Exceptionally preserved fossils from Bickershaw, Lancashire UK (Upper Carboniferous, Westphalian A (Langsettian))

Abstract

Fossils from a new Upper Carboniferous LagerstaÈ tte of Late Westphalian A (Langsettian) age at Bickershaw, Lancashire, UK, are reported and an account of the locality is presented. In common with many Upper Carboniferous LagerstaÈ tten, the fossils are preserved within siderite nodules hosted by coal seam roof shales. The fossils include a diverse assemblage of plants, nonmarine bivalves, crustaceans, insects, arthropleurid fragments, a euthycarcinoid, xiphosurans, a whip scorpion, scorpion cuticle fragments, ®sh scales and coprolites. The arthropods, with a greater diversity and abundance of aquatic taxa, and the non-marine bivalves suggest a brackish,¯uvio-deltaic setting probably above the Haigh Yard Coal. However, tabulation of the relative abundances of fossils is of limited palaeoecological value, since the data represent a combination of the original community structure, each groups' preservation potential and mixing of material from dierent stratigraphic horizons on the tip.

An Early Devonian arthropod fauna from the Windyfield cherts, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

“…Euthycarcinoids from the Carboniferous Konservat-Lagersta Ètten of Montceau-les-Mines are undoubtedly freshwater from the evidence of associated fauna and the tectonic setting of this inland drainage basin (Racheboeuf et al 2002). Occurrences at other Carboniferous sites such as Mazon Creek (Illinois) and Bickershaw (northwest England) (Anderson et al 1997;Wilson and Almond 2001) are associated with brackish-water faunas in a deltaic setting, typi®ed by the non-marine bivalve Curvirimula. Euthycarcinus kessleri from the Lower Triassic of the Gre Ás a Á Voltzia of France (Gall and Grauvogel-Stamm 1999) shows an association with horseshoe crabs (Limulitella bronni), a notostracan (Triops cancriformis), and a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic arthropods in a semi-arid deltaic setting.…”

Reactivity of organic matter in aquifer sediments: geological and geochemical controls 1 1Associate editor: P. A. Maurice

“…These minerals are formed during sediment diagenesis and are often found in close association with organic matter (Anderson et al, 1997;Grimes et al, 2001).…”

The enigmatic arthropod Camptophyllia

“…The box-like construction revealed by these scans ( Figure 5) is reminiscent of the arrangement seen in the euthyacarcinoid Heterocrania rhyniensis, known from the Devonian Rhynie and Windyfield cherts (Anderson and Trewin, 2003;Hirst and Maulik, 1926). Euthycarcinoids are known from a number of Carboniferous deposits; the most pertinent to the current study are Coseley (Wilson and Almond, 2001), Bickershaw (Anderson et al, 1997), and Westhoughton (Anderson et al, 1999), but members of the order are also found in Montceau-Les-Mines, France (Racheboeuf et al, 2008), Ibbenbüren, Germany (Schultka, 1991), and Mazon Creek, USA (Schram, 1971). Their presence in these deposits suggests euthycarcinoids were relatively widespread in the Carboniferous, and this is reflected in fairly high morphological diversity during this period (Schram and Rolfe, 1982).…”