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Above: Photograph of the delegates who attended the Rhynie conference, taken in the grounds of King's College, University of Aberdeen, 18th September 2003.
Over forty delegates attended this international conference and workshop, which provided a forum for discussion of all aspects of research on the Early Devonian Rhynie hot spring complex, Aberdeenshire Scotland. As well as from UK and European universities, delegates also came from the US, Australia and New Zealand.
A wide variety of areas of research were covered by oral and poster presentations, and are listed at the bottom of this page. Palaeontological aspects included both review papers and descriptions of new elements of the biota from the Rhynie and Windyfield cherts. Other areas covered included a history of Rhynie research, geology, mineralisation and dating of the Rhynie deposits. Various topics relating to modern hot spring analogues were also explored. These included taphonomy and preservation of biota, sinter formation and facies variation in hot spring environments, silica maturation and sinter diagenesis, together with the role of microbes in silicification, sinter formation and the precipitation of metals.
For the conference, with permission from Scottish Natural Heritage, a trench was excavated through part of the Rhynie chert-bearing unit, revealing a 12 metre sequence of cherts and chert-cemented sandstones interbedded with weathered carbonaceous sandstones, siltstones and shales (see inset below right). For the first time oriented blocks of chert were recovered from in situ chert beds, and will provide material for future work on the palaeoecology of the deposit. The trench was visited by the conference delegates on Saturday 20th September as the main part of a field excursion looking at the geology of the Rhynie area
| On Sunday 21st September,
Drs. Nigel Trewin and Clive Rice gave a talk on the geology and
palaeontology of the Rhynie hot spring complex at the school in Rhynie,
which was attended by over two hundred people from the village and the
surrounding area! Following the presentation members of the public were
invited to view the trench excavated through part of the Rhynie
chert-bearing sequence (see inset right).
We would like to thank Scottish Natural Heritage, who own the Rhynie chert SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) for their cooperation and allowing the excavation to take place. Jim Duncan is also thanked for his help in excavating the trench.
Right: Members of the public viewing the trench excavated through part of the Rhynie chert-bearing sequence at Rhynie. |
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The following contributions were given during the conference, and the abstracts may be viewed here.
History of
research on the geology and palaeontology of the Rhynie area,
Aberdeenshire,
Scotland.
Geological
setting of the Rhynie Hot Spring System.
Absolute
age and underlying cause of hot spring activity at Rhynie.
A
review of the sporophytes of embryophytes in the cherts at Rhynie. D. Edwards
(University of Cardiff)
Rhynie
chert gametophytes.
Rhynie
chert plants and adaptations to their substrates.
Assimilation and transpiration capabilities of rhyniophtic plants and implications for palaeoatmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. W. Konrad and A. Roth-Nebelsick (Institut für Geowissenschaften der Universität Tübingen)
Dispersed
spore assemblages from the Lower Devonian sequence of the Rhynie
outlier,
Scotland.
Fungi
in the Rhynie chert: a view from the dark side.
Charophyte
algae from the Rhynie Chert.
A
review of the palaeoenvironments and biota of the Windyfield chert.
A
harvestman (Arachnida: Opiliones) from the Early Devonian Rhynie
Cherts,
Aberdeenshire Scotland.
A
crustacean with cladoceran affinities from the Early Devonian (Pragian)
Rhynie
chert.
The
feeding habits of Lower Devonian terrestrial fauna; evidence from an
assemblage
of coprolites preserved in the Rhynie chert.
Experimental
taphonomy: silicification of plants in Yellowstone hot spring
environments.
Windows
on silica sinter maturation, preservation and depositional
environments, North
Island, New Zealand.
Modern
silicification of microbes in hot spring settings: implications for
interpretation of ancient silicified microbes.
Morphology,
facies and development of sinter terraces. R. W. Renaut
(University of
Saskatchewan), B. Jones (University of Alberta) and R. B. Owen (Hong
Kong
Baptist University)
Exploration
of possible metal precipitation pathways resulting from microbial
communities
present in metalliferous hot springs in New Zealand.
Bacterial
silicification: Experimental field and laboratory studies.
Meet Medusa: silicification of arthropods in a modern-day, terrestrial, hot-spring system. L. I. Anderson (National Museum of Scotland), A. Channing (National Museum of Wales), N. H. Trewin (University of Aberdeen) and S. Sturtevant (Billings, Montana).
A geothermal
wetland dominated by
unconsolidated chemically precipitated silica sediment: A window on
silica
deposition in Palaeozoic geothermal environments?
Rhynie chert: Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, London, Collection. P. G. Davis (Natural History Museum)
A new crustacean from the Pragian Rhynie chert, Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. S. R. Fayers and N. H. Trewin (University of Aberdeen)
The Rhynie chert - a web-based teaching and learning resource. N. H. Trewin, S. R. Fayers (University of Aberdeen) and L. I. Anderson (National Museum of Scotland)
IGCP 491:
Devonian Disaster ~
lahars and lagoons in northern New Brunswick.
Geothermal and
magmatic-hydrothermal systems in Cenozoic arc basalts, South Shetland
Islands,
Antarctica.
Correlation
between 3 boreholes,
drilled within the Rhynie SSSI, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. E.
Wilson and N. H.
Trewin (University of Aberdeen)
Old Red Sandstone Life Beyond the
Litter: Devonian Terrestrial Arthropods Outside of Rhynie and Gilboa
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