The nummulite assemblages from three different areas offshore Britain and Ireland have been examined in detail; a total of fifteen species were identified as occurring in this region. These areas are as follows: Porcupine Seabight Basin Shell/ Agip 35/13-1 (ditch cuttings); Fastnet Basin BP 56/26-1 (ditch cuttings); Western Approaches (dredged). Specimens figured by Curry (1937) were also examined, these included Nummulites variolarius, N. prestwichianus and the types of N. rectus. Also, a species which was referred to by Curry (1937) as a variety of N. prestwichianus is described and named herein as Palaeonummulites toddi nov. sp. Hennah (in prep.). Specimens of N. britannicus were also examined from its type locality. The type material of Nummulites rockallensis has been examined and the generic status reevaluated and subsequently changed to Nummulitoides. On the basis of septal filaments the genus Nummulites is split into three genera; Palaeonummulites with primary septal filaments only, Nummulites sensu stricto with primary and secondary septal filaments, and Retionummulites nov. gen. which possesses tertiary septal filaments. Previous methods of species description are discussed and a suggested format for species description is introduced. The relative importance of morphological features in species identification is discussed, with the conclusion drawn that no morphological feature should be over emphasised. The nummulite diversity offshore Britain and Ireland is far greater than previously realised; a total of fifteen species have been identified as occurring in the Western Approaches. In the Porcupine Seabight Basin there are two nummulitic horizons (containing six species of nummulites); the upper of these indicates a Lutetian to Bartonian sequence and the lower sequence indicates Upper Thanetian. Three deltaic cycles have been recognised in this area, the upper nummulitic sequence occurs in deltaic cycle 3; on the basis of the nummulites which occur in this sequence this is probably equivalent to the Upper Bracklesham Cycle. The lower nummulite horizon occurs within cycle 1; this has been correlated with the Thanet Cycle. In the Fastnet Basin (containing four species of nummulites) the nummulites which are present are indicative of the Bartonian; this is in agreement with the previous biostratigraphical results for this well. The nummulites which have been identified as occurring in the Western Approaches indicate a more sustained presence of this group during the Eocene with a gap in the upper part of the Upper Ypresian. However, the nummulite assemblages that occur offshore Britain and Ireland represent low diversity marginal provinces developed when the tropical! subtropical belt was at its maximum throughout the Palaeogene. Following on from this Schaub's nummulite biozones, therefore, have a limited application to these areas.

One hundred and thirteen species and varieties of foraminifera are deacribed from the Recent bottom sediments of Tremadoc Day. A detailed study ot the genus Technitella was carried out and the genus emended in the light of new evidence. The morphological characters, geographical distribution and stratigraphic range of each species and variety is discussed. Forty three species and varieties have not been previously recorded trom the British area, and five have not been previously obtained from recent sediments.

No description available.

New brachiopod collections from beds which may be properly assigned to the Lower Devonian, together with a review of all available museum collections, has enabled the Lower Devonian brachiopod fauna, as a whole, to be revised for the first time this century. Some 43 valid taxa are recognised and described and their distribution and palaeoecological significance are discussed. A marine horizon in beds mapped as Dartmouth Slates has yielded a brachiopod fauna dating it as Mid - Late Siegenian. This is interpreted as a brief marine incursion which preceded the main marine phase represented by the Meadfoot Group. The brachiopod fauna suggests that the Meadfoot Group of south Devon and north Cornwall spans the Late Siegenian to Late Emsian interval. At some localities in the Meadfoot Group, the Staddon facies and Meadfo~t facies (= Staddon Grits and MeadfootBeds of old terminology) can be distinguished. This is interpreted as the distinction between inner shelf and outer shelf environments. The evidence of the brachiopods indicates that the development of the Staddon facies was not synchronous across the outcrop of the Meadfoot Group and it cannot be recognised with certainty in much of south Devon. The Lynton Beds of north Devon have yielded an impoverished brachiopod fauna indicating a Late Emsian age and are interpreted as having been deposited in a near-shore, subtidal environment. The source of a sparse early Emsian brachiopod fauna from Mudgeon, south Cornwall is interpreted as an exotic block of Devonian sediments.

Stable nitrogen (N) isotope analysis of human bone collagen has been used for almost three decades for reconstructing the diets of ancient humans. A major limitation in this 'standard model', using the 15N-enrichment of human bone collagen δ15N values over associated herbivore bone collagen δ15N values to Fsredict the relative contribution of animal protein to human diet, is the assumption that the δ15Nvalues of plants consumed by humans and herbivores are identical. The work described in this thesis was carried out with the aim of determining the δ15N values of amino acids in crop species likely to be consumed by humans and herbivores and assessing how these contribute to bulk collagen δ15N values. This serves to refine interpretations of ancient human diet, allowing more accurate estimation of the relative contribution of plant and animal protein to human diet in the past. This is particularly pertinent at Neolithic sites, where relatively high human bone collagen 01SN values have been interpreted as due to consumption of high proportions of animal protein. These relatively high δ15N values could in fact be due to consumption of manured crops, with higher 01SN values _ than the plants consumed by associated herbivores. This study began by determining a method for the accurate and precise determination of plant and animal protein amino acid 01SN values by GC-C-IRMS. It was concluded that hydrolysis of lipid-extracted plant material, followed by purification of amino acids using ion-exchange chromatography and derivatisation to their N-acetyl-i-propyl esters, gives accurate and precise amino acid 01SN values. This method accounts for 75% of the N in human bone collagen, over 68% of the N in wheat and barley grain and over 58% of the N in pulses. A preliminary investigation of bone collagen amino acid 01SN values from humans and fauna at archaeological sites in South Africa illustrated the potential of amino acid 01SN values in elucidating the factors contributing to the bulk collagen δ15N value. The next step was to elucidate plant amino acid N cycling in agriculturally relevant crop species and in parts of the plant tending to be preserved in the archaeological record. Amino acid 01SN values of experimentally grown barley and bread wheat grains and rachis and broad beans and peas were found to broadly relate to metabolic pathways involved in their biosynthesis and catabolism. Manuring resulted in a consistent 15N-enrichment of cereal grain and rachis amino acid 01SN values but no 15N-enrichment of pulse amino acid δ15N values. Investigation of the chemical composition of modem charred grains and grains from archaeological sites was then carried out, to determine whether modern grains charred under experimental conditions can provide suitable analogues for their archaeological counterparts. Since 'charring of modem charred grains results in the conversion of starch and protein into melanoidins with alkyl and aromatic C moieties, whereas archaeological grains contain only aromatic C, it was concluded that heating of modem grains to 230°C does not account for all of the changes in chemical composition associated with diagenesis. Finally, N isotope analysis of amino acids from human and herbivore bone collagen isolates from three Neolithic sites, together with N isotope analysis of preserved cereal remains, was used to estimate amino acid δ15N values of the plants consumed by humans and herbivores and thus to elucidate dietary influences on bulk bone collagen δ15N values. This demonstrated the potential of bone collagen amino acid δ15N values in the elucidation of differential contributions of plant and animal protein to the human diet, drawing attention to the significant effect of plant N isotope signatures on palaeodietary interpretation using bone collagen δ15N values.

The late Ordovician was a period of major climatic and biological change, much of which is poorly understood. Global cooling began in the Caradoc (early Katian) with the build-up of ice in southern polar regions of the palaeocontinent of Gondwana. Cooling continued into the Ashgill (late Katian) but may have been interrupted by a brief period of global warming, the Boda Event, in the Cautleyan-Rawtheyan immediately prior to the Hirnantian glacial maximum. The proceeding Hirnantian Stage of the Upper Ordovician was a period of abrupt global change in the biosphere, climate and ocean geochemistry. These events are marked by: (1) an abrupt positive Hirnantian isotopie carbon excursion (HICE); (2) one of the three global Phanerozoic mass extinctions and (3) an extensive drop in sealevel associated with the maximum extent of the Gondwanan ice sheet. Biostratigraphic correlation for the Late Ordovician between basin and shelf sections in the Welsh Basin is limited. The current study describes three new chitinozoan taxa, Spinachitina penbryniensis, Belonechitina reticulatus and Belonechitina ceredigionensis and developed a chitinozan biostratigraphic scheme for the Welsh Basin. Four of the six Avalonian Ashgill chitinozoan biozones are recognized: the bergstroemi fossensis, umbilicata and taugourdeaui Biozones. The Baltoscandian and Laurentian index taxon Hercochitina gamachiana is recorded for the first time in Avalonia and a new lower Hirnantian regional biozone, the new Belonechitina reticulatus n. sp. Biozone is erected. The Cautleyan-Rawtheyan (late Katian) rugata Biozone was not recorded. Four depth-facies biotopes for chitinozoa from the upper Katian-Hirnantian (Upper Ordovician) of Avalonia have been identified herein. These are: 1) an open ocean shallow-water epipelagic biotope which includes Cyathochitina campanulaeformis; 2) an open ocean middle-depth mesopelagic biotope comprising Hercochitina and Spinachitina; 3) an open ocean deep-water meso-bathypelagic biotope characterized by Bursachitina umbilicata and 4) a shelf biotope containing predominantly Desmochitina. The taxonomic composition of the open ocean middle- depth mesopelagic biotope changes from one dominated by Hercochitina and Spinachitina in the Upper Katian to one comprising Ancyrochitina in the Hirnantian post-glacial transgression. The distribution of the deep-water meso- bathypelagic biotope and the shelf biotope is affected by basin hydrography and sea level respectively. Changing hydrography induced by climate belt reconfiguration along the southern margin of lapetus in the Rawthean (late Katian), displaced deep-water taxa into the semi-restricted Welsh Basin. With sea level fall in the early Hirnantian, taxa from the shelf biotope expanded into the shallower basin. Origination of biostratigraphically useful taxa in such segregated environments, e.g. Bursachitina umbilicata, restricts their distribution to periods of climatic and environmental change. Gradual change in climate and, hence, distribution of important biozone taxa, leads to diachroneity of chitinozoan bio-zones. During the Katian and Hirnantian, the Welsh Basin, UK, lay on the northern margin of the palaeocontinent of Avalonia at mid-latitudes (estimated between 32-45 s), within the boundaries of the present-day position of the STHP. It therefore provides a suitable environment to test for sensitivity of palaeo-climate belt movement in a mid-palaeolatitude setting (Armstrong et al, in revision).When the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and Sub-Tropical high pressure belt (STHP) were in a southerly position, mid-palaeolatitudes, which includes the Welsh Basin, were positioned beneath south-easterly trade winds. This climate belt configuration is recorded in the Welsh Basin by the deposition of organic-rich laminated hemipelagites deposited during wind-driven coastal up-welling. Coastal upwelling, increased productivity and organic carbon burial are recorded by increased Ba/Th, increased TOC wt% and negative δ(^13)C. Negative δ (^13)C excursions are interpreted to represent remobilization of (^12)C֊enriched waters during upwelling from the deep-ocean. The onset of the expression of climate belt movement during Boda Event times is later in the Welsh Basin than at low-palaeolatitudes. At low-palaeolatitudes the δ(^18)Ο response to shifting ITCZ occurred in the Cautleyan whilst in the Welsh Basin the isotopic and lithological response to moving STHP began in the Rawtheyan. This delay in expression of events is accounted for by ice-sheet- moderated rectification of insolation in the run-up to the glacial maximum. The onset of the Hirnantian glacial maximum is orbitally-moderated and is interpreted to represent an orbital configuration when eccentricity wag high, obliquity low and aphelion occurred during Austral summer. It represents a threshold at which the Gondwanan ice-sheet was able to survive precession and obliquity-induced ablation. Once this threshold had been reached, global climate belt position stabilized in a position where the ITCZ lay north of the equator and the STHP lay north of Avalonia. Four positive δ (^13)Corp excursions in Hirnantian-age rocks from the Welsh Basin have been recognized in this study and are considered to represent the HICE. They correlate well between basin and shelf environments and also with a proposed sequence stratigraphic model for the Hirnantian in the Welsh Basin. Two excursions of up to 3 %(_00) occur in the lower Hirnantian reticulatus chitinozoan Bio- zone and two excursions of 1 %(_00) are present in the late Hirnantian taugourdeaui Biozone. Higher carbon storage in the basin, coincident with positive δ (^13)Corp excursions during glacial periods, indicate a shift in the locus of carbon burial from the shelf to the basin during low sealevel. The topology of the regional Hirnantian isotope curve for the Welsh Basin compares with only a few curves from other parts of the world indicating strong regional carbon cycling. Comparison of the relative timing of the onset of HICE and peak HICE values from other palaeocontinents demonstrate little, if any, consistency with palaeolatitude or basin setting. It is demonstrated that this chemostratigraphic diachroneity of HICE can be attributed to the process of signal rectification of δ (^13)Corp records most likely due to numerous local carbon cycling processes.

In this thesis Post-glacial deposits up to 9,863 years old have been examined in an attempt to determine and interpret the vegetational history of the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. Sample collections were made mainly from the sheltered north-eastern coastal lowlands surrounding Cumberland West and Cumberland East Bays, but also include material from the exposed south-west coast. A pollen diagram from the Falkland Islands, the nearest floristically-rich landmass to South Georgia, is presented in the Appendix (Fig. A 1.3). This is the first to have been made from the Falkland Islands. The Quaternary palynological and climatological research that has been carried-out in the sub-Antarctic and Southern high latitudes is outlined in Chapter I, followed by an introduction to the environment and biota of South Georgia (Chapter 2). The main body of this thesis (Chapters 3,4, & 5) deals with collections, methods of study, and presents the results of eight sets of pollen analyses together with a study of the modarn pollen deposition. The final chapter (Chapter 6 and 7) attempts a cautious interpretation of the results. Many elements of the present vascular flora are recorded from deposits over 9,000 years old; the suggestion is therefore that some of the present-day flora of South Georgia survived the last-glaciation, and that conditions were quite warm in the sampled localities c. 9,000 yrs. E. P. During the last 9,000 years conditions have not prevented the growth of Acaena spp. Grass pollen deposition has fluctuated, probably reflecting the fortunes of coastal tussock grass, Paa flabellata, in response to climatic, eustatic successional, or biotic causes.

During the Tertiary (~ 50 million years ago) forests were present in Antarctica, but fossil evidence of insect life in the forests is rare. Extensive fossil floras from Antarctica contain evidence of insect herbivory on the leaves; these provide indirect evidence of past insect life. Such preservation of the behaviour of insects (insect trace fossil) can be used to examine the diversity of insects that lived in the forests of Antarctica in the past. Palaeogene (65 Ma - 35 Ma) fossil floras from two localities on the Antarctic Peninsula (King George Island and Seymour Island) were examined for the presence ofinsect trace fossils. Fossil leaves were preserved as impressions and compressions within siltstones and sandstones and represent leaves that were preserved within a quiet lake environment (King George Island) or shallow marine setting (Seymour Island). The floras were dominated by leaf morphotypes that resemble modem Nothofagaceae (Southern beeches), but leaves similar to other Southern Hemisphere families were also present, including the Cunoniaceae, Proteaceae and Lauraceae. Over 2,000 fossil leaves were examined for traces of past insect activity. Over 150 fossil leaves (6.9%) contained evidence of feeding traces on the leaves (54 trace types from King George Island and 19 from Seymour Island). The trace fossils were grouped into four functional feeding types: general leaf chewing, skeleton feeding, leaf mines and leaf galls. General leaf chewing was the most common trace type at both localities and leaf mines the least common. The nearest living analogues of the Antarctic Palaeogene forests are the Valdivian and Magellanic forests of Chile and so insect activity in these forests was studied in order to understand past insect activity in Antarctica. The diversity of insect traces in the Chilean forests was investigated at six sites within National Parks, covering alatitudinal range between 37°S and 55°S. Insects associated with two deciduous species, Nothofagus pumilio and Nothofagus antarctica, were of particular focus. The factors that affected the level of insect damage and the proportion ofleafmines and galls included height within the tree,orientation ofleaf within the tree, altitude, season, leaf age, latitude, plant species and insect species. Insects which created similar general leaf chewing traces in the modem forests in Chile siinilar to those on the fossil leaves were larvae of Lepidoptera (Geometridae), Hymenoptera (Symphyta) and the larvae and adults of Coleoptera (Chrysomelidae, Curculionidae, Cerambycidae). Leaf mines were created by species of Coleoptera and Hymenoptera. Species of Diptera (Cecidomyiidae) and Hymenoptera (Cynipidae) created leaf galls. Other invertebrates (Acari (Eriophyidae) and Nematoda (Tylenchida)) also created leaf galls in Chile, similar to fossil leaf galls from Antarctica. Herbivory types on the fossil flora from King George Island were most similar to modem types in Puyehue (a northern study site, Chile) and those from Seymour Island were most similar to Torres in the south, indicating a possible climatic control on their distribution. Based on this relationship, estimates of palaeoclimate of Antarctica suggest that the climate of King George Island to the west of the Peninsula was warmer and wetter (3.5°C - lO.4°C mean annual temperature, 3.5°C 24.3°C maximum and minimum mean monthly temperature and 1500 mm annual precipitation) than the cooler and more stable environment at Seymour Island to the east (3.5°C - 10AoC mean annual temperature, -O.4°C - 16°C maximum and minimum mean monthly temperature, and 570 mm annual precipitation). The studies of fossil and modern insect traces in Antarctica and Chile have provided a unique opportunity to reconstruct past insect life of Antarctica during the Palaeogene. This is the first documented evidence of insect life during the Palaeogene on Antarctica and highlights the value of modern analogue comparisons to obtain a greater insight into past insect ecology.

Bright bands in massive corals of the species <I>Porites lutea</I> have been associated with periods of increased rainfall. However, stain experiments involving <I>Porites lutea</I> from Mo Phuket have shown that bright bands are deposited during the dry season. Thus, one of the main objectives of this thesis was to understand more fully the processes that are involved in the production of fluorescent bands. The second major objective was to build a device that could reliably record fluorescent emissions directly from solid coral. It was hoped that the fluorescent emissions recorded in this way could then be compared with environmental factors, and in particular rainfall. In order to achieve the first objective, solid state coral fluorescence was examined to determine (1) what effects porosity (macro and micro) have on coral fluorescence, and (2) the distribution of fluorophores in the skeleton. By studying the fluorescence of solutions in which the CaCO<SUB>3</SUB> has been removed by acid dissolution, it was possible to determine the effects of both fluorophore concentration and the metal ions, iron and manganese, on coral fluorescence. Environmental samples (soil, sediment, seawater and polyp tissue) were also examined in an attempt to identify the source(s) of coral fluorophores. Although Boto and Isdale (1985) have suggested that terrestrial humic acid is responsible for bright band fluorescence in <I>Porites lutea</I>, the same, or very similar, fluorophores were found in both bright and dull bands. Two main types of fluorophore were identified, a 330-340 nm excitation peak group and a 390 nm excitation peak group. Work has shown that changes in the absolute concentration of these fluorophores (i.e. their relative concentrations remain constant) appears to be the main control on fluorescent banding. Increases in fluorophores concentration can result in both a change in the colour of coral fluorescence as well as a change in intensity. When solid coral was viewed using a fluorescence microscope, two main types of fluorescence were seen, yellow/orange fluorescent patches and a blue background fluorescence. The yellow/orange fluorescent patches were randomly distributed, ranged in size from 8-35 μm and appeared to be due to black, possibly organic, inclusions (sub-micron to 3 μm). Although the distribution of these patches was not mapped, observations suggested that they were more numerous in bright bands. This thesis suggests that differences in the ratio of yellow/orange fluorescent patches to background fluorescence controls the colour of coral fluorescence. As fluorescent emissions in the solid state are dominated by short wavelength emissions, the background region of the coral (which is also dominated by short wavelength emissions) is thought to exert the main control on fluorescent intensity. Although terrestrial surface soil contained the most concentrated source of coral-like fluorophores, it was not possible to confirm the origin of coral fluorescence as coral-like fluorophores were found in all the environmental samples.

The Dinantian (largely Asbian) Craven Reef Belt of North Yorkshire was a marginal facies to the shelf limestones of the stable Askrigg Block, and bridged the transition to the deeper water facies of the more rapidly subsiding Craven Basin. The reef belt is thought to have consisted of an unbroken marginal complex between Settle and Appletreewick (which was analogous to the synchronous "reef complex" of north Derbyshire). South of this belt, original upstanding reef-knolls occurred in the Cracoe area. Faulting and erosion substantially modified the reef belt, prior to its burial by Upper Bowland Shales (Pendleian) • A detailed study of the fossil biota from the surface limestones (upper B2 to P1a) of Stebden Hill reef-knoll (Cracoe), has shown the presence of six discrete benthic biotic associations, with intermediate mixed assemblages (representing zones of biotic mixing). These associations reflect both temporal and spatial (bathymetric) differentiation. A marked change in the composition of the biota during P1a times is interpreted as a response to a high stress environment induced by fault controlled partial emergence of the buildup. The shallowest water upper B2 association formed a biogenic framework. This was regarded as a modifying component of the reef-knoll and not a core facies. The framework was an indurated structure and was constructed by stromatolitic algae, lithistid sponges, tabulate corals, and bryozoans. The endemic shelly fauna contained many rare and unusual forms which were adapted to attachment on the framework. The rari ty of these shelly taxa is interpreted as due to the paucity of analogous biogenic hard-grounds in the Dinantian. Other palaeoecological phenomena discussed, includes the association of certain ostracods with cavity situations, and the predation of brachiopods.