The Pentlandian: fact or fiction?

Harper, David A T; Candela, Yves; Gallagher, Emma E

The Pentlandian: fact or fiction?

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Journal article

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Harper, David A T

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Candela, Yves

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Gallagher, Emma E

Date published

October 2025

Abstract

The Silurian inliers of the Pentland Hills contain abundant and diverse fossil assemblages and have interested geologists for more than 150 years. However, the faunas are very different from those found in the classic Anglo-Welsh area or the Spanish El Pintado Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Telychian Stage in peri-Gondwana. Initial geological exploration of the hills found few fossils, with little meaningful interest shown in the area until Dr Archibald Lamont, a controversial Scottish geologist, began researching the inliers. Lamont was the first to suggest that the rocks might be upper Llandovery rather than Wenlock, and went on to propose that their unique fossil assemblages warranted a new division being erected between the Llandovery and Wenlock series, which he named the ‘Pentlandian’. This new division was rejected by the international geological community. Euan Clarkson’s arrival in Edinburgh and his introduction to the Pentland Hills began what would be a lifetime’s fascination with the geology of the area. He instigated an extensive series of research projects and recruited researchers looking at the geology and a wide range of fossil groups, the most abundant of which is the Brachiopoda. The Telychian Wether Law Linn Formation in particular contains many shelly and graptolite faunas enabling correlation. The palaeocommunities identified suggest a deeper-water palaeoenvironment with finer-grained siliciclastic sediments set in a regressive marine sedimentary succession. Multivariate analyses show the mutual proximity of the Pentland associations and their distinctiveness from other Llandovery faunas. The Pentlandian is considered a regional term but the distinctive nature of the Pentlandian biotas, on a global scale, is confirmed and introduced here as the .