ALBERT

Description: In December 1903, Williams Speirs Bruce, leader of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, arrived in Buenos Aires and contacted Francisco Moreno, director of the Museo de La Plata to request his assistance. Bruce asked Moreno to be an intermediary with the Argentine government and to facilitate Bruce's wish for Argentina to take over the meteorological station that the Scottish expedition had established on Laurie Island (South Orkney Islands). Moreno was please to provide the necessary assistance and was instrumental in Bruce achieving his ambition. As a gesture of appreciation, before leaving Buenos Aires Bruce presented a small collection of Laurie Island rock specimens to Moreno as a donation to the Museo de La Plata. This donation initiated the museum's Antarctic collection.

Description: A volcanogenic clay bed (tonstein) has been identified in the Balcomie Beds of the Inverclyde Group near Crail, east Fife. Its chemical composition suggests an undersaturated alkaline magma source. This horizon may be contemporaneous with the early Carboniferous Garleton Hills trachytic lavas of East Lothian (346Ma). This would make it the earliest expression of Carboniferous volcanism preserved in Fife, and also the earliest occurrence of a tonstein in Fife.

Description: Abrasion and plucking are important subglacial erosional processes which create different landforms. This study shows that properties of bedrock control subglacial erosion and bedrock morphology. Softer and less jointed bedrock favours abrasion, while denser jointed bedrock and harder bedrock do not. Field work for this study was done near Drumnadrochit in NE Scotland, where the lithology, geology and morphology of rôches moutonnées and crag-and-tails were examined. In this area, the rôches moutonnées, which have an abraded stoss side, are only shaped out of a relatively soft, biotite rich gneiss, with not much jointing. The crag-and-tails have more densely jointed stoss sides and are shaped out of serpentinite or a harder, more felsic gneiss. Foliation appears not to influence subglacial erosion, since the foliation in rôches moutonnées and crag-and-tails in the study area is similar.Thematic collection: This article is part of the Early Career Research collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research

Description: The Middle Devonian lacustrine sediments of Orkney, off the northeast Scottish mainland, are composed largely of the Lower and Upper Stromness Formations and overlying Rousay Formation. These three formations have been subdivided and defined by vertebrate biostratigraphic biozones with recent division of the Rousay Formation into three further units based on characteristic fish fossils. The division of the Rousay Formation has enabled a map to be constructed of the solid geology of the island of Westray, Orkney, based on fish identification, detailed logging of sedimentary cycles throughout the Rousay succession, parameters of divisional boundaries, and a survey of faults marking sinistral transtensional movement parallel to the Great Glen Fault. Post-Carboniferous shortening and basin inversion led to uplift, folding and reactivation of normal faults as reverse faults, to form a positive strike-slip flower structure in Westray. A suite of Permian igneous dykes intruded across Orkney include three minor offshoots in Westray. The resulting map is the first to make use of biostratigraphic units within the Rousay Flagstone which are now regarded as Members.

Description: The informative paper by Carrasquero (2021) reveals the personal contribution made by Francisco Moreno to the success of the 1902-04 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (SNAE) during the time it spent in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was a crucial intervention, and for the hospitality and generous assistance that Moreno arranged for the expedition's leader, William Speirs Bruce (Fig. 1), the presentation of a few rock specimens might seem scant reward, although as an additional mark of respect Bruce named Point Moreno on the expedition's published map of Laurie Island (Brown et al. 1906, p. 145): the name is still valid – 60° 44’ S, 44° 41’ W. Bruce would have been deeply satisfied by the knowledge that his donation of specimens from the South Orkney Islands had initiated the development of an Antarctic collection at the Museo de La Plata. His scientific outlook was always international and collaborative.

Description: The Mississippian succession of Ayrshire, south-west Scotland, is rich in fossil crinoids, albeit mainly preserved as fragments. Trearne Quarry is exceptional in yielding moderately common crinoid cups and thecae from certain horizons. To the two nominal taxa that have been documented hitherto, we add a further seven, all cladids with one exception. These species all come from the Blackhall Limestone of the Lower Limestone Formation (Visean, Mississippian). Nominal crinoid species identified from Trearne Quarry include Cladida: Rhabdocrinus scotocarbonarius (Wright); Ureocrinus bockschii (Geinitz); Ureocrinus globulus (de Koninck); Tyrieocrinus laxus Wright; Fifeocrinus tielensis (Wright); Hydreionocrinus formosus Wright; Parazeacrinites konincki (Bather); and Phanocrinus ardrossensis (Wright): and Diplobathrida, Camerata: Cribanocrinus baccatus (Wright). Species have distributions limited to one or a few mudrock beds. Identifiable crinoids are uncommon in massive, coral-rich reefal facies.

Description: Two newly-discovered specimens of the fish locomotion trace Undichna (U. britannica and Undichna isp.), are described from the Middle Devonian Achanarras Limestone Member (Caithness Flagstone Group, NE Scotland). Fish trace fossils have not previously been reported from the Achanarras Limestone Member, despite decades of study of the unit as a key locality for fish body fossils. The traces comprise discontinuous sinusoidal grooves; one showing multiple parallel incisions, created by the fins of an acanthodian fish swimming close to the substrate. The apparent absence of trace fossils attributable to infaunal or epifaunal benthic organisms suggests that the sediment at the bottom of the lake was relatively inhospitable. The low ichnodiversity of the Achanarras Limestone Member is likely due to low oxygen levels in the depositional environment.Thematic collection: This article is part of the Early Career Research collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research

Description: We greatly appreciate Dr Morton's interest in our paper and his appreciative comments. The features at Beinn na Leac are, in our opinion, of particular interest to geologists interested in the pattern of deglaciation and neotectonics in this part of western Scotland. The location is unique in Scotland in the magnitude of Younger Dryas/Holocene fault dislocation. We respond to Dr Morton's comments as follows:

Description: Local seismic and borehole-based mapping of the Carboniferous Pennine Coal Measures and Warwickshire Group successions in the Canonbie Coalfield (SW Scotland) provides evidence of repeated episodes of positive inversion, syn-depositional folding and unconformities. A Duckmantian (Westphalian B) episode of NE–SW transpression is recognized, based on onlapping seismic reflector geometries against NE-trending positive inversion structures and contemporaneous NNE-trending syn-depositional growth folding. The basin history thus revealed at Canonbie is at variance with generally accepted models in neighbouring northern England that imply subsidence was due to post-rift thermal subsidence during late Carboniferous times. A late Westphalian–Stephanian unconformity recognized within the Warwickshire Group succession signifies NW–SE, c. 10% local basin shortening during a time of major shortening in the late Carboniferous Variscan foreland, contradicting suggestions that maximum Variscan shortening had negligible impact on Carboniferous basins in northern Britain. Local inversion structures appear to have strongly influenced local late Westphalian–Stephanian depocentres. In this respect, the Variscan foreland at Canonbie may have resembled a ‘broken’ foreland system. Variations in crustal rheology, fault strength and orientation, and mid-crustal detachments are suggested to have played important roles in determining strain localization and the nature of Westphalian–Stephanian depocentres in the Canonbie Coalfield.

Description: The paucity of ammonite recovery from North Sea wells has meant that offshore correlations are largely dependent upon microfossil assemblages. While rare, ammonites have been found in a few boreholes during the course of oil exploration activities. The occurrence of ammonites in ten wells in the UK sector of the Viking Graben and the Moray Firth rift arms provides a new basis by which to demonstrate that there was a distinct separation between Arctic and sub-Mediterranean species that lasted from Bajocian to Early Callovian times. Five wells contain ‘Boreal Bathonian' ammonites from the Arctic Realm. Arctocephalites from the Boreal Arcticus Zone (uppermost Bajocian) correlates basinal partly anoxic mudstones in the Beryl Embayment (9/13b) with both bioturbated siltstones in the southern Viking Graben (9/10b), and calcareous mudstones in the East Shetland Basin (211/21). Upper Bajocian Pompeckji Zone Cranocephalites and younger Arcticoceras from Lower to Middle Bathonian Greenlandicus, Ishmae and Cranocephaloide zones are confined to 211/21 demonstrating that the marine transgression began earlier and lasted longer. A Cadoceras from well 3/3-8 dates to the Lower Callovian Koenigi and Calloviense zones during which renewed extensional faulting re-established ammonite migration routes between the Boreal and sub-Mediterranean realms. A Middle Oxfordian (Densiplicatum Zone) Perisphinctes from well 22/5b-8 confirms an episode of northward migration from the sub-Mediterranean into the Boreal Realm. Upper Oxfordian (Regulare to Rosenkantzi zones) Amoeboceras in wells 211/21-1 and 9/13b-19 are close to Upper Bajocian/Lower Bathonian faunas, suggesting an absence of Upper Bathonian to Middle Oxfordian strata as a result of rift-related footwall uplift and erosion. In four wells from Block 15/21 (-4, -11, -12A and -25) Lower Kimmeridgian ammonites have been documented, including Rasenia, Amoebites, Aulacostephanoides and Zenostephanoides, from the Baylei (?), Cymodoce, Mutabilis and Eudoxus zones, the latter (confirmed at well 13/28b-8) dating a widespread regional marine flooding surface in the Inner Moray Firth.Supplementary material: The detailed measurements of dimensions of the ammonites described are available at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5087313

Description: I am pleased to learn that James Forbes’ notes from Jameson's lecture course survive at the University of St Andrews and thank John Gordon for bringing their existence to general notice. Cunningham (1990) provides a good summary and the timing of Forbes’ attendance is particularly useful. As a student in the 1827–28 session, he closely followed Charles Darwin who had attended Jameson's course in 1826–27, and so Forbes’ account supports Darwin's autobiographical recollections of Jameson's Neptunist interpretation of Edinburgh's Salisbury Crags sill. Thereafter, Jameson's acceptance of Plutonist ideas must have been relatively abrupt, with a turning point in 1829 followed by the revised interpretations presented to the students from 1830 onwards.

Description: In his illuminating review of the progress of Robert Jameson's conversion from Neptunism (promoted by Abraham Werner) to Plutonism (developed from the ideas of James Hutton), Stone (2020) drew extensively on the extant lecture notes taken by some of Jameson's students between about 1820 and 1833. Mention was made in passing of Jameson's role as an early proponent of Scottish glaciation, but the secondary literature sources cited have their primary origin in the notes of another of Jameson's students, James David Forbes (1809–1868), which are now held in the Special Collections of the University of St Andrews Library but were not utilised by Stone. James Forbes – not to be confused with the eminent marine biologist, Edward Forbes (1815–1854), who succeeded Jameson to the chair of Natural History at the University of Edinburgh in 1854 – was, in the words of his biographer, Frank Cunningham (1990), a 'pioneer Scottish glaciologist'.

Description: Extensional tectonics and incipient rifting on the north side of the Iapetus suture were associated with eruption of (mainly) mildly alkaline olivine basalts. Initially in the Tournaisian (Southern Uplands Terrane), magmatic activity migrated northwards producing the Garleton Hills Volcanic Formation (GHVF) across an anomalous sector of the Southern Uplands. The latter was followed by resumption of volcanism in the Midland Valley Terrane, yielding the Arthur's Seat Volcanic Formation. Later larger-scale activity generated the Clyde Plateau Volcanic Formation (CPVF) and the Kintyre lavas on the Grampian Highlands Terrane. Comparable volcanic successions occur in Limerick, Ireland. This short-lived (c. 30 myr) phase was unique in the magmatic history of the Phanerozoic of the British Isles in which mildly alkaline basaltic magmatism locally led to trachytic differentiates. The Bangly Member of the GHVF represents the largest area occupied by such silicic rocks. The most widespread lavas and intrusions are silica-saturated/oversaturated trachytes for which new whole-rock and isotopic data are presented. Previously unrecognized ignimbrites are described. Sparse data from the fiamme suggest that the magma responsible for the repetitive ignimbrite eruptions was a highly fluid rhyolite. The Bangly Member probably represents the remains of a central-type volcano, the details of which are enigmatic.

Description: The aetosaur Stagonolepis robertsoni was the first reptile to be named from the Late Triassic Lossiemouth Sandstone Formation of Morayshire. Its characteristic rectangular armour plates have been reported in isolation and in association with skeletal remains. Here we present for the first time a three-dimensional reconstruction of the armour plates around the tail in association with caudal vertebrae and a chevron, to give direct evidence of the body outline. The caudal vertebral column was surrounded by eight bony osteoderms, paired paramedian dorsal and ventral plates, and a pair of lateral osteoderms on right and left. The tail shape was subcircular, broader than high. The osteoderms overlap like roofing tiles, the posterior margin of each overlapping the osteoderm following behind. The success of these scans suggests that computed tomography scanning could reveal excellent detail of all the Elgin reptiles in the future.Supplementary material: Three-dimensional models of the two fossil specimens are available at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4824183

Description: Robert Jameson is generally remembered for championing Neptunist geology (originated by Abraham Werner) during its early nineteenth-century competition with the rival Plutonist theory (initiated by James Hutton). Hutton's ideas prevailed and Jameson's intellectual transition to Plutonism is documented in the surviving notes taken by students who attended his lectures at Edinburgh University: one early record is from 1809, a second record is from c. 1820 and four sets of notes are from the early 1830s. Of the latter four, two have not been previously considered from a geological perspective and prove to be the most revelatory of Jameson's conversion; notes compiled by the Royal Navy surgeon Robert McCormick are particularly comprehensive. Although Jameson attempted to maintain the essentials of Werner's theory for its well-ordered stratigraphy, he progressively adopted a Plutonist approach to more contentious issues such as the origin of granite, veining and mountain building. Jameson used Edinburgh's Salisbury Crags sill for field demonstrations and the students’ notes illustrate his changing views in terms of the origins of this classic geological feature. Of the students whose lecture notes survive, it is only McCormick for whom Jameson appears to have been a lasting geological influence.

Description: Only two nominal species of crinoid, the diplobathrid camerates Diabolocrinus craigheadensis Ramsbottom and Diabolocrinus globularis (Nicholson and Etheridge), have been described from the Ordovician (Chatfieldian; Sandbian) Craighead Limestone Formation, Craighead Quarry, near Girvan, Ayrshire. In contrast, columnal morphotaxa are represented by over 20 taxa including those in open nomenclature. Two thecae from Craighead Quarry and referred to Diabolocrinus sp. or spp. preserve features of the stem facet that are similar to specimens referred to Oanducystis (col.) spp. from the same locality. These columnal morphotaxa are synonymized with Diabolocrinus and left in open nomenclature. However, Diabolocrinus is limited to Laurentia, whereas the remaining morphospecies of Oanducystis (col.) Stukalina are limited to Kazakhstan and Estonia.

Description: In their analysis of temperature data, Watson and Westaway (2020) make substantial use of initial open information provided by the UK Geoenergy Observatory: Glasgow Geothermal Energy Research Field Site. They also offer criticisms on site location, heat resource size, design and costs, however these criticisms appear to be based on a misunderstanding of the purpose of the Glasgow Observatory. In order to mitigate misapprehensions for future Observatory users, we write in reply. The Glasgow Observatory has been developed as a multidisciplinary research facility; it is not a demonstrator of maximum mine water heat resource, which is by implication what Watson and Westaway (2020) would deem a success.

Description: The Jurassic was a key interval for the evolution of dinosaurs, crocodylomorphs, and many other vertebrate groups. In recent years, new vertebrate fossils have emerged from the Early-Middle Jurassic of the Isle of Skye, Scotland; however, much more is known about Skye's dinosaur fauna than its crocodylomorphs. Here we report new crocodylomorph material collected from Jurassic marine deposits at Prince Charlie's Cave on the north east coast of Skye. The specimen is a small cobble containing postcranial elements from an individual that is considerably larger in size than previous crocodylomorphs described from Skye. Based on features of the vertebrae and osteoderms, the specimen is assigned to Thalattosuchia, an extinct clade of semiaquatic/pelagic crocodylomorphs. Specifically, the sub-circular and bean-shaped pit ornamentation on the dorsal surface of the osteoderms in alternating rows suggest affinities with the semi-aquatic lineage Teleosauroidea. Although the ornamentation pattern on the osteoderms is most similar to Macrospondylus (“Steneosaurus”) bollensis, we conservatively assign the specimen to Teleosauroidea indeterminate. Regardless of its precise affinities and fragmentary nature, the specimen is the first thalattosuchian discovered in Scotland and is the most northerly reported Jurassic thalattosuchian globally, adding to our understanding of the palaeobiogeography and evolution of this group.Thematic collection: This article is part of the Early Career Research collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉The Hebridean Province of NW Scotland provides insight into the interaction between active tectonics and the development of shallow marine deltaic, estuarine and tidal strait depositional successions in the Sea of the Hebrides and Inner Hebrides Basins. Syn-depositional block tilting impacted the gross thickness, sand to mud ratio and the distribution of shallow-marine facies in the resulting succession. New Middle Jurassic palaeogeographic maps and stratigraphic correlations are presented that integrate both outcrop and well data and illustrate the deltaic sedimentary system in a broad, semi-regional context.Results show that distance from the Scottish hinterland and the syn-rift tectonic geomorphology are the critical controls on the thickness, sand to mud ratio and facies types. The impact of relative sea level change is hard to detect in proximal locations or where sediment flux was large relative to accommodation, but becomes more influential in distal locations where eustasy and tectonism interacted across tilted fault blocks to increase the influence of accommodation over sediment supply.〈strong〉Supplementary material:〈/strong〉〈a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4397858"〉https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4397858〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉In order to establish sustainable heat loading (heat removal and storage) in abandoned flooded mine workings it is important to understand the geomechanical impact of the cyclical heat loading caused by fluid injection and extraction. This is particularly important where significantly more thermal loading is planned than naturally occurs. A simple calculation shows that the sustainable geothermal heat flux from abandoned coal mines can provide 〈1/10th of Scotland's annual domestic heating demand. Any heat removal greater than the natural heat flux will lead to heat mining unless heat storage options are also considered.As a first step, a steady state, fully saturated, 2D coupled hydro-mechanical model of a generalised section of pillar-and-stall workings has been created. Mine water rebound was modelled by increasing the hydrostatic pressure sequentially, in line with monitored mine water level data from Midlothian, Scotland. The modelled uplift to water level rise ratio of 1.4 mm/m is of the same order of magnitude (1 mm/m) as that observed through InSAR data in the coalfield due to mine water rebound. The modelled magnitude of shear stress at the pillar corners, as a result of horizontal and vertical displacement, is shown to increase linearly with water level. Mine heat systems are expected to cause smaller changes in pressure than those modelled but the results provide initial implications on the potential geo-mechanical impacts of mine water heat schemes which abstract or inject water and heat into pillar-and-stall coal mine workings.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈strong〉Introducing Sea Level Change – Introducing Earth and Environmental Sciences〈/strong〉 by Alastair Dawson, 2018. Dunedin Academic Press, 101 pp, ISBN 978-1-780-46087-1, paperback, £14.99.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉The Middle Jurassic is a largely mysterious interval in dinosaur evolution, as few fossils of this age are known worldwide. In recent years, the Isle of Skye has yielded a substantial record of trackways, and a more limited inventory of body fossils, that indicate a diverse fauna of Middle Jurassic dinosaurs living in and around lagoons and deltas. Comparatively little is known about the predators in these faunas (particularly theropod dinosaurs), as their fossils are among the rarest discoveries. We here report two new isolated theropod teeth, from the Valtos Sandstone Formation and Lealt Shale Formation of Skye, which we visualized and measured using high-resolution x-ray computed microtomographic scanning (µCT) and identified via statistical and phylogenetic analyses of a large comparative dental dataset. We argue that these teeth most likely represent at least two theropod species – one small-bodied and the other large-bodied – which likely belonged to one or several clades of basal avetheropods (ceratosaurs, megalosauroids, or allosauroids). These groups, which were diversifying during the Middle Jurassic and would become dominant in the Late Jurassic, filled various niches in the food chain of Skye, probably both on land and in the lagoons.〈strong〉Supplementary material〈/strong〉: Character lists, datasets, and measurements are available at 〈a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4452533"〉https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4452533〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉The Hebridean Province of NW Scotland provides insight into the interaction between tectonics and shallow-marine and tidal strait depositional environments in the Sea of the Hebrides and Inner Hebrides basins. The study tests the influence of syn-depositional block tilting on gross thickness, sand to mud ratio and the distribution of shallow-marine facies in the resulting succession. New Middle Jurassic palaeogeographical maps and stratigraphic correlations are presented that integrate both outcrop and well data and illustrate the evolution of the deltaic sedimentary system in a broad, semi-regional context.Results show that distance from the sediment entry point and the syn-rift tectonic geomorphology were the critical controls on gross thickness, sand to mud ratios and facies types. The impact of relative sea-level change is hard to detect in locations proximal to the Scottish hinterland, where sediment supply was large relative to accommodation (Ss 〉 Ac), but becomes more influential in distal locations where eustasy and tectonic subsidence convolved to increase the influence of accommodation over sediment supply (Ac 〉 Ss).〈strong〉Supplementary material:〈/strong〉 An outcrop to well log correlation exercise is available at 〈a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4397858"〉https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4397858〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉We describe two large convergent multi-fluted glacigenic deposits in the NW Highlands, Scotland, and point out their resemblance to a number of landforms emerging from presently deglaciating areas of Greenland and Antarctica. We suggest that they all result from locally-sourced sediment being deposited by local ice-flow, which was laterally confined by the margins of much larger adjacent glaciers or ice-streams. The NW Highlands features thus seem likely to be the result of processes active during the latter part of the Devensian Glaciation. One of these deposits, on the peninsula between Loch Broom and Little Loch Broom, is evidently sourced from the west-facing Coire Dearg of Beinn Ghobhlach, but was emplaced in a WNW direction rather than along the WSW fall-line. This suggests that the ice that emplaced it was confined by the margins of large glaciers then occupying the adjacent valleys of Loch Broom and Little Loch Broom. The second much larger and more prominent deposit, in Applecross, is composed of bouldery Torridonian sandstone till emplaced onto glacially-scoured bedrock; the only feasible source location for this material is about 12 km distant, which requires that the deposit was carried by ice across the trough of Strath Maol Chalum and emplaced while active ice-streams confined it laterally to its present-day location. This in turn requires that ice lay in the Inner Sound between Applecross and Skye to an elevation 400-500 m above present-day sea level. The Wester Ross Re-advance of 14 -15 ka left a fragment of lateral moraine against the most easterly flute and buried the distal end of the flutes with hummocky moraine. We hypothesise that the fluted deposits reflect the locations of the ice-stream margins that constrained deposition of locally-derived ice-transported sediment, rather than the flow-lines of the ice-stream itself.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉The Middle Jurassic is a largely mysterious interval in dinosaur evolution, as few fossils of this age are known worldwide. In recent years, the Isle of Skye has yielded a substantial record of trackways, and a more limited inventory of body fossils, that indicate a diverse fauna of Middle Jurassic dinosaurs living in and around lagoons and deltas. Comparatively little is known about the predators in these faunas (particularly theropod dinosaurs), as their fossils are among the rarest discoveries. We here report two new isolated theropod teeth, from the Valtos Sandstone and Lealt Shale Formations of Skye, which we visualized and measured using high-resolution x-ray computed microtomographic scanning (µCT) and identified via statistical and phylogenetic analyses of a large comparative dental dataset. We argue that these teeth most likely represent at least two theropod species—one small-bodied and the other large-bodied—which likely belonged to one or several clades of basal avetheropods (ceratosaurs, megalosauroids, or allosauroids). These groups, which were diversifying during the Middle Jurassic and would become dominant in Late Jurassic, filled various niches in the food chain of Skye, probably both on land and in the lagoons.〈strong〉Supplementary material:〈/strong〉〈a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4452533"〉https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4452533〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Scotland is committed to be a carbon-neutral society by 2040 and has achieved the important initial step of decarbonising power production. However, more ambitious measures are required to fully decarbonise all of the electricity, transport and heating sectors.We explore the potential to use the low-carbon GeoEnergy resources and bio-energy combined with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) in the Midland Valley area to decarbonise the Scottish economy and society. The Midland Valley has a long history of geological resource extraction, and as a result, the geology of the region is well-characterised.Geothermal energy and subsurface energy storage have the potential to be implemented. Some of them, such as gravity and heat storage, could re-use the redundant mining infrastructure to decrease investment costs. Hydrogen storage could be of particular interest as the Midland Valley offers the required caprock-reservoir assemblages. BECCS is also a promising option to reduce overall CO2 emissions between 1.10-4.40 MtCO2/yr. The Midland Valley has enough space to grow the necessary crops, but CO2 storage will most likely be implemented in North Sea saline aquifers. The studied aspects suggest that the Midland Valley represents a viable option in Scotland for the exploitation of the majority of low-carbon GeoEnergy resources.〈strong〉Thematic collection:〈/strong〉 This article is part of the ‘Early Career Research’ available at: 〈a href="https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research"〉https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉In order to establish sustainable heat loading (heat removal and storage) in abandoned flooded mine workings it is important to understand the geomechanical impact of the cyclical heat loading caused by fluid injection and extraction. This is particularly important where significantly more thermal loading is planned than naturally occurs. A simple calculation shows that the sustainable geothermal heat flux from abandoned coal mines can provide 〈1/10th of Scotland's annual domestic heating demand. Any heat removal greater than the natural heat flux will lead to heat mining unless heat storage options are also considered.As a first step, a steady state, fully saturated, 2D coupled hydro-mechanical model of a generalised section of pillar-and-stall workings has been created. Mine water rebound was modelled by increasing the hydrostatic pressure sequentially, in line with monitored mine water level data from Midlothian, Scotland. The modelled uplift to water level rise ratio of 1.4 mm/m is of the same order of magnitude (1 mm/m) as that observed through InSAR data in the coalfield due to mine water rebound. The modelled magnitude of shear stress at the pillar corners, as a result of horizontal and vertical displacement, is shown to increase linearly with water level. Mine heat systems are expected to cause smaller changes in pressure than those modelled but the results provide initial implications on the potential geo-mechanical impacts of mine water heat schemes which abstract or inject water and heat into pillar-and-stall coal mine workings.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈strong〉Sedimentary Structures〈/strong〉 (Fourth Edition), By John Collinson and Nigel Mounteney. Published by Dunedin Academic Press, £35.00. 340 pp. Also available as an e-book.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉A dropstone horizon is described from lake deposits in a paleo-valley from the ~~1000 Ma Diabaig Formation, Torridon Group, NW Scotland. Dropstones occur in wave-rippled, fine grained sandstones and siltstones that contain desiccation and syneresis cracks indicative of fluctuating lake levels. Five locally-derived dropstones occur at the same horizon over lateral distance of 250 m and display clear evidence of deflection and penetration of laminae at the base, with thinning, onlap and draping of laminae onto clast margins and tops. Mechanisms of dropstone formation are discussed with ice-rafting considered the most likely explanation. It is suggested that rafting was promoted by cold winters at 35°S in the early Neoproterozoic, possibly in an upland setting. Interpretation of the dropstones as ice-rafted debris provides the first physical record of evidence for ice at the Earth's surface during the late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈strong〉Thematic collection:〈/strong〉 This article is part of the ‘Early Career Researchers’ available at: 〈a href="https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research"〉https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Studies of the former NE England coalfield in Tyneside demonstrated that heat flow perturbations in boreholes were due to the entrainment and lateral dispersion of heat from deeper in the subsurface through flooded mine workings. This work assesses the influence of historical mining on geothermal observations across Greater Glasgow. The regional heat flow for Glasgow is 60 mW m〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉 and, after correction for palaeoclimate, is estimated as 〈span〉c〈/span〉. 80 mW m〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉. An example of reduced heat flow above mine workings is observed at Hallside (〈span〉c〈/span〉. 10 km SE of Glasgow), where the heat flow through a 352 m deep borehole is 〈span〉c〈/span〉. 14 mW m〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉. Similarly, the heat flow across the 199 m deep GGC01 borehole in the Glasgow Geothermal Energy Research Field Site is 〈span〉c〈/span〉. 44 mW m〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉. The differences between these values and the expected regional heat flow suggest a significant component of horizontal heat flow into surrounding flooded mine workings. This deduction also influences the quantification of deeper geothermal resources, as extrapolation of the temperature gradient above mine workings would underestimate the temperature at depth. Future projects should consider the influence of historical mining on heat flow when temperature datasets such as these are used in the design of geothermal developments.〈strong〉Supplementary material〈/strong〉: Background information on the chronology of historical mining at each borehole location and a summary of groundwater flow in mine workings beneath Glasgow are available at 〈a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4681100"〉https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4681100〈/a〉〈strong〉Thematic collection:〈/strong〉 This article is part of the ‘Early Career Research’ available at: 〈a href="https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research"〉https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Large un-walled backfilled burrows of the 〈span〉Taenidium〈/span〉 type are known from Paleozoic deltaic marine environments worldwide where they are often associated with 〈span〉Diplichnites〈/span〉 trackways. The latter are generally attributed to arthropleurid myriapods and it may be that the burrows were also made by these animals. Here we describe a 〈span〉Taenidium〈/span〉 burrow from the Limestone Coal Formation of the Isle of Arran, a formation that also hosts a well-known example of 〈span〉Diplichnites〈/span〉, supporting the association of the two types of trace fossil and extending their known co-occurrence upward into the Upper Carboniferous.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈strong〉Sedimentary Structures〈/strong〉 (Fourth Edition), By John Collinson and Nigel Mounteney. Published by Dunedin Academic Press, £35.00. 340 pp. Also available as an e-book.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉In order to establish sustainable heat loading (heat removal and storage) in abandoned flooded mine workings it is important to understand the geomechanical impact of the cyclical heat loading caused by fluid injection and extraction. This is particularly important where significantly more thermal loading is planned than naturally occurs. A simple calculation shows that the sustainable geothermal heat flux from abandoned coal mines can provide less than a tenth of Scotland's annual domestic heating demand. Any heat removal greater than the natural heat flux will lead to heat mining unless heat storage options are also considered.〈strong〉Thematic collection:〈/strong〉 This article is part of the SJG Collection on Early-Career Research available at: 〈a href="https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research"〉https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Scotland is committed to be a carbon-neutral society by 2040 and has achieved the important initial step of decarbonizing power production. However, more ambitious measures are required to fully decarbonize all of the electricity, transport and heating sectors.We explore the potential to use low-carbon GeoEnergy resources and bioenergy combined with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) in the Midland Valley area to decarbonize the Scottish economy and society. The Midland Valley has a long history of geological resource extraction and, as a result, the geology of the region is well characterized.Geothermal energy and subsurface energy storage have the potential to be implemented. Some of them, such as gravity and heat storage, could re-use the redundant mining infrastructure to decrease investment costs. Hydrogen storage could be of particular interest as the Midland Valley offers the required caprock–reservoir assemblages. BECCS is also a promising option to reduce overall CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 emissions by between 1.10 and 4.40 MtCO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 a〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. The Midland Valley has enough space to grow the necessary crops, but CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 storage will most likely be implemented in North Sea saline aquifers. The studied aspects suggest that the Midland Valley represents a viable option in Scotland for the exploitation of the majority of low-carbon GeoEnergy resources.〈strong〉Thematic collection:〈/strong〉 This article is part of the ‘Early Career Research’ available at: 〈a href="https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research"〉https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈strong〉Thematic collection:〈/strong〉 This article is part of the ‘Early Career Researchers’ available at: 〈a href="https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research"〉https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉A number of partial articulated specimens of 〈span〉Cheiracanthus peachi〈/span〉 nov. sp. have been collected from the Mey Flagstone Formation and Rousay Flagstone Formation within the Orcadian Basin of northern Scotland. The new, robust-bodied species is mainly distinguished by the scale ornament of radiating grooves rather than ridges. Compared to other 〈span〉Cheiracanthus〈/span〉 species in the Orcadian Basin, 〈span〉C. peachi〈/span〉 nov. sp. has quite a short range making it a useful zone fossil. As well as describing the general morphology of the specimens, we have also described and figured SEM images of scales and histological sections of all elements, enabling identification of other, isolated remains. Of particular biological interest is the identification of relatively robust, tooth-like gill rakers. Finally, the species has also been identified from isolated scales in Belarus, where it appears earlier and has a longer stratigraphical range, implying the species evolved in the marine deposits of the east and migrated west into the Orcadian Basin via the river systems.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous rocks at the southern end of the Kintyre Peninsula closely resemble those of the Kinnesswood and Clyde Sandstone formations in more easterly portions of the Firth of Clyde. For example, a previously unrecognised thick marlstone with pedogenic calcretes is present in the Kinnesswood Formation at the south tip of the peninsula and, on the west coast, south of Machrihanish, a striking cliffed exposure includes massive phreatic calcretes developed from cross-bedded sandstones and red mudstones closely resembling those of the Clyde Sandstone on Great Cumbrae. A similar phreatic calcrete unit is present in the lower part of the Ballagan Formation in south Bute. The presence of vadose and phreatic calcrete, provides valuable information concerning palaeoclimatic conditions in southwestern Scotland during the Devonian-Carboniferous transition. Overlying thick volcanic rocks are correlative with the Clyde Plateau Volcanic Formation. The sediments accumulated in the South Kintyre Basin on the west side of the Highland Boundary Fault (HBF). Formation of this basin, and the North East Arran and Cumbraes basins in the northeastern part of the Firth of Clyde, is interpreted as a response to development of a 'locked zone' in the HBF during an episode of sinistral faulting.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉A number of partial articulated specimens of 〈span〉Cheiracanthus peachi〈/span〉 nov. sp. have been collected from the Mey Flagstone Formation and Rousay Flagstone Formation within the Orcadian Basin of northern Scotland. The new, robust-bodied species is mainly distinguished by the scale ornament of radiating grooves rather than ridges. Compared to other 〈span〉Cheiracanthus〈/span〉 species in the Orcadian Basin, 〈span〉C. peachi〈/span〉 nov. sp. has quite a short range making it a useful zone fossil. As well as describing the general morphology of the specimens, we have also described and figured SEM images of scales and histological sections of all elements, enabling identification of other, isolated remains. Of particular biological interest is the identification of relatively robust, tooth-like gill rakers. Finally, the species has also been identified from isolated scales in Belarus, where it appears earlier and has a longer stratigraphical range, implying the species evolved in the marine deposits of the east and migrated west into the Orcadian Basin via the river systems.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Recent earthquakes involving complex multi-fault rupture have increased our appreciation of the variety of rupture geometries and fault interactions that occur within the short duration of coseismic slip. Geometrical complexities are intrinsically linked with spatially heterogeneous slip and stress drop distributions, and hence need incorporating into seismic hazard analysis. Studies of exhumed ancient fault zones facilitate investigation of rupture processes in the context of lithology and structure at seismogenic depths. In the Gairloch Shear Zone, NW Scotland, foliated amphibolites host pseudotachylytes that record rupture geometries of ancient low-magnitude (≤M〈sub〉W〈/sub〉 3) seismicity. Pseudotachylyte faults are commonly foliation parallel, indicating exploitation of foliation planes as weak interfaces for seismic rupture. Discordance and complexity are introduced by fault segmentation, stepovers, branching and brecciated dilational volumes. Pseudotachylyte geometries indicate that slip nucleation initiated simultaneously across several parallel foliation planes with millimetre and centimetre separations, leading to progressive interaction and ultimately linkage of adjacent segments and branches within a single earthquake. Interacting with this structural control, a lithological influence of abundant low disequilibrium melting-point amphibole facilitated coseismic melting, with relatively high coseismic melt pressure encouraging transient dilational sites. These faults elucidate controls and processes that may upscale to large active fault zones hosting major earthquake activity.〈strong〉Supplementary material〈/strong〉: Supplementary 〈a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sjg#F1"〉Figures 1〈/a〉 and 〈a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sjg#F2"〉2〈/a〉, unannotated versions of field photographs displayed in 〈a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sjg#F4"〉Figures 4a〈/a〉 and 〈a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sjg#F5"〉5〈/a〉 respectively, are available at 〈a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4573256"〉https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4573256〈/a〉〈strong〉Thematic collection〈/strong〉: This article is part of the SJG Collection on Early-Career Research available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous rocks at the southern end of the Kintyre Peninsula closely resemble those of the Kinnesswood and Clyde Sandstone formations in more easterly portions of the Firth of Clyde. For example, a previously unrecognized thick marlstone with pedogenic calcretes is present in the Kinnesswood Formation at the south tip of the peninsula and, on the west coast, south of Machrihanish, a striking cliffed exposure includes massive phreatic calcretes developed from cross-bedded sandstones and red mudstones closely resembling those of the Clyde Sandstone on Great Cumbrae. A similar phreatic calcrete unit is present in the lower part of the Ballagan Formation in south Bute. The presence of vadose and phreatic calcrete provides valuable information concerning palaeoclimatic conditions in southwestern Scotland during the Devonian–Carboniferous transition. Overlying thick volcanic rocks are correlative with the Clyde Plateau Volcanic Formation. The sediments accumulated in the South Kintyre Basin on the west side of the Highland Boundary Fault (HBF). Formation of this basin, and the North East Arran and Cumbraes basins in the northeastern part of the Firth of Clyde, is interpreted as a response to development of a ‘locked zone’ in the HBF during an episode of sinistral faulting.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉We describe two large convergent multi-fluted glacigenic deposits in the NW Highlands, Scotland, and point out their resemblance to a number of landforms emerging from presently deglaciating areas of Greenland and Antarctica. We suggest that they all result from locally sourced sediment being deposited by local ice-flow, which was laterally confined by the margins of much larger adjacent glaciers or ice-streams. The NW Highlands features thus seem likely to be the result of processes active during the latter part of the Devensian Glaciation. One of these deposits, on the peninsula between Loch Broom and Little Loch Broom, is evidently sourced from the west-facing Coire Dearg of Beinn Ghobhlach, but was emplaced in a WNW direction rather than along the WSW fall-line. This suggests that the ice that emplaced it was confined by the margins of large glaciers then occupying the adjacent valleys of Loch Broom and Little Loch Broom. The second much larger and more prominent deposit, in Applecross, is composed of bouldery Torridonian sandstone till emplaced on to glacially scoured bedrock; the only feasible source location for this material is about 12 km distant, which requires that the deposit was carried by ice across the trough of Strath Maol Chalum and emplaced while active ice-streams confined it laterally to its present-day location. This, in turn, requires that ice lay in the Inner Sound between Applecross and Skye to an elevation 400–500 m above present-day sea-level. The Wester Ross Re-advance of 15–14 ka left a fragment of lateral moraine against the most easterly flute and buried the distal end of the flutes with hummocky moraine. We hypothesize that the fluted deposits reflect the locations of the ice-stream margins that constrained deposition of locally derived ice-transported sediment, rather than the flow-lines of the ice-stream itself.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Studies of the former NE England coalfield in Tyneside demonstrated that heat flow perturbations in boreholes were due to the entrainment and lateral dispersion of heat from deeper in the subsurface through flooded mine workings. This work assesses the influence of historical mining on geothermal observations across Greater Glasgow. The regional heat flow for Glasgow is 60 mW m〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉 and, after correction for palaeoclimate, is estimated as 〈span〉c〈/span〉. 80 mW m〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉. An example of reduced heat flow above mine workings is observed at Hallside (〈span〉c〈/span〉. 10 km SE of Glasgow), where the heat flow through a 352 m deep borehole is 〈span〉c〈/span〉. 14 mW m〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉. Similarly, the heat flow across the 199 m deep GGC01 borehole in the Glasgow Geothermal Energy Research Field Site is 〈span〉c〈/span〉. 44 mW m〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉. The differences between these values and the expected regional heat flow suggest a significant component of horizontal heat flow into surrounding flooded mine workings. This deduction also influences the quantification of deeper geothermal resources, as extrapolation of the temperature gradient above mine workings would underestimate the temperature at depth. Future projects should consider the influence of historical mining on heat flow when temperature datasets such as these are used in the design of geothermal developments.〈strong〉Supplementary material〈/strong〉: Background information on the chronology of historical mining at each borehole location and a summary of groundwater flow in mine workings beneath Glasgow are available at 〈a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4681100"〉https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4681100〈/a〉〈strong〉Thematic collection:〈/strong〉 This article is part of the ‘Early Career Research’ available at: 〈a href="https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research"〉https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉In modern rivers, vegetation affects hydrological, geomorphological and sedimentological functioning, so extant fluvial systems can provide only partial analogues for those rivers that operated before the evolution of land plants. However, pre-vegetation rivers were the norm for the first 90% of Earth's history and so a better understanding of their sedimentary product can provide insights into both the fundamental underlying mechanisms of river behaviour and the ways in which fluvial processes operated on ancient Earth. In addition to a short review of the history of research into pre-vegetation alluvium, this paper presents a fieldwork-based case study of the later Proterozoic Torridon Group, which contains some of the most extensive and easily accessible exposures of pre-vegetation alluvium worldwide. Three alluvial architectural deposits have been recognized: (1) channel-bedform deposits (〈span〉c.〈/span〉 80%); (2) barform deposits (〈span〉c.〈/span〉 20%); and (3) out-of-channel deposits (≪1%). Channel-bedform deposits have erosional bases and most frequently stack vertically to form thick multistorey channel-bedform sequences. The preferential preservation of these deposits, which record the deepest parts of river channels, suggests that channel migration had a dominant control on preservation in the Torridon Group. Less frequently, channel-bedform deposits pass upwards into a genetically related barform deposit. Barform preservation in these instances is interpreted to be due to channel avulsion, which protected the barforms from reworking. Channel-bar thickness, measured from the basal erosional surface of a channel-bedform deposit to the top of its associated barform deposit, indicates minimum water depths of 1.7 to 8.0 m. Downstream-accreting barform deposits are most frequent, but lateral and upstream modes of accretion are also well represented. Dominant southeastward-palaeoflow directions imply that the Torridonian rivers were sourced from the Grenvillian Mountain Belt. The preserved architectural deposits and narrow dispersal of palaeocurrent data are explained by interpreting the Torridon Group as the alluvium of dominantly low-sinuosity rivers, with signatures recording autogenic fluvial adjustments. In the few rare instances where out-of-channel deposits are preserved, they contain fossil evidence for microbial mats, which prove that not all Proterozoic river systems were wholly abiotic. The overall characteristics of the Torridon alluvium, in terms of its ubiquitous highly tabular beds of sand-grade or coarser material, make it an archetypal example of pre-vegetation alluvium as known globally.〈strong〉Thematic collection:〈/strong〉 This article is part of the SJG Collection on Early-Career Research available at: 〈a href="https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research"〉https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉The Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition (LGIT) is a period of climatic complexity where millennial-scale climatic reorganisation led to changes in ecosystems. Alongside millennial-scale changes, centennial-scale climatic events have been observed within records from Greenland and continental Europe. The effects of these abrupt events on landscapes and environments are at present difficult to discern. This in part relates to low temporal resolutions attained by many studies and the sensitivity of palaeoenvironmental proxies to abrupt change. We present a high-resolution palynological and charcoal study of Quoyloo Meadow, Orkney and use the Principal Curve statistical method to assist in revealing biostratigraphic change. The LGIT vegetation succession on Orkney is presented as open grassland and 〈span〉Empetrum〈/span〉 heath during the Windermere Interstadial and early Holocene, and open grassland with 〈span〉Artemisia〈/span〉 during the Loch Lomond Stadial. However, a further three phases of ecological change, characterised by expansions of open ground flora, are dated to 14.05-13.63, 10.94-10.8 and 10.2 cal. ka BP. The timing of these changes is constrained by cryptotephra of known age. The paper concludes by comparing Quoyloo Meadow with Crudale Meadow, Orkney, and suggests that both Windermere Interstadial records are incomplete, and that fire is an important landscape control during the early Holocene.〈strong〉Thematic collection:〈/strong〉 This article is part of the ‘Early Career Research’ available at: 〈a href="https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research"〉https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research〈/a〉〈strong〉Supplementary material:〈/strong〉〈a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4725269"〉https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4725269〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: A dropstone horizon is described from lake deposits in a palaeo-valley from the c. 1000 Ma Diabaig Formation, Torridon Group, NW Scotland. Dropstones occur in wave-rippled, fine-grained sandstones and siltstones that contain desiccation and syneresis cracks indicative of fluctuating lake levels. Five locally derived dropstones occur at the same horizon over lateral distance of 250 m and display clear evidence of deflection and penetration of laminae at the base, with thinning, onlap and draping of laminae on to clast margins and tops. Mechanisms of dropstone formation are discussed, with ice-rafting considered the most likely explanation. It is suggested that rafting was promoted by cold winters at 35° S in the early Neoproterozoic, possibly in an upland setting. Interpretation of the dropstones as ice-rafted debris provides the first physical record of evidence for ice at the Earth's surface during the late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic.

Description: The Last Glacial–Interglacial Transition (LGIT) is a period of climatic complexity where millennial-scale climatic reorganization led to changes in ecosystems. Alongside millennial-scale changes, centennial-scale climatic events have been observed within records from Greenland and continental Europe. The effects of these abrupt events on landscapes and environments are difficult to discern at present. This, in part, relates to low temporal resolutions attained by many studies and the sensitivity of palaeoenvironmental proxies to abrupt change. We present a high-resolution palynological and charcoal study of Quoyloo Meadow, Orkney and use the Principal Curve statistical method to assist in revealing biostratigraphic change. The LGIT vegetation succession on Orkney is presented as open grassland and Empetrum heath during the Windermere Interstadial and early Holocene, and open grassland with Artemisia during the Loch Lomond Stadial. However, a further three phases of ecological change, characterized by expansions of open ground flora, are dated to 14.05–13.63, 10.94–10.8 and 10.2 cal ka BP. The timing of these changes is constrained by cryptotephra of known age. The paper concludes by comparing Quoyloo Meadow with Crudale Meadow, Orkney, and suggests that both Windermere Interstadial records are incomplete and that fire is an important landscape control during the early Holocene.Supplementary material: All raw data associated with this publication: raw pollen counts, charcoal data, Principal Curve and Rate of Change outputs and the age-model output are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4725269Thematic collection: This article is part of the ‘Early Career Research’ available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research

Description: In modern rivers, vegetation affects hydrological, geomorphological and sedimentological functioning, so extant fluvial systems can provide only partial analogues for those rivers that operated before the evolution of land plants. However, pre-vegetation rivers were the norm for the first 90% of Earth's history and so a better understanding of their sedimentary product can provide insights into both the fundamental underlying mechanisms of river behaviour and the ways in which fluvial processes operated on ancient Earth. In addition to a short review of the history of research into pre-vegetation alluvium, this paper presents a fieldwork-based case study of the later Proterozoic Torridon Group, which contains some of the most extensive and easily accessible exposures of pre-vegetation alluvium worldwide. Three alluvial architectural deposits have been recognized: (1) channel-bedform deposits (c. 80%); (2) barform deposits (c. 20%); and (3) out-of-channel deposits (≪1%). Channel-bedform deposits have erosional bases and most frequently stack vertically to form thick multistorey channel-bedform sequences. The preferential preservation of these deposits, which record the deepest parts of river channels, suggests that channel migration had a dominant control on preservation in the Torridon Group. Less frequently, channel-bedform deposits pass upwards into a genetically related barform deposit. Barform preservation in these instances is interpreted to be due to channel avulsion, which protected the barforms from reworking. Channel-bar thickness, measured from the basal erosional surface of a channel-bedform deposit to the top of its associated barform deposit, indicates minimum water depths of 1.7 to 8.0 m. Downstream-accreting barform deposits are most frequent, but lateral and upstream modes of accretion are also well represented. Dominant southeastward-palaeoflow directions imply that the Torridonian rivers were sourced from the Grenvillian Mountain Belt. The preserved architectural deposits and narrow dispersal of palaeocurrent data are explained by interpreting the Torridon Group as the alluvium of dominantly low-sinuosity rivers, with signatures recording autogenic fluvial adjustments. In the few rare instances where out-of-channel deposits are preserved, they contain fossil evidence for microbial mats, which prove that not all Proterozoic river systems were wholly abiotic. The overall characteristics of the Torridon alluvium, in terms of its ubiquitous highly tabular beds of sand-grade or coarser material, make it an archetypal example of pre-vegetation alluvium as known globally.Thematic collection: This article is part of the SJG Collection on Early-Career Research available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research

Description: 〈span〉〈strong〉The Epochs of Nature〈/strong〉 by Georges-Louis LeClerc, le comte de Buffon, translated and edited by Jan Zalasiewicz, Anne-Sophie Milon and Mateusz Zalasiewicz, 2018. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 190 pp, ISBN 978-0-226-39543-2, hardback, £34.00, 〈a href="https://doi.org/10.7208/Chicago/9780226395579.001.0001"〉https://doi.org/10.7208/Chicago/9780226395579.001.0001〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Small round holes, 〈span〉Oichnus〈/span〉 Bromley, are a locally common feature of crinoid pluricolumnals in the Mississippian of the British Isles. Numerous examples have been found from mudrocks in the Brigantian (Mississippian) Blackhall Limestone, Lower Limestone Formation, at Trearne Quarry, near Beith, north Ayrshire, all assigned to 〈span〉Oichnus simplex〈/span〉 Bromley. These trace fossils are typically associated with growth deformities of the pluricolumnals, which are commonly swollen and more rarely grew a lip around the pit. 〈span〉Oichnus simplex〈/span〉 is commonly centred on a columnal latus and adjacent sutures between columnals are deflected towards it. More rarely, pits are centred on the sutures between columnals. The 〈span〉O. simplex〈/span〉 borings are interpreted as domiciles developed in live crinoids by an indeterminate, unmineralized invertebrate. The pluricolumnals are similar and are presumed to be derived from a single species, perhaps the poteriocrinine cladid 〈span〉Ureocrinus bockshii〈/span〉 (Geinitz), the only nominal crinoid recorded from this site.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Upper Devonian strata occur in the Central and Northern North Sea and crop out in coastal exposures in northeastern Scotland. The strata comprise continental sandstones and intercalated conglomerates, siltstones and mudstones. The offshore Upper Devonian unit (Buchan Formation) has been proven as a locally important hydrocarbon reservoir; however, the limited core coverage in the North Sea means that the architecture of the Buchan Formation is poorly understood. This study looks at two localities in Caithness and Orkney with excellent Upper Devonian exposures, which are chronologically equivalent to the Buchan Formation. The main aims are to describe the facies present and to investigate the mineralogical compositions and porosity variations using petrographic analyses. The results indicate that the studied outcrops were formed by braided fluvial and aeolian dune deposition. The aeolian sandstones have higher compositional/textural maturity and porosity than the fluvial sandstones. The main control on porosity is facies variation that results in differences in sedimentary structures, grain size and abundance of rock fragments. With similar palaeoclimate, depositional environments, lithologies and petrographies, these outcrops can be considered excellent analogues for the Buchan Formation reservoirs in the North Sea.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Carboniferous coals of the Ayrshire Coalfield are enriched in selenium (Se) relative to average UK and world compositions, substituting for sulphur in pyrite. Greenburn surface mine coals are characterized by syngenetic concretionary pyrite (〈span〉c.〈/span〉 15% total area), occurring as bedding-parallel banding, and later-formed (epigenetic) cross-cutting pyrite in cleats (〈span〉c.〈/span〉 9% total area). In these, sulphur isotope compositions for both syngenetic and epigenetic pyrite include isotopically light and heavy variants, suggesting diagenetic and hydrothermal fluid formation. Late/post-Visean cleat-filling pyrite is enriched in Se (up to 266 ppm) compared to the earlier-formed material (Se up to 181 ppm).Anomalous Se may have been sourced from near-by sulphidic Dalradian metamorphic rocks. Initial Se sequestration is associated with syngenetic pyrite mineralization, absorbed from seawater and pore waters, with additional Se introduced from fluids mobilized during epigenetic pyrite formation. Cleats from local brittle fracturing provided channels for fluid flow and a locus for precipitation of comparatively high-Se pyrite. Permian dolerite intrusions may have provided an enrichment source and/or fluid distribution mechanism. The Se concentrations of the Greenburn coals relate to multi-stage mineralization, with cleat-filling pyrite showing the highest Se content, and highlight the potential for high Se in similarly altered and fractured coal deposits worldwide.〈strong〉Supplementary material:〈/strong〉 LA-ICP-MS maps for Fe, Se, Ag, As, Cu, Hg, Pb and Te for Greenburn coal samples from seams 9300 Lime and 6900 Burnfoot Bridge are available at 〈a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3967860"〉https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3967860〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Three closely associated arthropleurid trackways, 〈span〉Diplichnites cuithensis〈/span〉, from the Lower Carboniferous of Fife, Scotland, exhibit signs of interaction between track-makers. An extra file of footprints is found on the downslope side of two trackways (A and C), the upslope side of another (B). These additional files of footprints suggest that either: each trackway resulted from two arthropleurids of different sizes walking in tandem, matching their footprints exactly on one side for some distance; or that one arthropleurid was partially mounted on the back of another producing the three parallel files. It is here argued that the latter is correct and that this represents evidence of mating behaviour in arthropleurids.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Middle Jurassic dinosaur fossils are exceedingly rare, but new discoveries from the Isle of Skye, Scotland, are beginning to fill this gap. We here describe a new dinosaur tracksite found in the Lealt Shale Formation (Bathonian) of the Great Estuarine Group at Rubha nam Brathairean (Brothers' Point) on Skye. The site preserves an abundance of small sauropod manus and pes prints and several isolated and broken medium-to-large tridactyl footprints. The main site occurs on a single horizon of shaley limestone that formed in a lagoonal environment. The sauropod tracks are tentatively assigned to the ichnotaxon 〈span〉Breviparopus〈/span〉 due to the narrow gauge of the trackways, the digital characteristics of the pes, and the ratio of heteropody observed between the manus and the pes. A theropod trackmaker is inferred for some of the tridactyl impressions with several indicative of the ichnotaxon 〈span〉Eubrontes〈/span〉. This new site strengthens the inference, originally based on a previously discovered locality near Duntulm Castle (Duntulm Formation) in northern Skye, that sauropods habitually spent time in lagoons during the Middle Jurassic.〈strong〉Supplementary material〈/strong〉: The photogrammetric model of track BP2_40 and associated metadata and photographs are available at 〈a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4046390"〉https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4046390〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Small round holes, 〈span〉Oichnus〈/span〉 Bromley, are a locally common feature of crinoid pluricolumnals in the Mississippian of the British Isles. Numerous examples have been found from mudrocks in the Brigantian (Mississippian) Blackhall Limestone, Lower Limestone Formation, at Trearne Quarry, near Beith, north Ayrshire, all assigned to 〈span〉Oichnus simplex〈/span〉 Bromley. These trace fossils are typically associated with growth deformities of the pluricolumnals, which are commonly swollen and more rarely grew a lip around the pit. 〈span〉Oichnus simplex〈/span〉 is commonly centred on a columnal latus and adjacent sutures between columnals are deflected towards it. More rarely, pits are centred on the sutures between columnals. The 〈span〉O. simplex〈/span〉 borings are interpreted as domiciles developed in live crinoids by an indeterminate, unmineralized invertebrate. The pluricolumnals are similar and are presumed to be derived from a single species, perhaps the poteriocrinine cladid 〈span〉Ureocrinus bockshii〈/span〉 (Geinitz), the only nominal crinoid recorded from this site.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉The Orkney granite complex dominates the outcropping basement on Orkney, Scotland. It comprises a grey and a pink variably foliated granite, and structurally younger pegmatites and aplites. Based on geochemical characteristics the granites are assigned to the Scottish high Ba–Sr granites. The granites are deformed by synmagmatic extensional east–west-trending mylonite zones. These are locally overprinted by similarly oriented extensional phyllonites and, in one case, by similarly oriented extensional faults. The grey and the pink granites are dated by zircon U–Pb CA-ID-TIMS to 431.93 ± 0.46 and 430.26 ± 0.92 Ma, respectively. An aplite cutting mylonitic granite and cut by phyllonite is dated to 428.50 ± 0.31 Ma. We interpret the shear zones to record north–south extension during emplacement and cooling of the granites, likely at a shallow crustal depth (4–12 km). The extension is best explained by a subsidiary pull-apart structure related to displacement on the Great Glen Fault. In this case, the Orkney granite complex dates transcurrent faulting to 432–429 Ma, coeval with the 431–429 Ma Moine Thrust. This indicates that strain partitioning and high Ba–Sr magmatism across the Scottish Highlands was an immediate response to attempted subduction of Avalonia beneath Laurentia during the Scandian collision.〈strong〉Supplementary material:〈/strong〉 Geochronological and geochemical data (Tables 1 and 2) as spreadsheets are available at 〈a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4304387"〉https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4304387〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈strong〉The Epochs of Nature〈/strong〉 by Georges-Louis LeClerc, le comte de Buffon, translated and edited by Jan Zalasiewicz, Anne-Sophie Milon and Mateusz Zalasiewicz, 2018. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 190 pp, ISBN 978-0-226-39543-2, hardback, £34.00, 〈a href="https://doi.org/10.7208/Chicago/9780226395579.001.0001"〉https://doi.org/10.7208/Chicago/9780226395579.001.0001〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Over recent years the authors have been co-authors on a number of papers re-describing acanthodian species from classic localities in the Devonian strata of Scotland and Canada. In a number of works the noting of syntypes of particular species has been mentioned, but the authors have neglected to designate a lectotype for some of these species. In this article we remedy this oversight.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉The Givetian (Middle Devonian) antiarch 〈span〉Asterolepis thule〈/span〉 was first described in 1932 and its stratigraphical horizon was poorly understood as were all the Devonian deposits in the SE of Shetland (South East Shetland Group). Since that time a greater understanding of the age of these deposits has been made. This, coupled with the greater clarity of the biostratigraphy of the Devonian of Scotland and its correlation with the Baltic Devonian, has allowed the species to be placed in a biostratigraphical zonation. The species is confined to Sumburgh Head and so appears endemic. Other species are also endemic and there are some relict fauna in the South East Shetland Group. This suggests that the South East Shetland Group fauna originated mostly in isolation to the main depositional areas of the Givetian in Scotland and elsewhere, although some species are more cosmopolitan.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉The Ballantrae Complex, SW Scotland, is an ophiolitic assemblage of mostly Early and early Middle Ordovician age (Tremadoc–Arenig in terms of the British Ordovician Series). Its varied components were generated and assembled in the Iapetus Ocean, then obducted on to the Laurentian continental margin by the earliest Llanvirn. The timing of obduction is constrained by biostratigraphic and radiometric data. It was most probably a polyphase process initiated at about the beginning of the Arenig, at around 478 Ma. However, parts of the Complex are significantly younger, with some recent evidence taken to suggest an earliest Llanvirn age of about 464 Ma for the emplacement of some of the volcanic and pelagic sedimentary rocks. The oldest strata in the succession that now unconformably overlies the Ballantrae Complex were deposited at about 463 Ma. Hence there may have been as little as one million years available for the final stages of the Complex's tectonic assembly, obduction, uplift, erosion and downfaulting. Obduction of the Complex has been invoked as a factor in the initiation of the Grampian Orogeny and, whilst there is a broad correlation in timing, the detail from Ballantrae militates against a causal relationship.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉The Orkney granite complex dominates the outcropping basement on Orkney, Scotland. It comprises a grey and a pink variably foliated granite, and structurally younger pegmatites and aplites. Based on geochemical characteristics the granites are assigned to the Scottish high Ba–Sr granites. The granites are deformed by synmagmatic extensional east–west-trending mylonite zones. These are locally overprinted by similarly oriented extensional phyllonites and, in one case, by similarly oriented extensional faults. The grey and the pink granites are dated by zircon U–Pb CA-ID-TIMS to 431.93 ± 0.46 and 430.26 ± 0.92 Ma, respectively. An aplite cutting mylonitic granite and cut by phyllonite is dated to 428.50 ± 0.31 Ma. We interpret the shear zones to record north–south extension during emplacement and cooling of the granites, likely at a shallow crustal depth (4–12 km). The extension is best explained by a subsidiary pull-apart structure related to displacement on the Great Glen Fault. In this case, the Orkney granite complex dates transcurrent faulting to 432–429 Ma, coeval with the 431–429 Ma Moine Thrust. This indicates that strain partitioning and high Ba–Sr magmatism across the Scottish Highlands was an immediate response to attempted subduction of Avalonia beneath Laurentia during the Scandian collision.〈strong〉Supplementary material:〈/strong〉 Geochronological and geochemical data (Tables 1 and 2) as spreadsheets are available at 〈a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4304387"〉https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4304387〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉The Lonfearn Member, Lealt Shale Formation, is a distinctive unit within the Great Estuarine Group in the Middle Jurassic of the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. Its dominant lithology of fine-grained, partly laminated mudstone marks it out as a time of minimum input of coarse clastic material into the Hebridean Basin, when consistent facies extended over some 90 km between north Skye and the Isle of Eigg. Interbedded with the mudstones are thin (decimetre) shelly and partly ferruginous and oolitic limestones, the combination giving a unique facies association in the British Bathonian. The predominantly low-salinity biota is dominated by the bivalve 〈span〉Neomiodon〈/span〉, ostracods and spinicaudatans. Episodes of inferred higher salinity aid in correlating sections from the type locality in North Trotternish, Skye to other localities, principally Strathaird in south Skye and the Isle of Eigg. We describe the principal outcrops of the Lonfearn Member and the remarkable facies continuity within the Great Estuarine Group indicating tectonic quiescence within the basin and hinterland at this time.〈strong〉Supplementary material:〈/strong〉 The detailed measured stratigraphical logs discussed in this paper are available at 〈a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4093991"〉https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4093991〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Shelf basins (‘glacial incisions’) can preserve a detailed record of palaeoclimatic changes due to their low-energy environment. The ‘Muck Deep’, a complex of glacially-overdeepened troughs on the Inner Hebrides shelf constitutes an example of such an environment.Five sediment cores from the Muck Deep have been analysed and related to geomorphological evidence and subsurface seismic facies. The cores show an integrated sequence of sedimentary and faunal variations from the retreat of ice (〈span〉c.〈/span〉 17 ka) to the present day. Glacimarine sandy muds with ice-rafted debris are dated to about 11.9 cal ka BP, supporting glacial occupancy in western Scotland until the latest stages of GS-1. The transition from a paraglacial to a more stable landscape is indicated by an erosional boundary in one of the cores dated between 11.3 and 11.6 cal ka BP. Sandy sediments in a core from 200 m water depth show two upward-fining cycles and a mid-core erosional unconformity, interpreted as bottom-current deposits. Such structures do not occur in the western Muck Deep, indicating different bottom current velocities through time. A regional signal of increasing current energy at the end of the Holocene marine transgression is interpreted as the onset of modern oceanographic conditions.〈strong〉Supplementary material〈/strong〉: Extra figures and table content is available at 〈a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4093997"〉https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4093997〈/a〉〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉The Grenville and Caledonian orogens, fundamental to building Laurentia and Baltica, intersect in northern Scotland. The Precambrian Glenelg Inlier, within the Scottish Caledonides, preserves a record of Grenvillian, Knoydartian and Caledonian orogenesis. Based on new mapping and re-interpretation of previous mapping, we present a structural model for the evolution of the Glenelg Inlier. The inlier can be divided into Western Glenelg gneiss comprising orthogneiss with no record of Grenville-age metamorphism, and Eastern Glenelg gneiss with ortho- and paragneiss, affected by Grenvillian eclogite-facies metamorphism. The basement gneisses and their original cover of psammitic, Neoproterozoic Morar Group (Moine) rocks were deformed by three generations of major ductile folds (F〈sub〉1〈/sub〉–F〈sub〉3〈/sub〉). In medium-strain areas F〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 and F〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 folds are broadly coaxial and both face to the west; in higher strain areas F〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 and F〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 folds are oblique to each other. By restoring post-F〈sub〉1〈/sub〉 folds and late faults, the Glenelg gneiss inliers are seen to form the core of a major recumbent SSE-facing F〈sub〉1〈/sub〉 isoclinal fold nappe – the Proto-Moine Nappe. The upper limb of this nappe is a thick, right-way-up sequence of moderately strained Morar Group rocks whereas the lower, inverted limb comprises intensely deformed, migmatitic Morar Group rocks. Within the constraints of published geochronology, the Proto-Moine Nappe is likely Pre-Caledonian and may have originated during the early Neoproterozoic Knoydartian Orogeny.〈/span〉