Late Silurian (Ludlow–Přídolí) microfossils and sedimentation in the Welsh Basin near Clun, Shropshire

✍ Scribed by C. Giles Miller; Stuart J. E. Sutherland; Ken J. Dorning

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 565 KB
• Volume: 32
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0072-1050
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1034(199703)32:1<69::aid-gj734>3.0.co;2-q

✦ Synopsis

The base of the Clun Forest Formation at Clun, Shropshire, has previously been taken to correlate with the base of the Downton Castle Sandstone Formation (PrÏ õÂ dolõÂ Series, upper Silurian) on the basis of brachiopod, bivalve, gastropod and ostracod faunas. The detailed distribution of microfossils (acritarchs, chitinozoans, conodonts and ostracods) is documented at Nantyrhynau Quarry, Clun, Shropshire, to test this correlation. Three new species of chitinozoans, Eisenackitina clunensis, Eisenackitina kerria and Angochitina paucispinosa, are described from the quarry. Macrofossil and ostracod distributions suggest that the correlation is correct. However, a typical Ludlow acritarch ¯ora is present throughout the section and suggests that the basal part of the Clun Forest Formation is Ludlow in age. The mixture of characteristic Ludlow and PrÏ õÂ dolõÂ microfossils at Nantyrhynau Quarry may be the result of diering environmental conditions between the Ludlow (shelf) and Clun (basinal) areas at this time. Alternatively, the strata exposed at Nantyrhynau Quarry may represent a period towards the end of the Ludlow Series when there are no strata represented in corresponding shelf sections due to non-deposition or erosion.