Nautiloid cephalopods of the Kildare Limestone (Ashgill), Ireland

The nautiloid cephalopod fauna of the Kildare Limestone (Ordovician, Ashgill), County Kildare, eastern Ireland is described as a whole for the first time. It consists of four orthoconic taxa, newly assigned taxonomically, and one coiled form. There are other orthocones, doubtfully determined or undetermined.     

The stratigraphy,sedimentology and palaeontology of the Pleistocene Knocknasilloge Member,Co. Wexford. Ireland

The Pleistocene Knocknasilloge Member, an upward coarsening sequence of massive and laminated muds to cross-laminated fine sands and silts, was deposited in a series of shallow lacustrine basins formed at the retreating margin of the Late Devensian Irish Sea ice-sheet. Sedimentary successions mark increased proximity to a sediment input source and a shift from lake floor suspension sedimentation to bottom traction in low-angled prodelta foresets and distributary barmouth channels. The microfauna contained within the sequence is derived from preexisting climatic stages and there is no evidence to support either an in situ interglacial or glaciomarine origin, as previously proposed.     

Llandovery Crinoidea of the British Isles,including description of a new species from the Kilbride Formation (Telychian) of western Ireland

A new species of cladid(?) crinoid, Segmentocolumnus (col.) clarksoni, based on distinctive, disarticulated stem material, is described from the Upper Llandovery Kilbride Formation. Hitherto, this unit has yielded two taxa based on single, nearly complete crinoids. In contrast, S. (col.) clarksoni is known from numerous specimens, including common long pentagonal, pentameric, heteromorphic pluricolumnals with symplectial articulations, broad pentagonal lumina and narrow claustra. A related morphospecies is known from the Ashgill (Upper Ordovician) of Ireland. The fossil echinoderms of the Llandovery (Lower Silurian) are poorly known globally. Where present in this interval, echinoderms are more commonly preserved as disarticulated ossicles and rarely as complete specimens. Complete crinoids have now been identified from nine horizons in the Llandovery of the British Isles, making this one of the better known pelmatozoan faunas from this time interval. However, only two of these occurrences have yielded as many as five or more identifiable taxa. Seven of the nine occurrences are Upper Llandovery (Telychian). Genera are typical of the Silurian or (Upper Ordovician + Silurian); the only remnant Ashgill taxon that did not survive the Llandovery was the morphogenus Segmentocolumnus (col.) Donovan, an ‘extinction’ that probably owes more to taxonomic method than any evolutionary pattern. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Ordovician (Sandbian) brachiopods from the Mweelrea Formation,South Mayo,western Ireland: stratigraphic and tectonic implications

A Late Ordovician (Sandbian), Scoto‐Appalachian brachiopod fauna from the Mweelrea Formation in western Ireland confirms a location for the South Mayo Trough adjacent to the Laurentian margin, characterized at this time by a succession of marine excursions over fluviatile environments. The new, younger biostratigraphical data help to constrain the timing of late Grampian folding of this part of the South Mayo Trough. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Llandovery thelodonts and conodonts from the Kilbride Formation,Co. Galway,western Ireland

Acid etching of a calcareous sandstone horizon within the lower part of the upper Llandovery Kilbride Formation, exposed at Coolin Lough, Co. Galway, has yielded a phosphatic microfauna dominated by conodont elements and thelodont scales. The thelodonts are identified as Loganellia ex gr. scotica and provide the first record of fishes from the Lower Silurian of Ireland; they suggest a Telychian age. The conodont fauna is dominated by Icriodella, indicative of a nearshore environment of deposition. The microfossils were extracted from a shell bed packed with Eocoelia curtisi curtisi Ziegler, confirming a late Telychian age and also suggesting a shallow water depositional environment. This fauna developed marginal to Laurentia and is similar to coeval assemblages from the Anglo–Welsh area and Baltoscandia. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biostratigraphy of Dinantian limestones and associated volcanic rocks in the Limerick Syncline,Ireland

Rocks of Courceyan to Brigantian age are exposed in the Limerick Syncline. However, a complete Courceyan succession is known only from two boreholes which correlate closely, both faunally and lithologically, with a standard Limerick Province succession in the Pallaskenry Borehole on the Shannon estuary. This is followed by a thick Waulsortian sequence (the newly defined Limerick Limestone Formation) of late Courceyan to early Chadian age and overlying cherty micrites (the newly defined Lough Gur Formation) of early to late Chadian age, whose top is younger to the east. The Lough Gur Formation is succeeded by lavas and tuffs of the Knockroe Volcanic Formation whose upper part is interbedded with and overlain by shallow water oolites and algal-rich bioclastic limestones of the Herbertstown Limestone Formation. The higher part of the latter is in turn interbedded with lavas and tuffs of the Knockseefin Volcanic Formation. The Herbertstown Limestone has rich and diverse coral/brachiopod and foraminiferal assemblages of late Chadian to Asbian age. Its base is markedly diachronous: late Chadian in the west of the syncline and Holkerian in the east. Both the base and top of the Knockroe Volcanic Formation are thus shown to be markedly diachronous and volcanism extends from the Chadian to early Asbian. The Knockseefin Volcanic Formation is entirely of Asbian age. The highest limestones (Dromkeen Limestone Formation) have a diagnostic late Asbian–early Brigantian fauna and are overstepped by mid-Namurian shales.     

Buried oblique‐slip faults in the Irish Caledonides

Despite over a century of geological investigation, the Ordovician evolution of South Mayo, western Ireland, is still imperfectly understood. An example of this is the supposed lateral equivalence of two formations within the succession, the Rosroe and Derrylea Formations of Arenig age, exposed on opposite limbs of a major east–west syncline. These formations exhibit characteristics which suggest that they were not deposited in the same basin. Both formations contain tuff horizons. Geochemical analysis of these tuffs shows that each formation contains chemically distinct volcanic signatures suggesting deposition in separate sub‐basins. Previously the Rosroe Formation on the south limb of the syncline was considered the coarse‐grained proximal equivalent of the finer‐grained Derrylea Formation, both being deposited in a deep‐water fan environment. Previously published palaeocurrent data together with new data show the Rosroe Formation to have been derived from the northeast and therefore it cannot be the proximal equivalent of the Derrylea Formation. Additionally, the two formations show different and distinct associations of heavy mineral assemblages. It is suggested that one explanation for these data is that both formations were deposited in separate sub‐basins controlled by oblique slip sinistral faults, similar in some respects to the Cenozoic basins of the Gulf of California. In the Irish case these faults would have been largely buried by later Ordovician sedimentation. Some models for the Ordovician evolution of this area postulate the presence of an initial oceanic arc situated above a southward directed subduction zone. The presence of thick proximal submarine tuffs derived from an arc environment in the Rosroe Formation suggest that at least by this time the subduction zone was in fact northward directed and outboard of the arc. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Palynofloras from tournaisian lacustrine and tidal sequences in slieve bloom,counties laois and offaly,Ireland

Tournaisian miospore assemblages are used to determine the age of some plant-bearing horizons in the Old Red Sandstone succession of the Slieve Bloom Mountains, Counties Laois and Offaly, Ireland, and the sedimentology and conditions of deposition of the productive lithologies are described. The age of the marine transgression which terminated continental sedimentation is indicated, and the associated depositional environment is discussed. Comparisons are made with other micro- and macrofloras from Ireland, Britain, Canada, the U.S.S.R. and Bear Island.