Linking impacts and plant extinctions

Leahy, Guy D.; Spoon, Michael D.; Retallack, Gregory J.

doi:10.1038/318318b0

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Geological interpretation of Oxroad Bay has benefited greatly from studies of analogous present-day tuff-rings, notably by Leys (1982Leys ( , 1983. However, recent studies of pedogenesis and biotic colonisation of volcanic terrains have focused on catastrophic rhyolitic eruptions that are isolated in space and time: Krakatau (Flenley 1979;Flenley & Richards 1982;Flenley et al 1984;Whittaker et al 1989), Mount St. Helens (Fritz 1980(Fritz , 1986Harrison & Fritz 1982;Fritz & Harrison 1985;Leahy et al 1985;Moral & Clampitt 1985;Karowe & Jefferson 1987), Nevado del Ruiz (Fritz 1986;Bakker & Salomons 1989) and El Chichon (Spicer et al 1985). Such eruptions have profoundly different effects from those of basaltic tuff-rings such as the Tantallon Vent.…”

Section: Future Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

A reappraisal of the Dinantian floras at Oxroad Bay, East Lothian, Scotland. 2. Volcanicity, palaeoenvironments and palaeoecology

Bateman

Scott

1990

Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences

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The classic late Tournaisian plant-bearing locality at Oxroad Bay was investigated by detailed field mapping, lithological logging, studies of clast orientation, thin-section petrography and analyses of bulk geochemistry. The lithologically and structurally complex,c. 45 m-thick succession includes eight plant-bearing exposures (each consisting of up to 16 phytofossiliferous horizons) that have yielded 43 anatomically-preserved organ-species and 19 adpressed organ-species. All floral assemblages are allochthonouss.l.and demonstrate a wide range of preservation states. They occur in five successive facies (braided flood-plain, shallow volcanigenic lacustrine, terrestrial mass-flow/base-surge, shallow biogenic lacustrine, dominantly terrestrial reworked ashes) that reflect increasing influence of several basaltic tuff-ring volcanoes on an ocean-marginal lowland bordering the Southern Uplands Massif. The variable local climate reflected proximity to the proto-North Sea and eruptive seeding of the atmosphere with ash particles. Base-surges, seismically-initiated mass-flows and volcanically-induced wildfires restricted the development of mature soils and of edaphic climax communities. These disturbances created a sequence of mosaic palaeocatenas that supported a wide range of sub-communities at any one moment in time. At least some of the relativelyk-selected species that occupied the preceding, fluvially-dominated terrain were extirpated by the persistent volcanism, yielding to immigrants that were better pre-adapted to the unstable environment. Low levels of competition allowed non-adaptiven-selection, enhancing the establishment potential of evolutionary innovations.

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