The Rhynie chert is a Lower Devonian[1] sedimentary deposit exhibiting extraordinary fossil detail or completeness (a Lagerstätte).[2] It is exposed near the village of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland; a second unit, the Windyfield chert, is located some 700 m away. The Rhynie chert contains exceptionally preserved plant, fungus, lichen and animal material[1] preserved in place by an overlying volcanic deposit. The bulk of the Devonian fossil bed consists of primitive plants (which had water-conducting cells and sporangia, but no true leaves), along with arthropods, lichens, algae and fungi.
This fossil bed is remarkable for two reasons. First, the age of the site (Pragian, Early Devonian, formed about 410 million years ago)[3][4] places it at an early stage in the colonisation of land. Second, these cherts are famous for their exceptional state of ultrastructural preservation, with individual cell walls easily visible in polished specimens. Stomata have been counted and lignin remnants detected in the plant material, and the breathing apparatus of trigonotarbids—of the class Arachnida—(known as book lungs) can be seen in cross-sections. Fungal hyphae can be seen entering plant material, acting as decomposers and mycorrhizal symbionts.
^ abGarwood, Russell J; Oliver, Heather; Spencer, Alan R T (2019). "An introduction to the Rhynie chert". Geological Magazine. 157 (1): 47–64. doi:10.1017/S0016756819000670. ISSN 0016-7568. S2CID 182210855.
^Nunn, Elizabeth. "The Rhynie Chert". Fossil Lagerstätten. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
^Rice, C. M., Ashcroft, W. A., Batten, D. J., Boyce, A. J., Caulfield, J. B. D., Fallick, A. E., Hole, M. J., Jones, E., Pearson, M. J., Rogers, G., Saxton, J. M., Stuart, F. M., Trewin, N. H. & Turner, G. (1995). "A Devonian auriferous hot spring system, Rhynie, Scotland". Journal of the Geological Society, London. 152 (2): 229–250. Bibcode:1995JGSoc.152..229R. doi:10.1144/gsjgs.152.2.0229. S2CID 128977213.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Parry, S.F.; Noble S.R.; Crowley Q.G.; Wellman C.H. (2011). "A high-precision U–Pb age constraint on the Rhynie Chert Konservat-Lagerstätte: time scale and other implications". Journal of the Geological Society. 168 (4): 863–872. Bibcode:2011JGSoc.168..863P. doi:10.1144/0016-76492010-043. S2CID 128679831.
Basin, Central Australia, preserves 850 Ma cyanobacteria and algae. The Rhyniechert (410 Ma) of Scotland has remains of a Devonian land flora and fauna with...
Horneophyton is among the most abundant fossil organisms found in the Rhyniechert, a Devonian Lagerstätte in Aberdeenshire, UK. A single species, Horneophyton...
partial head with preserved mouthparts from the Early Devonian aged Rhyniechert around 400 million years ago, when Earth’s first terrestrial ecosystems...
Well-preserved fossils have been found in the 400-million-year-old Rhyniecherts of Scotland, and 305-million-year-old rocks in France. These fossils...
Kidston and William H. Lang in 1917. The species is known only from the Rhyniechert in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where it grew in the vicinity of a silica-rich...
Rhyniella is a genus of fossil springtails (Collembola) from the Rhyniechert, which formed during the Pragian stage of the Early Devonian. One species...
with existing enations The leaves of the Rhynie genus Asteroxylon, which was preserved in the Rhyniechert almost 20 million years later than Baragwanathia...
Rhynie may refer to: Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, a village in Scotland Rhyniechert, a sedimentary deposit located near the town Rhynie, South Australia Rynie...
partial specimen with preserved gut contents, found in the Windyfield (Rhynie) chert. Leverhulmia is an arthropod roughly 1.2 cm (0.47 in) long, with at...
preserved specimens described from the famous Early Devonian Rhyniechert and Windyfield chert in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Asteroxylon is considered a basal...
Wellman, C. H. (2011). "A high-precision U–Pb age constraint on the RhynieChert Konservat-Lagerstätte: time scale and other implications". Journal of...
as the new species Rhynia major. The species is known only from the Rhyniechert in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where it grew in the vicinity of a silica-rich...
preservation potential. The oldest fossils of acariform mites are from the RhynieChert, Scotland, which dates to the early Devonian, around 410 million years...
the early Devonian (416–359.2 Ma), when they occur abundantly in the Rhyniechert, mostly as Zygomycota and Chytridiomycota. At about this same time, approximately...
Devonian fossil assemblage from the Rhyniechert. These early plants were preserved by being petrified in chert formed in silica-rich volcanic hot springs...
describe fungi colonizing bulbils of Palaeonitella cranii from the Devonian Rhyniechert, interpreted as distinct from fungi colonizing the axes and branchlets...
land plant fossil locality is the Rhyniechert, found outside the village of Rhynie in Scotland. The Rhyniechert is an Early Devonian sinter (hot spring)...
that time. A rich diversity of fungi is known from the lower Devonian Rhyniechert; an earlier record is absent. Since fungi do not biomineralise, they...
like the early Devonian Aglaophyton from the Rhyniechert. Other fossil gametophytes found in the Rhyniechert shows they were much more developed than present...
order Lipostraca, and is the only abundant animal in the Pragian-aged Rhyniechert deposits. It resembles modern Anostraca, to which it is probably closely...
"rhyniophytoids" is sometimes used for the assemblage of plants found in the Rhyniechert Lagerstätte - rich fossil beds in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and roughly...
by the Emsian Stage. The most important Lagerstätte of the Pragian is Rhyniechert in Scotland. It is named after the city of Prague. The GSSP is located...
Devonian of western Europe. The genus was first found and described in the Rhyniechert in the 1920s by Arthur Stanley Hirst and S. Maulik. The family to which...
extinct trigonotarbid arachnids preserved in the 410 million-year-old Rhyniechert of Scotland. These Devonian fossil lungs are almost indistinguishable...
are similar to those of the present day have been described from the Rhyniechert of Scotland. Somewhat different charophytes have also been collected...
with plants may have facilitated the development of land plants. The Rhyniechert of the lower Devonian has yielded fossils of the earliest land plants...
species, Lepidocaris rhyniensis, which is the most abundant animal in the Rhyniechert deposits. It resembles modern Anostraca, to which it is probably closely...
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