A new look at an old unconformity: field and geochemical data from James Hutton's original unconformity on the Isle of Arran, Scotland

Young, Grant M.; Caldwell, W. G. E.

doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2009.03.004

Cited by 14 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…If these can be dated palynologically they have the potential to provide further links to the Famennian palaeoclimate record. There are further thick calcretes in the western part of the Midland Valley, including two on Arran (Young & Caldwell 2009; Jutras et al . 2011), which have a complex age relationship that now requires reinterpretation following reassignment of the Kinnesswood Formation to the Famennian.…”

Section: Whiteadder Water Prestonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reinterpreting the age of the uppermost ‘Old Red Sandstone' and Early Carboniferous in Scotland

Marshall¹,

Reeves²,

Bennett

et al. 2018

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Socie

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In Scotland, the base of the Ballagan Formation has traditionally been placed at the first grey mudstone within a contiguous Late Devonian to Carboniferous succession. This convention places the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary within the Old Red Sandstone (ORS) Kinnesswood Formation. The consequences of this placement are that tetrapods from the Ballagan Formation were dated as late Tournaisian in age and that the ranges of typically Devonian fish found in the Kinnesswood Formation continued into the Carboniferous. The Pease Bay specimen of the fish Remigolepis is from the Kinnesswood Formation. Comparisons with its range in Greenland, calibrated against spores, show it was Famennian in age. Detailed palynological sampling at Burnmouth from the base of the Ballagan Formation proves that the early Tournaisian spore zones (VI and HD plus Cl 1) are present. The Schopfites species that occurs through most of the succession is Schopfites delicatus rather than Schopfites claviger. The latter species defines the late Tournaisian CM spore zone. The first spore assemblage that has been found in Upper ‘ORS' strata underlying the Ballagan Formation (Preston, Whiteadder Water), contains Retispora lepidophyta and is from the early latest Famennian LL spore zone. The spore samples are interbedded with volcaniclastic debris, which shows that the Kelso Volcanic Formation is, in part, early latest Famennian in age. These findings demonstrate that the Ballagan Formation includes most of the Tournaisian with the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary positioned close to the top of the Kinnesswood Formation. The Stage 6 calcrete at Pease Bay can be correlated to the equivalent section at Carham, showing that it represents a time gap equivalent to the latest Famennian glaciation(s). Importantly, some of the recently described Ballagan Formation tetrapods are older than previously dated and now fill the key early part of Romer's Gap.

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Section: Whiteadder Water Prestonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reinterpreting the age of the uppermost ‘Old Red Sandstone' and Early Carboniferous in Scotland

Marshall¹,

Reeves²,

Bennett

et al. 2018

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Socie

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“…Secondary minerals may persist for long periods if sufficiently abundant or insoluble. Hematite-stained calcrete horizons define exhumed and cross-sectioned palaeolandscapes of early Palaeozoic age (>350 Ma) on the island of Arran, Scotland (Friend et al , 1970; Young and Caldwell, 2009). Palaeomagnetic data indicate a similar age for some Australian regolith environments (Pillans et al ., 2004), while other data shows that pisolitic and fragmental duricrust have (U–Th)/He ages of 5.8–1.3 Ma (Wells et al ., 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mineral extinction

Mills

Christy

2019

MinMag

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Abstract‘Mineral evolution’ has attracted much attention in the last decade as a counterpart of the long-established biological concept, but is there a corresponding ‘mineral extinction’? We present new geochronological data from uranium-bearing secondary minerals and show that they are relatively recent, irrespective of the age of their primary uranium sources. The secondary species that make up much of the diversity of minerals appear to be ephemeral, and many may have vanished from the geological record without trace. Nevertheless, an ‘extinct’ mineral species can recur when physiochemical conditions are appropriate. This reversibility of ‘extinction’ highlights the limitations of the ‘evolution’ analogy. Mineral occurrence may be time-dependent but does not show the unique contingency between precursor and successor species that is characteristic of biological evolution.

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“…Tandon & Friend, 1989). At Hutton's unconformity near Lochranza (Figs 1, 2), similar beds are underlain by a massive carbonate-rich unit interpreted by Jutras, Young & Caldwell (2011) as a phreatic caliche hardpan developed on a veneer of UORS and its Dalradian substrate (see also Anderson, 1947; Young & Caldwell, 2009).…”

Section: The Corrie Areamentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The only exception to this is the presence of a small and thin outlier of Lower Carboniferous and Devonian(?) sedimentary rocks at Hutton's unconformity near Lochranza near the northern tip of Arran (Young & Caldwell, 2009; Jutras, Young & Caldwell, 2011). These thin successions and their unconformable relationships suggest that the area west and northwest of the Corloch Fault was uplifted rather than downthrown during Carboniferous times.…”

Section: Variations In Thickness and Stratigraphy In Adjacent Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Northeast Arran Trough, the Corrie conundrum and the Highland Boundary Fault in the Firth of Clyde, SW Scotland

Young¹,

Caldwell²

2011

Geol. Mag.

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Two strikingly different successions of Lower Carboniferous (mainly Tournaisian) sedimentary rocks are closely juxtaposed on the NE coast of the island of Arran, SW Scotland. Near the village of Corrie a thin succession (∼ 17 m) of Tournaisian rocks is preserved, whereas in the neighbouring Fallen Rocks-Laggan area, correlative rocks are > 300 m in thickness. These contrasting successions are separated by the Laggan Fault, which is a landward extension of the submarine Brodick Bay Fault, marking the SW boundary of the Northeast Arran Trough. The contrasting thickness and stratigraphy of the two sequences of sedimentary rocks result from juxtaposition of shoulder and trough deposits along the Laggan-Brodick Bay Fault. Although originally a normal, basin-defining fault, later sinistral movements caused significant displacement of the NE Arran Trough, together with a segment of the Highland Boundary Fault, from their original positions. The most northerly occurrence of the Highland Boundary Fault on Arran is thought to be the truncated northern end of the Corloch Fault. To the SW the surface trace of the Highland Boundary Fault is largely obscured by a Palaeogene granite body but it is present on the west side of the island, near Dougrie. The Highland Boundary Fault appears to be displaced to the south, in Kilbrannan Sound, by a series of NW-trending sinistral transcurrent faults. Thus the 'anomalous' trend of the Highland Boundary Fault and narrowing of the Midland Valley of Scotland in the Firth of Clyde area may be explained by later fault movements and intrusion of the Palaeogene North Arran Granite Pluton.

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A new look at an old unconformity: field and geochemical data from James Hutton's original unconformity on the Isle of Arran, Scotland

Cited by 14 publications

References 30 publications

Reinterpreting the age of the uppermost ‘Old Red Sandstone' and Early Carboniferous in Scotland

Reinterpreting the age of the uppermost ‘Old Red Sandstone' and Early Carboniferous in Scotland

Mineral extinction

The Northeast Arran Trough, the Corrie conundrum and the Highland Boundary Fault in the Firth of Clyde, SW Scotland

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