Earth:Fish Bed Formation

From HandWiki
Fish Bed Formation
Stratigraphic range: Wenlock
~428–423 Ma
TypeFormation
Unit ofGlenbuck Group
Lithology
PrimarySandstone, conglomerate
OtherShale, siltstone
Location
Coordinates [ ⚑ ] : 55°30′N 3°54′W / 55.5°N 3.9°W / 55.5; -3.9
Paleocoordinates [ ⚑ ] 17°54′S 18°18′W / 17.9°S 18.3°W / -17.9; -18.3
RegionSouth Lanarkshire
Lua error in Module:Location_map/multi at line 27: Unable to find the specified location map definition: "Module:Location map/data/Scotland" does not exist.

The Fish Bed Formation is a geologic formation in Scotland, United Kingdom . The fluvial to lacustrine sandstones, shales, siltstones and conglomerates preserve flora, arthropods, among which eurypterids, invertebrates and early fish fossils dating back to the Wenlock epoch of the Silurian period.[1]

Description

Paleogeography of the Early Silurian, 435 Ma

The fish beds are contained within red-bed sequences comprising conglomerates, sandstones and siltstones that exhibit sedimentological features suggestive of deposition in terrestrial–fluviatile and lacustrine environments (Bluck 2002). The sporomorph assemblage from the Fish Bed Formation indicates that it is entirely non-marine and was most likely deposited in a relatively permanent lacustrine setting (Wellman and Richardson 1993).[2]

The formation, at the time part of Avalonia, was deposited during the Grampian orogeny.

Fossil content

The Fish Bed Formation has provided fossils of:[1]

Fish


Arthropods

  • Casiogrammus ichthyeros[4]

Eurypterids


Invertebrates

Gastropods

Flora

See also

  • List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Scotland

References

Bibliography

  • Wilson, H. M. 2005. Zosterogrammida, a new order of millipedes from the middle Silurian of Scotland and the upper Carboniferous of Euramerica. Palaeontology 48. 1101–1110.
  • Plotnick, R. E. 1999. Habitat of Llandoverian-Lochkovian eurypterids, 106–136. in A. J. Boucot, J. D. Lawson (eds.), Paleocommunities - a case study from the Silurian and Lower Devonian.