5/27/2023 0 Comments On A Life's Edge by J.L. Whitaker![]() ![]() ![]() These weathered and, with aeolian dust containing calcite and iron minerals and siliciclastic sand, formed a structured soil. The soil from which they are derived is interpreted to have developed in an upland regolith over Tournaisian bedrock of interbedded limestone and siltstone. The pedorelicts occur within the Mercia Mudstone Marginal Facies (MMMF), close to its basal unconformity with underlying Paleozoic strata, at the margin of the Somerset Basin. ![]() It is documented for its own merit, to support continuing studies of its palaeobiology and to prompt investigation for comparable deposits. This extremely rare palaeoecological archive offers a glimpse into continental upland life in a Pangaean desert landscape. In the most significant exposure, cryptic tubular trace fossils in branching networks occur within these pedorelict clasts in a localised fluvial deposit. Interpreted as being derived from an upland soil, they are classified in palaeosol terms as Calcic Protosol. ![]() The clasts include aeolian and bedrock constituents, calcrete textures, vesicles and other pedogenic features reflecting a hot semi-arid palaeoenvironment. Pedorelicts occur sporadically in coastal exposures of Middle to Late Triassic continental sediments, at Portishead, SW England. ![]()
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