The Devonian landscape factory: plant–sediment interactions in the Old Red Sandstone of Svalbard and the rise of vegetation as a biogeomorphic agent
The Devonian landscape factory: plant–sediment interactions in the Old Red Sandstone of Svalbard and the rise of vegetation as a biogeomorphic agent
The Devonian Period was a crucial interval in the evolution of plants. During its 60 myr duration, it witnessed the successive evolution of roots, wood, trees and forests. In addition, many of the biogeomorphic phenomena that operate in modern terrestrial environments came online for the first time. The ‘Old Red Sandstone’ of Svalbard consists of a near-continuous Silurian to Late Devonian record of sedimentary environments colonized by land plants and provides a perfect natural laboratory to aid our understanding of the facies signatures and evolution of these phenomena. We describe and illustrate a catalogue of ‘Old Red Sandstone’ features that provide evidence for the stepwise appearance of novel plant–sediment interactions, including preserved plant material and rooting structures, early large woody debris accumulations, cannel coal deposits and the oldest known vegetation-induced sedimentary structures, in addition to vegetation-influenced motifs of elevated mudrock content and complex alluvial sand bodies. These characteristics are combined to reconstruct changes to non-marine environments in this Devonian ‘landscape factory’. In addition to tectonic and climate influences, plant evolution first served as a control on the construction of the sedimentary record during this period and has persisted as a fundamental influence on Earth surface processes and landforms ever since.
jgs2020-225
Davies, Neil S.
17622222-bea2-46b9-bda4-ca628d64a5c4
Berry, Christopher M.
5d08651a-8782-47da-8d5c-010806586ef9
Marshall, John E.A.
cba178e3-91aa-49a2-b2ce-4b8d9d870b06
Wellman, Charles H.
508e1b0c-bb06-4723-bd7c-bd889fa83791
Lindemann, Franz-josef
280ec71e-65b4-417c-8920-2a3e7493adae
September 2021
Davies, Neil S.
17622222-bea2-46b9-bda4-ca628d64a5c4
Berry, Christopher M.
5d08651a-8782-47da-8d5c-010806586ef9
Marshall, John E.A.
cba178e3-91aa-49a2-b2ce-4b8d9d870b06
Wellman, Charles H.
508e1b0c-bb06-4723-bd7c-bd889fa83791
Lindemann, Franz-josef
280ec71e-65b4-417c-8920-2a3e7493adae
Davies, Neil S., Berry, Christopher M., Marshall, John E.A., Wellman, Charles H. and Lindemann, Franz-josef
(2021)
The Devonian landscape factory: plant–sediment interactions in the Old Red Sandstone of Svalbard and the rise of vegetation as a biogeomorphic agent.
Journal of the Geological Society, 178 (5), , [jgs2020-225].
(doi:10.1144/jgs2020-225).
Abstract
The Devonian Period was a crucial interval in the evolution of plants. During its 60 myr duration, it witnessed the successive evolution of roots, wood, trees and forests. In addition, many of the biogeomorphic phenomena that operate in modern terrestrial environments came online for the first time. The ‘Old Red Sandstone’ of Svalbard consists of a near-continuous Silurian to Late Devonian record of sedimentary environments colonized by land plants and provides a perfect natural laboratory to aid our understanding of the facies signatures and evolution of these phenomena. We describe and illustrate a catalogue of ‘Old Red Sandstone’ features that provide evidence for the stepwise appearance of novel plant–sediment interactions, including preserved plant material and rooting structures, early large woody debris accumulations, cannel coal deposits and the oldest known vegetation-induced sedimentary structures, in addition to vegetation-influenced motifs of elevated mudrock content and complex alluvial sand bodies. These characteristics are combined to reconstruct changes to non-marine environments in this Devonian ‘landscape factory’. In addition to tectonic and climate influences, plant evolution first served as a control on the construction of the sedimentary record during this period and has persisted as a fundamental influence on Earth surface processes and landforms ever since.
Text
Marshall Devonian landscape
- Accepted Manuscript
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Published date: September 2021
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Acknowledgements The data presented here were primarily collected in two field seasons in the summers of 2016 and 2018. The 2018 field season was made possible by logistical support from Stig Henningsen and the use of his expedition vessel, MS Farm. Fieldwork was undertaken with the permission of the Governor of Svalbard and the field seasons had the Research in Svalbard identification numbers RIS-ID 4354 and RIS-ID 10970. Susan Marriott and Steffen Trümper are thanked for their constructive reviews of this paper.
Funding Information:
The 2016 field season was supported by a grant to CMB from the National Geographic Global Exploration Fund ? Europe (GEFNE167-16 Reconstructing the oldest fossil forests of woody trees in Svalbard). The 2018 field season was supported by a grant to CHW from National Geographic (CP-131R-17 The origins of tropical vegetation).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by The Geological Society of London. All rights reserved.
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Local EPrints ID: 449812
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/449812
ISSN: 0016-7649
PURE UUID: 6f3909fb-00a3-4157-83e3-0acd53796505
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Date deposited: 18 Jun 2021 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 06:39
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Author:
Neil S. Davies
Author:
Christopher M. Berry
Author:
Charles H. Wellman
Author:
Franz-josef Lindemann
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