)

• The Rhynie and Windyfield cherts found at Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, both occurring in the Dryden Flags Formation (Rice et al. 2002), represent the surface expression of a metaliferous hydrothermal system that was active in the Rhynie area during the early Devonian (Pragian: Rice et al. 1995, 2002).

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: pond; lithified, stromatolitic, black, blue chert

• The background setting was an alluvial plain set in a narrow half-graben basin with mainly overbank deposition on floodplains and in ephemeral lakes, with occasional sheetflood events sourced from the axial river system and basin margins (Trewin 1994, 2001). The cherts were deposited as subaerial siliceous sinters, although some beds represent the silicified contents of freshwater pools (Anderson & Trewin 2003; Trewin et al. 2003).
• Bluish black,microbially laminated chert and internally massive nodular chert, set within a matrix of silicified sandstone (Fig. 2). Internally, the nodular chert displays filamentous, coprolitic and clotted microscopic textures (sensu Anderson & Trewin 2003) and a mixed terrestrial and freshwater biota, indicating silicification of the organic contents of a small freshwater pool.

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils, microfossils

Preservation: permineralized, original carbon, replaced with silica

Collected by Tait in 1912

Collection methods: core, quarrying, peel or thin section,

• Repository: Hunterian Museum (some specimens at Geological Collections of the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery - BRSGM). Material prepared by Walter Hemingway.

Primary reference: R. Kidston and W. H. Lang. 1917. On Old Red Sandstone plants showing structure, from the Rhynie Chert Bed, Aberdeenshire. Part I. Rhynia gwynne-vaughanii, Kidston and Lang. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 51:761-784 [P. Gensel/M. Kotyk]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 10721: authorized by Pat Gensel, entered by Michele Kotyk on 18.06.2001, edited by Matthew Clapham

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

unclassified
  -
Rhyniococcus uniformis n. gen. n. sp.3
cyanobacteria
Mackiella rotundata n. gen. n. sp.3
chlorophyta
Rhynchertia punctata n. gen. n. sp.3
chlorophyta
Lyonophyton rhyniensis n. gen. n. sp.11
Trichopherophyton teuchansii
Lyon & Edwards, 1991
Sclerocystis sp.
Sharma & Tripathie
Winfrenatia sp. n. gen.
Taylor, Hass & Kerp, lichen
Paleoblastocladia millerii n. gen. n. sp.
Remy, Taylor & Hass
Arachnida
 Trigonotarbida - Palaeocharinidae
Palaeocharinus kidstoni n. sp.4 Hirst 1923
Slide 175 B2
Branchiopoda
 Anostraca -
Lepidocaris rhyniensis12 Scourfield 1926 branchiopod
Branchiopoda
Myriapoda
 Scutigeromorpha - Crussolidae
Crussolum sp. Shear et al. 1998 centipede
scutigeromorph centipede
Devonopilio hutchinsoni
  -
Devonopilio hutchinsoni n. gen. n. sp.13
Devonopilio hutchinsoni n. gen. n. sp.13 Tihelka et al. 2020
BRSGM slide Db7365
Palaeomyces
  -
Myxophyceae
  -
Kidstoniella fritschii n. gen. n. sp.1, Langiella scourfieldii n. gen. n. sp.1
Kidstoniella fritschii n. gen. n. sp.1
cyanobacteria
Langiella scourfieldii n. gen. n. sp.1
cyanobacteria
Rhyniella vermiformis
  -
Rhyniella vermiformis n. gen. n. sp.1
Rhyniella vermiformis n. gen. n. sp.1 Croft and George 1959
cyanobacteria
Archaeothrix
  -
Archaeothrix contexta n. sp.7
cyanobacteria
Archaeothrix oscillatoriformis
  -
Archaeothrix oscillatoriformis n. sp.7 Kidston and Lang 1921
cyanobacteria
Prototaxites
  -
Prototaxites taitii
nematophyte
Asteroxylon
  -
Asteroxylon mackei6
Kidston & Lang, 1920b
Nothia aphylla
  -
Nothia aphylla Lyon 1964
CHANGE!
Nematophyton
  -
Nematophyton taitii
Kidston & Lang 1921b
Hornea lignieri
  -
"Hornea lignieri" = Horneophyton lignieri5
"Hornea lignieri" = Horneophyton lignieri5 Kidston and Lang 1920
Kidston & Lang 1920a, El-Saadawy & Lacey 1979b
Psilophytopsida
 Psilophytales -
Rhynia gwynnevaughanii n. gen. n. sp.
Kidston & Lang 1920a; D. S. Edwards 1986
Rhynia major5
Kidston & Lang, 1920) renamed by Edwards 1986
Nematoplexus
  -
Nematoplexus rhyniense n. sp.8
nematophyte
Nematoplexus rhyniensis
  -
Nematoplexus rhyniensis n. sp. Lyon 1962
Lyon, 1962
 Charales - Characeae
Palaeonitella sp. Pia 1927
macro-alga
Palaeonitella cranii n. sp.7 Kidston and Long 1921
algae