Tournaisian (early carboniferous) palynology of the West Mains Farm Borehole, UK

Reeves, Emma J (2016) Tournaisian (early carboniferous) palynology of the West Mains Farm Borehole, UK. In IPC IOP Symposium: New frontiers and classic studies in Palaeozoic palynology and palynostratigraphy.

Abstract

As part of the study of the tetrapod world in the Scottish Borders during the earliest Carboniferous, a fully cored 500 m science borehole was drilled through most of the Tournaisian Ballagan Formation. Both miospores and megaspores have been studied throughout the section and give new insight into the recovery of the terrestrial vegetation following the End Devonian Mass Extinction event. The persistent assemblage throughout the section is from the CM spore biozone, as typified by Schopfites claviger and Auroraspora macra. However, quantitative counts of the miospores shows that other spores became dominant and tell us much about how terrestrial vegetation was re-established. These spores include Anapiculatisporites delicatus (from the creeping lycopod Oxroadia) and Prolycospora claytonii that is presumed to come from an arborescent lycopod. These lycopods successively recolonised the Ballagan environment – a pattern that is mirrored in the megaspore distribution. The quantitative counts also reveal a changing pattern of Schopfites/Auroraspora that represent drier climatic conditions, whereas the lycopods support a progressively more humid environment. These changes in the dominant spore assemblage are also matched by a changing environment as shown by the distribution of key facies, such as different types of palaeosol and cementstones

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