The geological and geomorphological setting of the Estuary and Firth of Clyde

1986 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 25-41
Author(s):  
W. Graham Jardine
Keyword(s):  
Quaternary Period ◽  
Shoreline Position ◽  
Late Precambrian ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Loch Lomond ◽  
Land Mass ◽  
Northwestern Margin ◽  
Early Palaeozoic ◽  
Clyde Sea ◽  
Sea Area

SynopsisIn late-Precambrian and early Palaeozoic times, the Clyde Sea Area lay at the junction of a major land mass and the Iapetus Ocean. Closure of the Ocean on its northwestern margin corresponded broadly with initiation of the Highland Boundary and Southern Uplands Faults and formation of southwestnortheast oriented basins of continental sedimentation. Northwest-southeast fractures of the Clyde Belt, along which the Northeast Arran and Southwest Arran troughs of the firth are emplaced, developed across the southwest-northeast Caledonoid grain in Carboniferous-Permian times. The firth and estuary began to assume their distinctive forms in Tertiary times. The area experienced several major glaciations during the Quaternary Period. Late Devensian effects are most distinct: overdeepening of the firth to depths exceeding — 160mOD; deposition of till and meltwater sediments up to 80 m in thickness. Clyde Beds, fossiliferous clays and silty sands up to 15 m in thickness, accumulated c. 13,150–10,000 BP in sub-arctic marine waters in the firth, estuary and Paisley embayment, and in the Lomond basin prior to the Loch Lomond Stadial. The Holocene marine transgression, which produced further modifications in shoreline position, e.g. in Ayrshire, the Paisley embayment and the Lomond basin, was followed by marine regression due to isostatic land rebound.

scholarly journals Introduction

1992 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. xi-xii
Keyword(s):  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
British Isles ◽  
Late Precambrian ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Lower Palaeozoic ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Early Palaeozoic ◽  
Early Maps

AbstractAlmost forty years have elapsed since Leonard Wills published his 'Palaeogeographical Atlas of the British Isles'; those forty years have seen a revolution in the earth sciences which has overturned many earlier ideas in geology. Palaeogeography has been affected just as much as other parts of the subject by this change.The advent of the plate tectonic theory has transformed our ideas of the Lower Palaeozoic palaeogeographical evolution of the British area and has rendered totally obsolete many aspects of Wills' maps. The application of plate tectonics has caused us to produce totally new palaeogeographical models for the late Precambrian and early Palaeozoic, and has emphasised that definitive palaeogeographies for this time interval cannot yet be compiled. Wills was at pains to point out that his Atlas was an 'Aunt Sally' at which to 'hurl one's own and other field observations'-our atlas too must be viewed in that light.The Precambrian and Lower Palaeozoic maps are separated for the northern and southern British Isles areas, because for much of that time the two areas were separated by the Iapetus Ocean. The recognition of important terrane boundaries in Scotland and Ireland has led to our attempt to reconstruct a map from the collage of terranes now in juxtaposition. These early maps owe much to Keith Ingham's experience of the Lower Palaeozoic-Keith would insist here that the maps are very much in the 'Aunt Sally' mould, and that his interpretations may not be able to stand the test of time-but they represent

Lower Ordovician brachiopods from the Ben Suardal Limestone Formation (Durness Group) of Skye, western Scotland

1984 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon B. Curry ◽  
Alwyn Williams
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Plate Tectonic ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Lower Ordovician ◽  
Northwestern Margin ◽  
Tectonic Position ◽  
Early Palaeozoic ◽  
Isle Of Skye

ABSTRACTTen silicified brachiopod taxa have been recovered from the Ben Suardal Limestone Formation (Durness Group) on the Isle of Skye, western Scotland. This Arenig fauna contains a new camerellid genus, Boreadocamara, and new species of each of the orthacean genera Archaeorthis, Fasciculina, and Oligorthis. Representatives of Billingsella, Finkelnburgia, Syntrophia, Syntrophopsis, and an indeterminate orthacean have also been recovered from etched residues of the Ben Suardal Limestone. The Skye fossils show strong affinities with the Scoto-Appalachian or American faunal province, in keeping with the inferred plate tectonic position of the Durness Group along the northwestern margin of the early Palaeozoic ‘Iapetus’ Ocean.

James Thomas Marshall's correspondence (1887–1895) with Scotland's Alexander Somerville: practical, personal and controversial matters in conchology

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. G. MOORE
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Taxonomic Revision ◽  
Marine Science ◽  
The One ◽  
Clyde Sea ◽  
Sea Area ◽  
Molluscan Species

Attention is drawn to the one side remaining of a nineteenth-century correspondence addressed to Alexander Somerville that is housed in the archives of the Scottish Association for Marine Science at Oban, concerning conchological matters. Previously unstudied letters from James Thomas Marshall shed new light on the practicalities of offshore dredging by nineteenth-century naturalists in the Clyde Sea Area; on personalities within conchology; on the controversies that raged among the conchological community about the production of an agreed list of British molluscan species and on the tensions between conchology and malacology. In particular, the criticism of Canon A. E. Norman's ideas regarding taxonomic revision of J. G. Jeffreys's British conchology, as expressed by Marshall, are highlighted.

scholarly journals XXIII.—The Clyde Sea Area

1892 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 641-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh Robert Mill
Keyword(s):  
The West ◽  
Experimental Physics ◽  
University Of Edinburgh ◽  
Marine Station ◽  
The Government ◽  
Government Grant ◽  
One Year ◽  
The University ◽  
Clyde Sea ◽  
Sea Area

The fjord-like inlets or sea-lochs which form so conspicuous a feature in the scenery of the west of Scotland stand in marked contrast to the shallow, low-shored firths of the east coast. When Dr John Murray decided to extend the physical and biological work of the Scottish Marine Station to the west coast he foresaw that many interesting conclusions were likely to be derived from the study of these isolated sea-basins. Various papers, published by him and other workers, contain preliminary discussions of many of the phenomena observed, fully justifying the anticipations which had been formed.For one year my work, as described in this paper, was carried out under the provisions of an Elective Fellowship in Experimental Physics of the University of Edinburgh, to which I had been elected in 1886; and subsequently by a personal grant from the Government Grant Committee for Scientific Research. The Committee also devoted several sums of money in payment of expenses in compiling this discussion. The Scottish Marine Station throughout gave the use of the steam-yacht “Medusa,” and the necessary apparatus.

XIX.—The Structure and Behaviour of Hiatella gallicana (Lamarck) and H. arctica (L.), with special reference to the Boring Habit

1949 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Russell Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
Technical Problems ◽  
The University ◽  
Clyde Sea ◽  
Sea Area

Of the genera of rock-boring lamellibranchs which occur in British waters, Hiatella (= Saxicava) is the commonest. But the method of boring remains obscure, and for this reason the present research was suggested by Professor C. M. Yonge, under whose direction it was conducted. Observations were made during 1945 and 1946 in the Clyde Sea Area and at the Millport Laboratory, while other work on living and preserved material from both the Clyde and Plymouth areas was carried out at the Department of Zoology, University of Glasgow. Acknowledgments are due for assistance in technical problems to Dr H. F. Steedman of the University of Glasgow, for help with the nomenclature of the genus to Mr R. Winckworth, and for much kindness and help to the late Mr R. Elmhirst, Director of the Millport Laboratory.

Age, evolution and tectonic history of the Highland Border Complex, Scotland

1984 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon B. Curry ◽  
B. J. Bluck ◽  
C. J. Burton ◽  
J. K. Ingham ◽  
David J. Siveter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Regional Scale ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
North American Plate ◽  
Tectonic History ◽  
Lower Ordovician ◽  
Northwestern Margin ◽  
Comprehensive Survey ◽  
History Of ◽  
Early Palaeozoic ◽  
Western Ireland

I. ABSTRACT: Research interest in the Highland Border Complex has been pursued sporadically during the past 150 years. The results and conclusions have emphasised the problems of dealing with a lithologically disparate association which crops out in isolated, fault-bounded slivers along the line of the Highland Boundary fault. For much of the present century, the debate has centred on whether the rocks of the complex have affinities with the Dalradian Supergroup to the N, or are a discrete group. Recent fossil discoveries in a wide variety of Highland Border rocks have confirmed that many are of Ordovician age, and hence cannot have been involved in at least the early Grampian deformational events (now accurately dated as pre-Ordovician) which affect the Dalradian Supergroup. Such palaeontological discoveries form the basis for a viable biostratigraphical synthesis. On a regional scale, it is apparent that the geological history of the Highland Border rocks must be viewed in the context of plate boundary tectonism along the entire northwestern margin of Iapetus during Palaeozoic times.II. ABSTRACT: Silicified articulate brachiopods from the Lower Ordovician (Arenig) Dounans Limestone are extremely rare but the stratigraphically diagnostic generaArchaeorthisSchuchert and Cooper, andOrthidiumHall and Clarke, have been identified. In addition, three specimens with characteristic syntrophiid morphology have been recovered. Inarticulate brachiopods are known from Stonehaven and Bofrishlie Burn near Aberfoyle, and have also been previously recorded from Arran.III. ABSTRACT: Micropalaeontological investigation of the Highland Border Complex has produced a range of microfossils including chitinozoans, coleolids, calcispheres and other more enigmatic objects. The stratigraphical ranges of the species lie almost entirely within the Ordovician and reveal a scatter of ages for different lithologies from the Arenig through to the Caradoc or Ashgill, with a pronounced erosional break between the Llandeilo and the Caradoc.IV. ABSTRACT: A Lower Ordovician (Arenig Series) silicified ostracode fauna from the Highland Border Dounans Limestone at Lime Craig Quarry, Aberfoyle, Central Scotland, represents the earliest record of this group of Crustacea from the British part of the early Palaeozoic ‘North American’ plate.V. ABSTRACT: Palaeontological age determinations for a variety of Highland Border rocks are presented. The data are based on the results of recent prospecting which has demonstrated that macro- and microfossils are present in a much greater range of Highland Border lithologies than previously realised. Data from other studies are also incorporated, as are modern taxonomie re-assessments of older palaeontological discoveries, in a comprehensive survey of Highland Border biostratigraphy. These accumulated data demonstrate that all fossiliferous Highland Border rocks so far discovered are of Ordovician age, with the exception of the Lower Cambrian Leny Limestone.VI. ABSTRACT: The Highland Border Complex consists of at least four rock assemblages: a serpentinite and possibly other ophiolitic rocks of Early or pre-Arenig age; a sequence of limestones and conglomerates of Early Arenig age; a succession of dark shales, cherts, quartz wackes, basic lavas and associated volcanogenic sediments of Llanvirn and ? earlier age; and an assemblage of limestones, breccias, conglomerates and arenites with subordinate shales of Caradoc or Ashgill age. At least three assemblages are divided by unconformities and in theirmost general aspect have similarities with coeval rocks in western Ireland.The Highland Border Complex probably formed N of the Midland Valley arc massif in a marginal sea comparable with the Sunda shelf adjacent to Sumatra–Java. Strike-slip and thrust emplacement of the whole Complex in at least four episodes followed the probable generation of all or part of its rocks by pull-apart mechanisms.

scholarly journals An experimental study of the ecological impacts of hydraulic bivalve dredging on maerl

2003 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Hauton ◽  
J.M Hall-Spencer ◽  
P.G Moore
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The West ◽  
Term Experiment ◽  
Sediment Tracer ◽  
Razor Clams ◽  
Short Term Experiment ◽  
Clyde Sea ◽  
Sea Area

AbstractA short-term experiment to assess the ecological impact of a hydraulic blade dredge on a maerl community was carried out during November 2001 in the Clyde Sea area on the west coast of Scotland. A fluorescent sediment tracer was used to label dead maerl, which was then spread out on the surface of sediment to act as a proxy for living maerl. The fauna collected by the dredge was dominated by the bivalves Dosinia exoleta and Tapes rhomboides, which were found to be intact. The target razor clams Ensis spp. were caught in low numbers, which reflected the low abundance of this genus within the maerl habitat. The hydraulic dredge removed, dispersed and buried the fluorescent maerl at a rate of 5.2 kg m−2 and suspended a large cloud of sediment into the water column, which settled out and blanketed the seabed to a distance of at least 8 m either side of the dredge track. The likely ecological consequences of hydraulic dredging on maerl grounds are discussed, and a case is made for protecting all maerl grounds from hydraulic dredging and establishing them as reservoirs to allow for the recruitment of commercial bivalve populations at adjacent fished sites.

scholarly journals A comparative study of the British species of Nucula and Nuculana

1954 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 457-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Species Level ◽  
Present Survey ◽  
Faecal Pellets ◽  
The Family ◽  
Marine Station ◽  
Clyde Sea ◽  
Sea Area

The survey of the sublittoral fauna of the Clyde Sea Area from 1949 onwards has shown that five species of the Protobranchiata are abundant throughout this region on a variety of substrata. Pelseneer (1891, 1899, 1911), Heath (1937), and Yonge (1939) have contributed much to the knowledge of the group as a whole, but little comparative work has been done at species level. Verrill & Bush (1897, 1898) studied the shell characters of the American Atlantic species. Moore (1931 a, b) worked on the faecal pellets of the British Nuculidae and attempted to distinguish the species by this means, while Winckworth (1930,1931), mainly in the light of the latter work, attempted to clarify the nomenclature of these species. Winckworth (1932) lists six British species of the family Nuculidae: Nucula sulcata Bronn, N. nucleus (Linné), N. hanleyi Winckworth, N. turgida Leckenby & Marshall, N. moorei Winckworth and N. tenuis (Montagu); and four species of the family Nuculanidae: Nuculana minuta (Müller), Yoldiella lucida (Loven), Y. tomlini Winckworth and Phaseolus pusillus (Jeffreys). All species of Nucula, except N. hanleyi, were taken from the Clyde Sea Area, although the latter species is included in the Clyde fauna list (Scott Elliot, Laurie & Murdoch, 1901). Only Nuculana minuta of the Nuculanidae has been taken on the present survey. Yoldiella tomlini is included in the 1901 list but is noted as being ‘insufficiently attested’. Nucula hanleyi was obtained from the Marine Station, Port Erin, but Yoldiella and Phaseolus were unobtainable.

The benthos of the deeper sediments of the Firth of Clyde, with particular reference to organic enrichment

1986 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 329-350
Author(s):  
T. H. Pearson ◽  
A. D. Ansell ◽  
L. Robb
Keyword(s):  
Sewage Sludge ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Dominant Species ◽  
Organic Enrichment ◽  
General Survey ◽  
Sludge Disposal ◽  
Benthic Infauna ◽  
Clyde Sea ◽  
Sea Area

SynopisA general survey of the biomass of the benthic infauna of the Clyde Sea Area and the distribution and abundance of the dominant species throughout the area, based on data from surveys undertaken in 1972 and 1974, is described. Recent surveys of the distribution of species along a well-defined gradient of organic enrichment on the Garroch Head sewage sludge disposal grounds in the central Firth of Clyde are used comparatively to suggest that benthic populations in the inner sea lochs, Kilbrannan Sound and in areas along the Ayrshire coast are markedly enriched. It is suggested that this enrichment may be caused by a general eutrophication of the Clyde Sea Area enhancing the effects of localised carbon inputs from urban areas.

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