New insights into the origin and migration of brines in deep Devonian aquifers, Alberta, Canada

Analysis of hydraulic heads and chemical compositions of Devonian formation waters in the west central part of the Alberta Basin, Canada, characterizes the origin of formation waters and migration of brines. The Devonian succession in the study area lies 2000–5000 m below the ground surface, and has an approximate total thickness of 1000 m and an average slope of 15 m/km. Four Devonian aquifers are present in the study area, which form two aquifer systems [i.e., a Middle–Upper Devonian aquifer system (MUDAS) consisting of the Elk Point and Woodbend–Beaverhill Lake aquifers, and an Upper Devonian aquifer system (UDAS) consisting of the Winterburn and Wabamun aquifers]. The Ireton is an effective aquitard between these two systems in the eastern parts of the study area. The entire Devonian succession is confined below by efficient aquitards of the underlying Cambrian shales and/or the Precambrian basement, and above by overlying Carboniferous shales of the Exshaw and Lower Banff Formations.The formation water chemistry shows that the Devonian succession contains two distinct brine types: a ‘heavy brine,’ located updip, defined approximately by TDS >200 g/l, and a ‘light brine’ with TDS <200 g/l. Hydraulic head distributions suggest that, presently, the ‘light brine’ attempts to flow updip, thereby pushing the ‘heavy brine’ ahead. The interface between the two brines is lobate and forms large-scale tongues that are due to channeled flow along high-permeability pathways. Geological and hydrogeochemical data suggest that the following processes determined the present composition of the ‘light’ and ‘heavy’ brines: original seawater, evaporation beyond gypsum but below halite saturation, dolomitization, clay dehydration, gypsum dewatering, thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR), and halite dissolution. The influx of meteoric (from the south) and metamorphic (from the west) waters can be recognized only in the ‘light brine.’ Albitization can be unequivocally identified only in the ‘heavy brine.’ The ‘heavy brine’ may be residual Middle Devonian evaporitic brine from the Williston Basin or the Elk Point Basin, or it may have originated from partial dissolution of thick, laterally extensive Middle Devonian evaporite deposits to the east of the study area. The ‘light brine’ most probably originated from dilution of ‘heavy brine’ in post-Laramide times.     

Proximal braidplain deposits in the Middle Devonian Malbaie Formation of Eastern Gaspé, Quebec, Canada

The Middle Devonian Malbaie Formation of Eastern Gaspé, Canada, comprises sharply alternating conglomerate and sandstone units. Their petrography suggests derivation from the same source, but palaeocurrents indicate different dispersal systems for the sand and gravel. The principal conglomerate facies is horizontally stratified, with well-developed imbrication, characteristic of deposition on a high-energy, proximal braidplain. Minor cross-stratified conglomerate shows well-defined size sorting, attributed to avalanching down foresets and sorting within minor bedforms on bar tops. The sandstone units mainly comprise erosion surfaces overlain by mudstone intraclasts, alternating with lineated low-angle to horizontally stratified sandstone or trough cross-stratified sandstone. The sandstone units were deposited on a proximal braidplain with highly variable discharge, but the absence of calcrete indicates that dry periods were not prolonged. The Malbaie is the coarsest, uppermost formation of a Devonian clastic wedge formed during the Acadian Orogeny. The uniformity of facies association and palaeocurrents, particularly in conglomerate units, indicates derivation from a broad upwarp to the south. This implies that the Acadian uplands resulted from straight compression, in contrast to the localized uplifts formed by strike-slip faulting during the Carboniferous.     

Dolomitization of the Devonian Swan Hills Formation, Rosevear Field, Alberta, Canada

The Swan Hills Formation (Middle-Upper Devonian) of the Western Canada Basin is host to several NW-SE-trending gas fields developed in massive replacement dolostone. One of these, the Rosevear Field, contains two major dolostone trends along opposing margins of a marine channel that penetrates into a platform-reef complex. Dolostones consist predominantly of branching and bulbous strdmatoporoid floatstones and rudstones with well-developed moldic and vuggy porosity. Replacement dolomite is coarsely crystalline (100-600 μm), inclusion-rich, composed of euhedral through anhedral crystals and has a blotchy to homogeneous red cathodoluminescence. Geochemically, replacement dolomite is characterized by (i) nearly stoichiometric composition (50.1-51.1 mol% CaCO₃), (ii) negative δ¹⁸O values (mean=-7.5‰, PDB) and (iii) variable ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios ranging from values similar to Late Devonian-Early Mississippian seawater (～0.7082) to radiogenic compositions comparable to saddle dolomite cements (>0.7100). Dolomitization began after widespread precipitation of early, equant calcite spar and after the onset of pressure solution, implying that replacement dolomite formed in a burial environment. Oxygen isotope data suggest that dolomite formed at 35-75°C, temperatures reached during burial in Late Devonian through Jurassic time, at minimum depths of 450 m. The linear NW-SE orientation of most dolomite fields in the Swan Hills Formation is suggestive of fault control on fluid circulation. Two models are proposed for fault-controlled circulation of dolomitizing fluids at the Rosevear Field. In the first, compaction-driven, updip fluid migration occurred in response to basin tilting commencing in the Late Palaeozoic. Deep basinal fluids migrating updip were focused into channel-margin sediments along fault conduits. The second model calls upon fault-controlled convective circulation of (i) warm Devonian-Mississippian seawater or (ii) Middle Devonian residual evaporitic brines. The overlap in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ¹⁸O compositions, and similar cathodoluminescence properties between replacement and saddle dolomites provide evidence for neomorphism of some replacement dolomite. Quantitative modelling of Sr and O isotopes and Sr abundances suggests partial equilibration of some replacement dolomite with hot radiogenic brines derived during deep burial of the Swan Hills Formation in the Late Cretaceous-Palaeocene. Interaction of replacement dolomite with deep brines led to enrichment in ⁸⁷Sr while leaving δ¹⁸O similar to pre-neomorphism values.     

Compaction in halite-cemented carbonates – the Dawson Bay Formation (Middle Devonian) of Saskatchewan, Canada

Halite-impregnated carbonates in the Dawson Bay Formation of Saskatchewan lie between beds of halite and are buried to a depth of 1 km. They exhibit two different diagenetic styles – some resisted compaction and had high pre-salt porosities; others contain compaction-broken fossils and pressure-solution seams. The uncompacted rocks, together with the difficulty of explaining how halite cement could enter the Dawson Bay after overlying bedded halites were deposited, suggest that halite cementation occurred early with only a few tens of metres of overburden. Early diagenetic compaction is suggested by the presence of unbroken, displacive skeletal halite crystals, which cross-cut compaction structures, and by the difficulty of explaining how (1) later compaction could occur in halite-cemented rocks and (2) how pore-fluids could be expelled after surrounding rocks lost their permeability. The organic-rich nature of many carbonates may explain why compaction was both early and extensive, but this explanation fails to explain how similar compaction developed in horizons with lower organic contents. Chemical compaction may also have been enhanced by aragonite dissolution during seawater evaporation or brine dilution. Early chemical compaction in Dawson Bay carbonates indicates that compaction in other carbonates need not signify deep burial diagenesis; neither can compaction be used indiscriminately to identify other diagenetic events as being of deep burial origin. Early halite cementation, as in the Dawson Bay Formation, preserves carbonates at early diagenetic stages and may thus preserve geochemical information unmodified by later diagenesis.     

Dedolomitization and calcite cementation in the Middle Devonian Winnipegosis Formation in Central Saskatchewan,Canada

Limestone consisting of finely to medium crystalline calcite mosaics is present in the upper part of the Winnipegosis Formation on the east‐central margin of the Elk Point Basin where the overlying Prairie Evaporite deposits have been removed. This type of crystalline limestone is interpreted as dedolomite, based on petrographic observations. The δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C values of the Winnipegosis dedolomite vary from ?12·8‰ to ?11·9‰ VPDB (Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite) and from ?0·5‰ to +1·7‰ VPDB, respectively; both values are significantly lower than those for the corresponding dolomite. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of the dedolomite are significantly higher, between 0·7082 and 0·7087. The spatial distribution and geochemical data of the Winnipegosis dedolomite suggest that dedolomitization was related to an influx of fresh groundwater and dissolution of the Prairie Evaporite anhydrite during the latest Mississippian to the Early Cretaceous when the basin was subjected to uplift and erosion. The Winnipegosis dedolomite displays a series of replacement fabrics showing progressive calcitization of dolomite, including the occurrence of dedolomite restricted along fractures and adjacent areas, dolomite patches ‘floating’ in the dedolomite masses and massive dedolomite with sparsely scattered dolomite relicts. However, the characteristic fabrics resulting from dedolomitization documented in the literature have not been observed in the Winnipegosis dedolomite. Coarsely to very coarsely crystalline, subhedral to euhedral calcite cement is restricted in the dedolomite. The petrographic features, isotopic compositions and homogenization temperatures, coupled with the burial history of the Winnipegosis Formation, constrain the precipitation of the calcite cement from a mixing of basinal brines and fresh groundwater during Late Cretaceous to Neogene time. The more negative C‐isotopic signatures of the calcite cement (?5·3‰ to ?2·3‰ VPDB) probably reflect a hydrocarbon‐derived carbon.     

Paleomagnetic results from the Lower Devonian Llandstadwell Formation,Dyfed, Wales

A paleomagnetic investigation of the Lower Devonian Llandstadwell Formation in southwest Wales has yielded a characteristic direction (declination = 196°, inclination = −5°) that passes a fold test. Comparison of the corresponding virtual geomagnetic pole (334°E, 39°S) to previously published poles for Great Britain indicates that the magnetization is secondary and likely to be of Carboniferous age. No evidence for post-Hercynian rotation of Pembrokeshire is indicated by our data.     

Synsedimentary dolospar cementation: a possible Devonian example in the Camsell Formation, Northwest Territories, Canada1

A unique association of beds containing fenestral pore-filling medium crystalline dolomite with beds of dolospar and quartz sandstone occurs in the Lower Devonian Camsell Formation. Many of these sandstones consist almost entirely of dolospar sand. Sedimentological, petrographic, cathodoluminescent and chemical data indicate that the dolospar sands consist of grains that have been eroded and reworked during Camsell deposition from fenestral dolostone beds that directly underlie these sandstones. Erosional truncation of individual dolomite crystals and of intracrystalline cathodoluminescent zonations along the edges of sand grains indicates that either dolomitization, or dolomite cementation of the pore-filling carbonate cements within fenestrae of the fenestral fabrics, occurred before erosion and deposition of dolospar sand. The fine details of the cathodoluminescent zonations suggest that the pore-filling fenestral dolomite originated as primary cements that underwent some annealing recrystallization under the influence of high subsurface temperatures. This unique occurrence may document synsedimentary Devonian cementation by medium to coarsely crystalline dolomite.     

新疆东准泥盆系卡拉麦里组研究新进展

泥盆纪是新疆卡拉麦里碰撞带的关键时期,在碰撞带南侧广泛发育的泥盆系地层是卡拉麦里组,因此对其研究具有十分重要的意义。本文报道了近年来作者对卡拉麦里组研究的一些主要成果,包括:根据珊瑚和腕足类化石结合以及所测定的碎屑锆石年龄,指示其沉积时期为下、中泥盆世;根据沉积学研究,推断卡拉麦里组下段为重力流浊流沉积序列以及重力流水道相沉积类型,沉积环境为斜坡相-半深海相沉积环境,且卡拉麦里组自下而上是由深水相向浅水相演化。上述研究表明,卡拉麦里碰撞带在下、中泥盆世时期洋盆体系并没有关闭,而碰撞完成时间应在晚泥盆世,而后才进入到板内沉积阶段。     

西藏申扎地区下泥盆统达尔东组珊瑚化石新材料

系统描述了采自藏北申扎地区下泥盆统达尔东组的部分珊瑚类化石。其中，皱纹珊瑚7属5种(含1新种Hunanaxonia xizangensis sp．nov．)及2个未定种；床板珊瑚形珊瑚4属4种，含2个新种(Pachycanalicula sparcula sp．nov．，Paraheliolites zakangensis sp．nov．)。这些珊瑚化石的发现将有助于进一步了解本区早泥盆世珊瑚动物群的共生组合、演化以及珊瑚的古生物地理区系。     

New material of the large-bodied caenagnathid Caenagnathus collinsi from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta,Canada

A reexamination of large caenagnathid material from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada, reveals undescribed material referable to Caenagnathus collinsi. A femur, two astragalocalcanei, two metatarsals, two unguals, and a caudal vertebra provide anatomical information on Caenagnathus collinsi. Estimates of femoral length based on the proportions of other oviraptorids suggest that the non-femoral material represents a taxon intermediate in size between Chirostenotes pergracilis from the Dinosaur Park Formation and Anzu wyliei from the Maastrichtian Hell Creek Formation. The femur is within the range of predictions, and confirms the body size estimates based on the other material. The large size of the material and a number of morphological characters distinguish the material from Chirostenotes pergracilis and suggest that it is referable to Caenagnathus collinsi. The relative diversity of caenagnathids in the Dinosaur Park Formation is likely underestimated.     

西准噶尔早泥盆世马拉苏组火山岩岩石成因研究

新疆西准噶尔北部地区的早泥盆世马拉苏组出露有少量富钠低钾的拉斑质中基性熔岩,这些分布于谢米斯台断裂北侧的玄武安山岩和玄武岩多呈夹层状断续产出于火山碎屑岩之中。马拉苏中基性熔岩的Mg#与主、微量元素协变关系及Th-Th/Nd图反映了其并非同源岩浆演化的结果。马拉苏火山岩中的玄武安山岩富集LILE、亏损HFSE,具有较高的Th含量及较低的Hf/Th和(Nb/Th)PM比值,显示出弧火山岩的地球化学特征。其中的玄武岩则具有略为平坦的稀土元素分配样式,较低的Th含量及较高的Hf/Th和(Nb/Th)PM比值,此同MORB地球化学特征极为相似;虽然其也显示有轻微的LILE富集、HFSE亏损,但是较高的La/Nb比值则暗示这同地壳或俯冲物质组分的卷入有关,且一系列构造环境判别图解也进一步印证了马拉苏组内的玄武岩应属似MORB基性熔岩。此外,两类岩石的高场强元素比值Zr/Nb、Hf/Ta同全球平均大洋中脊玄武岩的相应比值极为接近,反映了马拉苏组中基性火山岩的物质源区主体均为MORB地幔物质源区。La/Yb-Gd/Yb原始地幔标准化比值的模拟计算进一步显示了马拉苏组玄武安山岩与受改造(俯冲沉积物或地壳物质的混染)的石榴子石或尖晶石-石榴子石地幔橄榄岩物质源区的部分熔融作用有关,而似MORB型玄武岩则源自尖晶石地幔橄榄岩源区的部分熔融。结合区内同期的蛇绿岩、火山岩和碱性花岗岩的地球化学研究,我们可以进一步推断此类兼具有似MORB和弧火山岩地球化学特征的早泥盆世马拉苏火山岩应当是西准噶尔地块北部在早古生代受后期俯冲作用影响下经历弧后扩张形成的火山-岩浆地质记录。     

湖北宜昌地区晚泥盆世黄家磴组植物化石新材料及其意义

报道了宜昌官庄一带晚泥盆世黄家磴组的植物化石,共计6属6种(其中包括1个相似种和1个未定种),即纤原始鳞木(相似种)Prorolepidodendron cf. scharyanum Krejci,大拟鳞木Lepidodendropsis arborescens (Sze) Sze,平圆印木Cyclostigma kiltorkense Haught.,亚鳞木(未定种)Sublepidodendron sp.,斜方薄皮木Leptophloeum rhombicum Dawson和脐根座Stigmaria ficoides (Sternberg) Brongn。这些植物化石的发现,不仅丰富了黄家磴组植物组合的内容,为确定该组的时代提供了充分的古生物证据,而且表明以往归入中泥盆世的纤原始鳞木Prorolepidodendron scharyanum Krejci的地质时限可上延至晚泥盆世黄家磴期早、中期。     

Stromatoporoid growth forms and Devonian reef fabrics in the Upper Devonian Alexandra Reef System,Canada – Insight on the challenges of applying Devonian reef facies models

Existing facies models for Devonian reef systems can be divided into high‐energy and low‐energy types. A number of assumptions have been made in the development of these models and, in some cases, criteria that distinguish important aspects of the models are poorly defined. The Upper Devonian Alexandra Reef System contains a variety of reef fabrics from different depositional environments and is ideal for studying the range of environments in which stromatoporoids thrived and the facies from these different environments. A wide variety of stromatoporoid growth forms including laminar, tabular, anastamosing laminar and tabular, domal, bulbous, dendroid, expanding conical, concave‐up whorled‐laminar, concave‐up massive tabular and platy‐multicolumnar are present in the Alexandra Reef System. The whorled‐laminar and massive tabular concave‐up growth forms are virtually undocumented from other Devonian reefs but were common in the reef front of the Alexandra, where they thrived in a low‐energy environment around and below fair‐weather wave base. In contrast, high‐energy parts of the reef margin were dominated by bioclastic rubble deposits with narrow ribbon‐like discontinuous bodies of laminar stromatoporoid framestone. In the lagoon, laminar stromatoporoids formed steep‐sided sediment‐dominated bioherms in response to sea‐level rise and flooding. Relying mostly on the different reef facies in the Alexandra system, a new classification scheme for Devonian reef fabrics has been developed. Devonian reef fabrics can be classified as being: (i) sediment‐laden metazoan dominated; (ii) metazoan–microbial dominated (boundstone); (iii) metazoan dominated (framestone); or (iv) metazoan–marine cement dominated. Distinction of these fabrics carries important sedimentary and palaeoecological implications for reconstructing the depositional environment. With examples from the Alexandra Formation, it is demonstrated that reef facies accumulated in a range of depositional environments and that the simple observation of massive stromatoporoids with or without microbial deposits does not automatically imply a high‐energy reef margin, as otherwise portrayed in a number of the existing facies models for these systems.     

Sulphide ooids from the proterozoic Siyeh Formation of Alberta,Canada

Sulphide ooids from 0.5 to 4 mm in diameter occur over a large area in a thin arenite bed near the base of the Proterozoic Siyeh Formation in southwestern Alberta. Examination by optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, and electron microprobe, reveals that the ooids are composed of concentric layers, a few micrometers to a few tens of micrometers thick, of pyrite and chalcopyrite. Covellite is also present in several ooids. Copper sulphides are more abundant towards the centre of the ooids than in the outer shells where pyrite is predominant. A slightly eccentric nucleus of chalcopyrite and/or titanium oxide occurs in several ooids. It is speculated that the ooids grew during early diagenesis of the arenite, and that the source of metals were black argillaceous sediments above and below the arenite. The nucleation of sulphides around detrital grains of chalcopyrite and titanium oxide has an important bearing on metallogenetic models of stratiform copper deposits.     

Dolomitization of the Middle Devonian Winnipegosis carbonates in south-central Saskatchewan, Canada

The Middle Devonian Winnipegosis carbonate unit in south‐central Saskatchewan is partially to completely dolomitized. Two major types of replacive dolomite are distinguished. Microcrystalline to finely crystalline dolomite (type 1) displays nonplanar‐a to planar‐s textures, mimetically replaces the precursor limestone, accounts for about four‐fifths of dolomite phases volumetrically, and mainly occurs in the Winnipegosis mounds and the Lower Winnipegosis Member directly underlying the mounds. Medium crystalline dolomite (type 2) shows planar‐s to planar‐e textures, commonly occurs in the Lower Winnipegosis and Brightholme members, and decreases upward in abundance. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of type 1 dolomite (0·70795 to 0·70807) fall within the estimated Sr‐isotopic range for Middle Devonian marine carbonates. Stratigraphic, petrographic and geochemical data constrain the formation of type 1 dolomite to hypersaline sea water in a near‐surface environment, after marine cementation and sub‐aerial diagenesis and prior to precipitation of the Middle Devonian Leofnard salts. Movement of dolomitizing fluids could be driven by density differences and elevation head. The shift to lower δ¹⁸O values of type 1 dolomite [?7·4 to ?5·1‰ Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite (VPDB)] is interpreted as the result of recrystallization at elevated temperatures during burial. Type 2 dolomite has higher ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios (0·70809–0·70928), suggesting that the dolomite probably formed from basinal fluids with an increased richness in the radiogenic Sr isotope. In type 2 dolomite, Sr²⁺ concentrations are lower, and Fe²⁺ and Mn²⁺ concentrations are higher, compared with the associated limestone and type 1 dolomite. Type 2 dolomite is interpreted as having been formed from upward‐migrating basinal fluids during latest Devonian and Carboniferous period.     

云南景洪上泥盆统南光组沉积环境新议

云南景洪东南地区出露一套泥盆系,前人将其以粗粒碎屑岩为特征的部分命名为怕当组,根据腕足类化石鉴定其地质时代为中泥盆世;以碎屑岩、凝灰岩为特征的部分被命名为南光组,根据植物化石斜方薄皮木（Lepotophloeum rhombicum）划归晚泥盆世。对其沉积环境尚存在陆相和海陆交互相、浅海陆架相、半深海-深海相沉积环境的不同认识。本研究发现,粗粒碎屑岩层序中也发现有晚泥盆世标准植物化石斜方薄皮木（Lepotophloeum rhombicum）,并且粗粒碎屑岩层序位于剖面上部,南光组位于剖面下部,说明两者的地质时代均为晚泥盆世。故建议废除怕当组,将两者合并为上泥盆统南光组。南光组具有典型的鲍马序列特征,含有放射虫等海洋环境生物化石,属于深海浊流沉积层序。     

Dinosaur eggshells from the Santonian Milk River Formation of Alberta,Canada

The North American fossil record of dinosaur eggshells for the Cretaceous is primarily restricted to formations of the middle (Albian–Cenomanian) and uppermost (Campanian–Maastrichtian) stages, with a large gap in the record for intermediate stages. Here we describe a dinosaur eggshell assemblage from a formation that represents an intermediate and poorly fossiliferous stage of the Upper Cretaceous, the Santonian Milk River Formation of southern Alberta, Canada. The Milk River eggshell assemblage contains five eggshell taxa: Continuoolithus, Porituberoolithus, Prismatoolithus, Spheroolithus, and Triprismatoolithus. These ootaxa are most similar to those reported from younger Campanian–Maastrichtian formations of the northern Western Interior than they are to ootaxa reported from older middle Cretaceous formations (i.e., predominantly Macroelongatoolithus). Characteristics of the Milk River ootaxa indicate that they are ascribable to at least one ornithopod and four small theropod species. The taxonomic affinity of the eggshell assemblage is consistent with the dinosaur fauna known based on isolated teeth and fragmentary skeletal remains from the formation, although most ornithischians and large theropods are not represented by eggshell. Relative to the Milk River Formation eggshell, similar oospecies occurring in younger Cretaceous deposits tend to be somewhat thicker, which may reflect an increase in body size of various dinosaur lineages during the Late Cretaceous.     

Researches on Plants from the Lower Devonian Xujiachong Formation in the Qujing District, Eastern Yunnan

Fossil plants Hedeia sinica Hao et Gensel 1998, Huia gracilis Wang et Hao 2001 and Guangnania cuneata Wang et Hao are described from the Lower Devonian Xujiachong Formation, the Qujing district, eastern Yunnan, China. They contribute to our knowledge of the flora in this district. Based on the occurrence of common plants (Hedeia, Huia, Guangnania and Zosterophyllum australianum) and their horizons, it is proved for the first time that the mid-lower assemblage of the Xujiachong flora is comparable with the Early Devonian ((late) Pragian) Posongchong flora of southeastern Yunnan and the upper Baragwanathia flora of Australia. In view of this fact and the stratigraphic sequence, the mid-lower part of the Xujiachong Formation is considered to be of (late) Pragian age. Through comprehensive analyses of plant, bivalve and fish assemblages and the lithology, the upper part of the Xujiachong Formation is dated to be of early Emsian age. The Xujiachong flora belonged to the northeastern Gondwana palaeophytogeogr     

A New Zosterophyll Plant, Ramoferis gen. nov., from the Posongchong Formation of Lower Devonian (Pragian) of Southeastern Yunnan, China

A new genus and species,Ramoferis amalia gen.et sp.nov.,is described from the Early Devonian(Pragian)Posongchong Formation,Wenshan district of southeastern Yunnan,China.This plant has isodichotomous major axes,which also divide anisotomously distally to produce closely spaced lateral branches,often within fertile regions.The stalked round to reniform sporangia,borne laterally and spirally over several levels of branches,are distantly to moderately spaced or aggregated into distinct spikes.The stalks incr...     

A New Zosterophyll Plant, Ramoferis gen. nov., from the Posongchong Formation of Lower Devonian (Pragian) of Southeastern Yunnan, China

A new genus and species, Ramoferis amalia gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Early Devonian (Pragian) Posongchong Formation, Wenshan district of southeastern Yunnan, China. This plant has isodichotomous major axes, which also divide anisotomously distally to produce closely spaced lateral branches, often within fertile regions. The stalked round to reniform sporangia, borne laterally and spirally over several levels of branches, are distantly to moderately spaced or aggregated into distinct spikes. The stalks increase in width from the base to the sporangial junction resulting in a gradual transition between sporangium and stalk. Comparison with known zosterophylls shows that this plant is most similar to the genera Zosterophyllum and Wenshania, differing in the character combinations of sporangial shape, sporangium/stalk junction, stalk dimensions and orientation, and especially in both sterile and fertile branchlets being borne within the fertile zone. In addition, the observation and comparison indicate distinct variety in structure of sporangial border and suggest that the two-layered sporangium wall characterized by outer anticlinal layer and inner periclinal layer might represent potential synapomorphies, while the different dehiscence mechanism is an autapomorphy for each taxon in zosterophylls.