Rhynie chert

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Hand sample of the Rhynie chert.

File:Rhynie chert with Rhynia 1.png

Surface view of a polished piece of Rhynie chert showing many cross-sections of Rhynia stems (axes). Scale bar is 1 cm.

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Thin section of a piece of Rhynie chert viewed by transmitted light showing the cross-section of a stem of Rhynia

The Rhynie chert is a Lower Devonian sedimentary rock, part of the Old Red Sandstone. It has extraordinary fossils, and is a Lagerstätte.

The chert is exposed near the village of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. A second unit, the Windyfield chert, is some 700 m away.

The Rhynie chert is exceptionally preserved material covered by an overlying volcanic deposit. Most of the fossil bed has primitive plants (which had water-conducting cells and sporangia, but no true leaves). There are also arthropods, lichens, algae and fungi.

Date

This fossil bed is remarkable for two reasons. First, the age of the site, formed about 410 million years ago. This places it at an early stage in the colonisation of land. Second, the sheer quantity and variety of lifeforms throws a vivid light on the whole ecosystem near the hot springs.

Quantity

Seven land plant taxa have been found in the Rhynie and Windyfield cherts:

• Aglaophyton
• Asteroxylon
• Horneophyton
• Nothia
• Rhynia
• Trichopherophyton
• Ventarura

Also, the cherts have crustacea, primitive insects and other arthropods, fungi, lichen, and cyanobacteria. Even mycorrhizas are found in the Rhynie chert.

Quality

Second, these cherts are famous for their exceptional state of preservation. Individual cell walls are easy to see in polished specimens. Stomata have been counted and lignin remnants detected in the plant material. The "book lungs" of early spiders can be seen in cross-sections. Fungal hyphae can be seen entering plant material, acting as decomposers and mycorrhizal symbionts.

The oldest known insect (Rhyniognatha hirsti), which is rather like the modern springtails, was found in the Rhynie chert. This pushes dates for the origin of insects back to the Silurian period.

History of research

The chert was discovered by William Mackie while mapping the western margin of the Rhynie basin in 1910–1913.

Since 1980, the chert has been examined by the Münster group, and from 1987 by Aberdeen University. They showed the chert was indeed produced by a hot spring setting.

Conditions of formation

The chert was formed when silica-rich water from volcanic springs rose and rapidly petrified the early terrestrial ecosystem in situ. Organisms are petrified that way by hot springs today, although that quality of preservation has not been found in recent deposits. Hot springs, with temperatures between 90 to 120 °C (194 to 248 °F), were active; the water had probably cooled to under 30 °C (86 °F) before it reached the fossilised organisms. The deposits are interbedded with sands, shales and tuffs, which speaks of local volcanic activity. Deposition was very rapid.

The texture of the silica formed is like that found today in freshwater streams at Yellowstone National Park. They are typically alkaline (pH 8.7) and tepid 20 to 28 °C (68 to 82 °F).

Living vegetation covered around 55% of the land area, with litter covering 30% and the remaining 15% of the ground being bare.

Rhynie Chert Media

• Rhynie chert with Horneophyton 1.png

  Surface view of a polished piece of Rhynie chert showing many corms/tubers of Horneophyton. Marked examples: centre – single corm with rhizoids; left – linked corms with rhizoids. Scale bar is 1 cm.

• 20201205 Palaeocharinus rhyniensis.png

  P. rhyniensis reconstruction

• Crussolum crusserratum leg reconstruction.png

  Reconstruction of a Crussolum leg

• Rhyniognatha specimen.png

  Specimen of Rhyniognatha

• Lepidocaris rhyniensis.jpg

  Reconstruction of Lepidocaris

• Castracollis wilsonae.jpg

  Reconstruction of Castracollis

• Asteroxylon life restoration.jpg

  Asteroxylon life restoration

Other websites

• "Rhynie Chert Learning Resource". University of Aberdeen.