Microfossils from Silurian of England: ABSTRACT

Abstract

This paper is one of a series dealing with world-wide correlation of Silurian beds utilizing microfossils, chiefly Foraminifera, from acid residues. Extensive collections and several publications cover many of the sequences from North America, from West Texas to the Gaspe Peninsula. To correlate these sequences with sections elsewhere, a world-wide collection of samples has been made, supported by a National Science Foundation grant. The present paper is a report on the specimens recovered from all Silurian carbonate rocks in Great Britain with which correlations are to be made from North America, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Australia. Preliminary examination of the specimens from the Swedish island of Gotland and Scania show that most of the species from these islands are the same as those from England. A few of the species from England, Norway, and Gotland are identical with those from the Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma, Kansas subsurface, and central United States, but most of them are new. Nearly all of the arenaceous Foraminifera belong to the family Saccamminidae. Most are attached forms and have brown tests with abundant iron in the cement. These forms have not been described previously. A few species of Bathysiphon, Hyperammina, and Ammodiscus are the only other genera present. More than 11,000 specimens from England and 3,000 from Gotland have been mounted, providing abundant material for morphologic, evolutionary, and taxonomic study. In many places conodonts and scolecodonts are associated with arenaceous Foraminifera. Extensive studies and publications on these forms in Europe and North America provide a basis for stratigraphic association of all the microfossils. Such knowledge can be utilized to identify and correlate beds in places where only Foraminifera are present, thus providing an additional tool and means for correlation that previously has not existed. End_of_Article - Last_Page 471------------