Radiolarian Nature of the Thicker-shelled Goniatite Faunal Phase in some Namurian Limestone ‘Bullions’

Abstract

RECENTLY it has been discovered that rich and often excellently preserved radiolarian faunas are commonly associated with Namurian goniatites. Pulfrey¹ described small radiolaria-containing nodules from the base of the Edale Shales (Namurian) in north Derbyshire, and Davis² recorded some radiolaria, mostly indifferently preserved, from shales of the Eumorphoceras bisulcatum Girty S.S. Zone (Namurian) in north Derbyshire. Pulfrey considered the radiolarian phase unusual in the shale-limestone development of the Namurian and it has not been previously recognized that many Namurian ‘marine bands’ of Central England were radiolarian sediments—some approximating to true radiolarian oozes—at the time of their deposition. Detailed examination of the new radiolarian faunas is not complete: the present communication describes the nature of their occurrence and their macro-faunal associates.