Note on recent spore and goniatite evidence from the Passage Group, of the Scottish Upper Carboniferous succession

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Abstract
A break in the deposition of the Passage Group, formerly Scottish Millstone Grit, has been inferred by many authors. This was based on the lack of faunal evidence of the Namurian stages between the top of the Arnsbergian (E2) and the Coal Measures. Recent evidence from spores and goniatites has shown, however, that some, at least, of the missing stages are present. The spore evidence is from coal samples collected by Messrs P. J. Brand and D. K. Graham from Bonnyside No. 2 Mine by kind permission of the owners, Messrs James Dougall and Sons Ltd. The mine is sited one mile south-east of Bonnybridge, close to Bonnyside Estate Bore (1954–55). It starts in beds just below the local base of the Coal Measures and cuts down through the greater part of the Passage Group. From the record of the bore, the strata in the mine can be correlated with successions in the Clackmannan syncline (Fig. 1). A study, by the first-named author, of the spore assemblages obtained from the coals indicates that a more complete Namurian succession is present in Scotland than was formerly supposed. The samples were taken from fourteen thin coals, numbered as on Fig. 1, which range in horizon from just below No. 2 Marine Band up to the Bowhouse-bog Coal, near the top of the Passage Group. A moderate diversity of well-preserved miospores was obtained from most of the coals. Many of the spores are species of the genera Lycospora, Densosporites, Calamospora, Savitrisporites and ...

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