Fish Bed Formation Explained

Fish Bed Formation
Type:Formation
Age:Wenlock
~
Period:Wenlock
Prilithology:Sandstone, conglomerate
Otherlithology:Shale, siltstone
Region:South Lanarkshire
Coordinates:55.5°N -3.9°W
Paleocoordinates:-17.9°N -18.3°W
Unitof:Glenbuck Group

The Fish Bed Formation is a geologic formation in Scotland, United Kingdom. The fluvial to lacustrine sandstones, shales, siltstones and conglomerates preserve flora, arthropods, among which eurypterids, invertebrates and early fish fossils dating back to the Wenlock epoch of the Silurian period.[1]

Description

The fish beds are contained within red-bed sequences comprising conglomerates, sandstones and siltstones that exhibit sedimentological features suggestive of deposition in terrestrial–fluviatile and lacustrine environments (Bluck 2002). The sporomorph assemblage from the Fish Bed Formation indicates that it is entirely non-marine and was most likely deposited in a relatively permanent lacustrine setting (Wellman and Richardson 1993).[2]

The formation, at the time part of Avalonia, was deposited during the Grampian orogeny.

Fossil content

The Fish Bed Formation has provided fossils of:[1]

Fish

Arthropods

Eurypterids

Invertebrates

Gastropods

Flora

See also

References

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=displayStrata&geological_group=&formation=Fish%20Bed&group_formation_member=Fish%20Bed Fish Bed Formation
  2. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=155868 Smithy Burn, Hagshaw Hills Inlier
  3. Wilson, 2005
  4. Plotnick, 1999