Windyfield farm, Rhynie (Devonian of the United Kingdom)

Where: Scotland, United Kingdom (57.3° N, 2.8° 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). The Windyfield chert is slightly higher in the stratigraphic succession than the latter and comprises laterally discontinuous lenticular, pod-like bodies of chert interbedded with hydrothermally altered shales and sandstones.

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). The Windyfield chert represents an area of deposition proximal to hot spring activity given the presence of a geyser vent rim, a high degree of chert brecciation and hydrothermal alteration of the interbedded sediments.
• 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: mesofossils, microfossils

Preservation: permineralized, replaced with silica

Collected in 1997

Collection methods: peel or thin section,

• Repository: Type and Figured collections of the Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology, University of Aberdeen, UK (AUGD).

Primary reference: L. I. Anderson and N. H. Trewin. 2003. An Early Devonian arthropod fauna from the Windyfield Cherts, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Palaeontology 46:467-509 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 153492: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 22.12.2013

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Myriapoda
 Scutigeromorpha - Crussolidae
Crussolum sp.
Crussolum sp. Shear et al. 1998 centipede
AUGD 12306-12312
Euthycarcinoidea
 Euthycarcinida - Kottixerxidae
Heterocrania rhyniensis
Heterocrania rhyniensis Hirst and Maulik 1926
AUGD 12322-12327
Rhynimonstrum dunlopi
  -
Rhynimonstrum dunlopi n. gen. n. sp.
Rhynimonstrum dunlopi n. gen. n. sp. Anderson and Trewin 2003
AUGD 12316, 12317, 12319-12321
Arachnida
 Trigonotarbida - Palaeocharinidae
Palaeocharinus tuberculatus n. sp.
Palaeocharinus tuberculatus n. sp. Fayers et al. 2005
AUGD12409/12410, 12411/12412, 12413
Hexapoda
  -
Leverhulmia mariae n. gen. n. sp.
Leverhulmia mariae n. gen. n. sp. Anderson and Trewin 2003
AUGD 12305