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FRIEND, P. F. & WILLIAMS,B. P. J. (eds) 2000. New Perspectives on the Old Red Sandstone. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 180.

HIGGS, K. T., MACCARTHY,I. A. J. & O'BRIEN, M. M. 2000. A mid-Frasnian marine incursion into the southern part of the Munster Basin: evidence from the Foilcoagh Bay Beds, Sherkin Formation, SW County Cork, Ireland. In: FRIEND, P. F. • WILLIAMS,B. P. J. (eds) New Perspectives on the Old Red Sandstone. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 180, 319-332. GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 180

New Perspectives on the Old Red Sandstone

EDITED BY

P. F. FRIEND University of Cambridge, UK

and

B. P. J. WILLIAMS University of Aberdeen, UK

2000 Published by The Geological Society London THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

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Foreword vii List of Referees ix List of Sponsors ix

Review WILLIAMS, E. A., FRIEND, P. F. & WILLIAMS, B. P. J. A review of Devonian time scales: 1 databases, construction and new data HousE, M. R. Chronostratigraphic framework for the Devonian and Old Red Sandstone 23 FRIEND, P. F., WILLIAMS, B. P. J., FORD, M. & WILLIAMS, E. A. Kinematics and dynamics of 29 Old Red Sandstone basins

Eastern North America GRIFFING, D. H., BRIDGE, J. S. & HOTTON, C. L. Coastal-fluvial palaeoenvironments and plant 61 palaeoecology of the Lower Devonian (Emsian), Gasp6 Bay, Qu6bec, Canada BRIDGE, J. S. The geometry, flow patterns and sedimentary processes of Devonian rivers and 85 coasts, New York and Pennsylvania, USA

Ireland-Dingle and North MCSHERRY, M., PARNELL, J., LESLIE,A. G. & HAGGAN, T. Depositional and structural setting 109 of the (?) Lower Old Red Sandstone sediments of Ballymastocker, Co. Donegal BOYD, J. D. & SLOAN, R. J. Initiation and early development of the Dingle Basin, SW Ireland, 123 in the context of the closure of the Iapetus Ocean RICHMOND, L. K. & WILLIAMS,B. P. J. A new terrane in the Old Red Sandstone of the Dingle 147 Peninsula, SW Ireland Tool), S. P. Taking the roof off a suture zone: basin setting and provenance of conglomerates in 185 the ORS Dingle Basin of SW Ireland

Ireland-Munster VERMEULEN, N. J., SHANNON,P. M., MASSON, F. & LANDES, M. Wide-angle seismic control on 223 the development of the Munster Basin, SW Ireland WILLIAMS, E. A. Flexural cantilever models of extensional subsidence in the Munster Basin 239 (SW Ireland) and Old Red Sandstone fluvial dispersal systems WILLIAMS, E. A., SERGEEV, S. A., ST()SSEL, I., FORD, M. & HIGGS, K. T. U-Pb zircon 269 geochronology of silicic tufts and chronostratigraphy of the earliest Old Red Sandstone in the Munster Basin, SW Ireland PRACHT, M. Controls on magmatism in the Munster Basin, SW Ireland 303 HIGGS, K. T., MACCARTHY, I. A. J. & O'BRIEN, M. M. A mid-Frasnian marine incursion into 319 the southern part of the Munster Basin: evidence from the Foilcoagh Bay Beds, Sherkin Formation, SW County Cork, Ireland JARVIS, D. E. Palaeoenvironment of the plant bearing horizons of the Devonian- 333 Carboniferous Kiltorcan Formation, Kiltorcan Hill, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland Wales HILLIER, R. D. Silurian marginal marine sedimentation and the anatomy of the marine -- Old 343 Red Sandstone transition in Pembrokeshire, SW Wales EDWARDS, D. & RICHARDSON, J. B. Progress in reconstructing vegetation on the Old Red 355 Sandstone Continent: two Emphanisporites producers from the Lochkovian sequence of the Welsh Borderland LOVE, S. E. & WILLIAMS, B. P. J. Sedimentology, cyclicity and floodplain architecture in the 371 Lower Old Red Sandstone of SW Wales OWEN, G. & HAWLEY, D. Depositional setting of the Lower Old Red Sandstone at Pantymaes 389 Quarry, central South Wales: new perspectives on the significance and occurrence of 'Senni Beds' facies MARSHALL, J. D. Fault-bounded basin fill: fluvial response to tectonic controls in the Skrinkle Sandstones of SW Pembrokeshire, Wales

Scotland 401 BLUCK, B. J. Old Red Sandstone basins and alluvial systems of Midland Scotland 417 POWELL, C. L., TREWIN, N. H. & EDWARDS, D. Palaeoecology and plant succession in a 439 borehole through the Rhynie cherts, Lower Old Red Sandstone, Scotland ARMSXRON6, H. A. & OWEN, A. W. Age and provenance of limestone clasts in Lower Old Red 459 Sandstone conglomerates: implications for the geological history of the Midland Valley Terrane MARSHALL, J. E. A. Devonian (Givetian) miospores from the Walls Group, Shetland 473 BALIN, D. F. Calcrete morphology and karst development in the Upper Old Red Sandstone at 485 Milton Ness, Scotland

Norway and the Arctic OSMUNDSEN, P. T., BAKKE, B., SVENDBY, A. K. & ANDERSEN, T. B. Architecture of the Middle 503 Devonian Kvamshesten Group, western Norway: sedimentary response to deformation above a ramp-flat extensional fault HARTZ, E. Early syndepositional tectonics of East Greenland's Old Red Sandstone basin 537 CLACK, J. A. & NEININGER, S. L. Fossils from the Celsius Bjerg Group, Late Devonian 557 sequence, East Greenland; significance and sedimentological distribution MCCANN, A. J. Deformation of the Old Red Sandstone of NW Spitsbergen; links to the 567 Ellesmerian and Caledonian orogenies PIEPJOHN, K. The Svalbardian-Ellesmerian deformation of the Old Red Sandstone and the 585 pre-Devonian basement in NW Spitsbergen (Svalbard) PIEPJOHN, K., BRINKMANN, L., GREWINC, A. & KEPa', H. New data on the age of the uppermost 603 ORS and the lowermost post-ORS strata in Dickson Land (Spitsbergen) and implications for the age of the Svalbardian deformation Index 611 Foreword

The Old Red Sandstone (mainly Siluro- included Reading, Cambridge, Bristol, Glasgow, Devonian) successions of the North Atlantic Newcastle, Cardiff, London, Cork and Trinity Region have probably stimulated more research, College, Dublin. and generated more ideas on facies analysis in Research on the Devonian system was further continental basin fills, than any other compar- focused in the late 1970s by the Palaeontological able stratigraphy. The Old Red Sandstone played Association International Symposium on the an important early role in the history of Devonian system (1979). PADS was held in stratigraphic research in Western Europe and Bristol in 1978 and a splendid volume was Eastern North America, where it was realized published (House et al. 1979). Four field excur- quite quickly that it had special significance in sions, two of them to ORS basins in Wales and linking stratigraphy and mountain building. It also attracted attention because it clearly pro- vided basic information on the early evolution of animals and plants in non-marine (terrestrial) environments. However understanding of the sedimentary processes that formed the Old Red Sandstone was very limited until the 1960s. Modern analysis on Old Red Sandstone facies architecture was mainly initiated by the pioneering research of J. R. L. Allen (eg 1979), in the early-sixties to mid-seventies, on the Welsh Basin. This innova- tive work set new standards of detailed analysis that have been applied widely to all the main ORS basins in the years that have followed. The first international symposium on the Devonian System, held in Calgary in 1967 (Oswald 1968), started the process of setting the tectonics and facies patterns of the Old Red Sandstone in their global context, and encour- aged further investigation of the biostratigraphi- cal attributes of its floras, vertebrates and invertebrates. In the UK and Ireland, an informal and unusual grouping of academic researchers, with Fig. 1. Professor J. R. L. Allen. a common interest in the ORS, was formed in the early 1970s and named the 'Friends of the Old Red Sandstone'. The 'Friends' convened annual field meetings in diverse areas of active ORS research, initially in Wales (Borders and South Pembrokeshire-1972 and 1973; then in Scotland (Borders-1975; Strathmore Basin-1978; Mid- land Valley-1982) and southern Ireland (Mun- ster Basin and Dingle Basin-1976, 1980, 1983). The average attendance on these excellent week- end trips was about 20 which peaked with 40 on the spectacular Ardennes trip of 1979 when our European mainland colleagues from France, Belgium and Germany joined the 'Friends'. Key University departments supporting the 'Friends', and generating substantial ORS research output, Fig. 2. Professor D. L. Dineley.

From: FRIEND, P. F. & WILLIAMS,B. P. J. (eds). New Perspectives on the Old Red Sandstone. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 180, vii ix. 0305-8719/00/$15.00 9The Geological Society of London 2000. viii P. F. FRIEND AND B. P. J. WILLIAMS

Scotland (Friend & Williams 1978), accom- evolution of early land floras, and from new panied this Symposium and the published guides advances in chronostratigraphy to displaced reflect much of the ongoing research of that time terranes and early amphibians. Twenty-six of on those basins. those talks are published herein together with Old Red Sandstone research gathered much five additional papers added after the conference. impetus in the 1980s with research published on Some time ago a science fiction novel, entitled Scandinavia, Greenland, Scotland, the NE 'Cryptozoic' was published in which a time American Appalachian Belt and Ireland. An traveller is able to move 'like a ghost through admirably compact, well-integrated survey of the dim vistas of geological time' (Aldiss 1969). the global Devonian, with some special focus This time traveller's favourite time-slots for on the Old Red Sandstone, was provided by investigation are the Devonian and the Jurassic. D. L. Dineley (1984). As Head of the Geology During his journeys he is haunted by 'phantoms Department at the University of Bristol, he was a and unsolved questions'. We are confident that major factor in the success of Old Red studies, on our new volume shows important progress in both sides of the Atlantic, and in both vertebrate answering some of those questions. How appro- palaeontology and the field study of the sedi- priate then that Chapter 1 in the 'Cryptozoic' ments. A further step forward in integration was (Aldiss 1969) is 'A Bed in the Old Red achieved by the second international Devonian Sandstone'! System symposium held in Calgary 1987 (McMil- The editors dedicate this volume to Professors lan et al. 1988) which was published in a J. R. L. Allen and D. L. Dineley (see figs 1 & 2). remarkable three-volume work entitled 'Devo- nian of the World'. In parallel with University ORS research, the Irish and British Geological Surveys were re-mapping several areas that References contained Siluro-Devonian red bed sequences, ALD~SS, B. W. 1969. Cryptozoic. Sphere Books. some of which were projected into offshore areas ALLEN, J. R. L. 1979. Old Red Sandstone facies in where the ORS locally acts as either potential external basins with particular reference to hydrocarbon reservoirs or source rocks southern Britain. Special Papers in Palaeontology, (e.g. Trewin 1989). 23, 65-80. In recent years, key palaeontological discov- DINELEY, D. L. 1984. Aspects of a Stratigraphic System: eries have been made in the ORS which throw The Devonian. Macmillan. FR1END, P. F. & WILLIAMS,B. P. J. (eds) 1978. Devonian much new light on the early evolution of land of Scotland, the Welsh Borderland and south plants and their sporangia, and the evolutionary Wales. Palaeontogical Association. pathway of fish to tetrapods (Westenberg 1999). HOUSE, M. R., SCRUTTON, C. T. & BASSETT,M. G. (eds) Refinement of the chronostratigraphy of the 1979. The Devonian system. Special Papers in Siluro-Devonian ORS into the basal Carbon- Palaeontology, 23. iferous has been made possible by new advances MCMILLAN, N. J., EMBRV, A. F. & GLASS, D. J. (eds) in palynology and U-Pb zircon geochronology of 1988. The Devonian of the World. Canadian ashfall tufts in several ORS basins using new Society of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 14, methodologies. vol. 1, vol 2 & vol 3. OSWALD, D. H. (ed.) 1968. International symposium on With the above advances in knowledge of ORS the Devonian system. Alberta Society of Petroleum basins it occurred to the Editors at a recent Geologists. meeting of the British Sedimentological Research TREWlN, N. H. 1989. The petroleum potential of the Group, that a special meeting on 'New Perspect- Old Red Sandstone of northern Scotland. Scottish ives on the Old Red Sandstone' was timely and Journal of Geology, 25, 201-225. thus a 2-day conference was convened at WESTENBERG, K. 1999. From Fins to Feet. National Burlington House, London, where we were Geographic. 195, 114-127. hosted by the Geological Society of London. Some forty talks and posters were presented over Our warmest thanks go to Helen Knapp, Angharad the two days, sessions being chaired by many of Hills and other staff of the Geological Society Publish- ing House for doing so much to lighten our editorial the contributors to this volume, and also by work. We would also like to thank all the many J. R. L. Allen and D. L. Dineley. The presenta- colleagues who attended the meeting in December tions embraced a wide spectrum of Old Red 1998, and/or contributed to the volume as authors and Sandstone themes from the dynamic evolution referees. We are also most grateful to the organisations and seismic interpretation of ORS basins to listed below who supported this project. FOREWORD

List of referees Wellman, C. H. Williams, E. A. Almond, J. Williams, B. P. J. Ashcroft, W. A. Woodcock, N. H. Balin, D. F. Woodrow, D. L. Bluck, B. J. Wright, V. P. Boyd, J. D. Dineley, D. L. Edwards, D. Evans, J. A. List of sponsors Friend, P. F. (a) The Conference, held under the auspices of Gee, D. G. the British Sedimentological Research Group, Graham, J. R. with the support of the Geological Society of Haughton, P. D. W. London, was also supported by the following Higgs, K. T. companies: Hillier, R. D. Hole, M. J. Amerada Hess Kelly, S. B. ARCO British Lawrence, D. A. Badley Ashton and Associates Love, S. E. B.P. Exploration Marshall, J. D. PMGeos Ltd Marshall, J. E. A. Shell (U.K.) Exploration and Production McCann, A. J. Total Oil Marine Nilsen, T. H. (b) The following companies also generously Osmundsen, P. T. funded the use of colour illustrations in this Piepjohn, K. volume: Preston, R. J. Shannon, P. M. BP Amoco Sloan, R. J. Conoco (U.K.) Limited Smith, A. G. Exxon Mobil Todd, S. P. Trewin, N. H. Peter. F. Friend & Brian P. J. Williams