2/26/2020 Chert textures

Chert Textures
Introduction

Macro-Textures

Micro-Textures

Introduction
The Rhynie chert, examined from float blocks, trench and cored material exhibits a wide range of macro-
textures (those large enough to be visible in hand specimen) and micro-textures (those clearly visible using
optical microscope techniques). Studying both, together with the biota the individual beds contain, can help
elucidate the different palaeoenvironments that were present in this hot spring complex at Rhynie 400 million
years ago, useful comparisons can be made with modern hydrothermal deposits and settings (see also the section
on The ancient environment and modern analogues). The following gives a brief summary of the textures
observed within the chert beds together with some example images.

Macro-Textures
Five basic textures have been described from the chert beds (Trewin 1994). However, within individual beds,
particularly in composite beds of chert, more than one textural type may be present and there are often
gradations between the textural types:

Laminated Cherts

Cherts displaying irregular, sub-parallel,

wavy to crenulated laminations on a sub-
millimetre to centimetre scale, consisting of
variable thicknesses of stacked chert
laminae with fine sandstone partings (see
inset right). Plants, if at all present, are
confined to specific chert bands. Locally
fine organic detritus including spores may
be present. Under the microscope possible
fossilised cyanobacteria may be
occasionally present in the chert laminae
(see section on Cyanophytes).

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/rhynie/texture.htm#micro 1/8
2/26/2020 Chert textures

This particular texture most probably

originated by deposition from successive
inundations by silica-rich waters, with
periods of silica precipitation occasionally
interrupted by the influx of detrital material.
Right: Tabular bed of laminated chert showing wavy
and crenulated laminae of chert (c) with fine sandstone
partings (s). Notice also the syn-sedimentary
fracturing and brecciation in this bed (f).

Vuggy to Massive Cherts

Cherts with commonly well-preserved

plants, the latter often autochthonous with
upright stems (see inset below), prostrate or
flattened stems; or allochthonous, inverted
stems (see inset right). Sediment and silica
cement forming geopetal in-fills are often
seen within plant straws and vugs or cavities
within the chert (see below). Vugs that have
not been totally occluded by silica cements
are typically lined by euhedral (well
formed) quartz crystals.

The mode of formation of these cherts is

variable, but examining the micro-textures
(see below) for further evidence may
indicate silicification in areas of terrestrial
plant growth, suddenly flooded by silica-
rich waters, or silicification of the contents
of small ponds.

Right: Bed of predominantly massive and vuggy chert

(in this example a block of the Windyfield chert)
showing vugs (v) and well preserved, inverted plant
stems of Ventarura lyonii (p). In this case these plants

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/rhynie/texture.htm#micro 2/8
2/26/2020 Chert textures
have been transported and were then preserved in the
chert upside down.

Above: Polished slab of predominantly massive and vuggy chert with exceptionally well preserved stems of
the plant Rhynia gwynne-vaughanii in growth position. The crude lamination in the centre of the bed most
likely represents a silicified microbial mat that in life probably bound the plant stems.

Lenticular Cherts

Cherts comprising irregular, laterally

discontinuous, dark, organic, often plant-
rich lenses. These lenses display partings of
carbonaceous cherty sandstone (see inset
right). The cherty sandstones occasionally
show organo-stylolites formed as a result
of the compaction of plant material within
the sediment. The centres of the chert lenses
often grade into the massive texture
described above (inset right). Lenticular
cherts often occur in thick composite beds.

The patchy silicification of these plant-rich

lenses and their gradation into cherty
sandstone interbeds tends to suggest patchy
and poor silicification just beneath the
ground surface.

Right: Bed of lenticular chert, showing dark organic-

rich lenses (l) with a milky, massive centre (m), and
bounding cherty sandstone (s).

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/rhynie/texture.htm#micro 3/8
2/26/2020 Chert textures

Nodular Cherts

Cherts occurring as nodules usually under

5cm in size, set within a cherty sandstone
matrix. The latter typically appears
compacted around the nodules (see inset
right) and may display organo-stylolites.
The chert nodules are often dark and may be
plant-bearing, however, cellular
preservation is often poor. This textural type
also often occurs together with brecciated
and lenticular chert textures (inset right).

As with the lenticular cherts, this texture

appears to be associated with patchy and
rather poor silicification, some of which
may have been formed at the surface, but
much probably occurring just below the
sediment surface.

Right: Block of Windyfield chert showing nodular

texture (n) with variable plant preservation, enclosed
in a cherty sandstone matrix. Brecciated wavy
laminated chert occurs towards the top of this bed (b)
(see below).

Brecciated Cherts

In this case, cherts of all the textures

described above may be extensively
fractured and resealed with chert or quartz.
In a few instances brecciated chert beds
recovered form below the surface
weathering zone, fractures are cemented by
calcite, baryte and rarely fluorite. Timing of
brecciation appears to vary, some is clearly
related to fracturing and faulting at depth in
the sediment pile, the fractured chert being
cemented by late quartz cements. Other
examples occurred at the surface as a result
of desiccation and weathering of the sinter,
evidenced by the fractures being in-filled
with sediment (see inset right) and/or
resealed with chert containing later silicified
elements of the biota, such as fungi and
algae.
Right: Heavily brecciated laminated chert (b) and
brecciated nodular chert (n) in a cherty sandstone
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/rhynie/texture.htm#micro 4/8
2/26/2020 Chert textures

matrix.

Micro-Textures
Apart from the studied large scale morphological features, optical microscope techniques provide a wealth of
further information with which, for example, we can deduce the 'way-up' of the beds; and the burial history of
the beds (in other words their diagenesis). Textural information can be used to elucidate the palaeoenvironment
in which the individual beds were deposited. The following includes examples of micro-textural information that
can be used to solve these problems:

Geopetal Textures

There are a number of methods used to

determine the 'way-up' of a layer of
sedimentary rock. In the Rhynie chert one
of the most common way-up indicators are
geopetal layers. These are in effect fossil
spirit-levels and although recognisable in
hand specimen they are more clearly viewed
using a microscope (see inset right). They
generally tend to form by the accumulation
of very fine infiltrated organic and detrital
material as a layer within voids in sediment,
such as in the hollow straws of plant stems.
Similarly, in the chert beds geopetal layers
may also form from successive generations
of silica cement. They are perhaps most
common in the vuggy to massive cherts
described above.

Right: Geopetal layers (g) in a straw of Aglaophyton

major, denoting the image is the correct 'way-up'.
Notice also earlier 'straw-lining' overlay of chert
cement (c) and the later generation of quartz cement
(q) lining the remaining void space after the geopetal
fill (scale bar = 1mm).

Cement and Compactional Textures

A number of micro-textures combined with the mineralogy can be used to determine the diagenetic history of
the chert beds. The order of different cement generations, any dissolution, compaction and fracturing of the chert
during deposition and later burial can be deduced to a greater or lesser degree. In the image above right, for
example, the pore-lining quartz cement (q) clearly came after the geopetal layers (g) which in turn post-date an
earlier generation of chert cement (c) which lines the straw. The straw does not appear to be fractured and has

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/rhynie/texture.htm#micro 5/8
2/26/2020 Chert textures

therefore not undergone any significant burial compaction suggesting early silicification of the plant and
surrounding matrix prior to burial.

The image on the left is another example.

Here is a thin section of a brecciated
nodular chert. The chert matrix (m) has
been heavily fractured then resealed by later
very fine, cryptocrystalline chert (c). The
framboidal pyrite (p) is only present within
and surrounded by the matrix chert and
must therefore predate this or was formed at
the same time. Notice how the resealed
fractures stop where the nodule meets the
sandstone (s), this suggests the sediment
was not fully silicified at the time the chert
nodules were fractured, being more ductile
to compactional deformation than the brittle
nodule.

Left: Brecciated nodular chert showing chert matrix

(m) with scattered framboids of pyrite (p). Fractures
resealed by later cryptocrystalline chert (c) have not
affected the intercalated sediment (s) (scale bar =
300�m).

These are just two relatively simple examples of how micro-textures in the cherts can be used to elucidate the
diagenetic history.

Micro-Textures for Determining Palaeoenvironment

A number of micro-textures are found in the various chert beds that together with the biota present help to
determine the palaeoenvironments in which individual chert beds were deposited. For the purposes of this
resource we shall only consider a couple of examples here:

The image on the right is of a thin section

taken from a block of Windyfield chert.
This texture is quite distinctive and
diagnostic. The amorphous, organic-rich,
ellipsoidal, elongate and spherical bodies
are actually fossilised faecal pellets, termed
coprolites. It is most likely that the bed this
sample came from was deposited in an
aquatic setting, perhaps a pond or ephemeral
body of water. These features, at least at this
scale, are rarely preserved in terrestrial
settings. Secondly, it is likely that the
silicification of this deposit was very early
because the coprolites are not squashed and

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/rhynie/texture.htm#micro 6/8
2/26/2020 Chert textures

compacted together, in fact there is a very Above: Chert with loosely packed coprolites (c). The bed this
open 'framework' between the pellets. particular thin section came from must have been deposited in an
aquatic environment, possibly a pond. These coprolites were
By studying coprolites, in terms of their probably produced by small crustaceans (scale bar = 500�m).
size, geometry and content it may be
possible to determine what type of organism
produced them. Thus by understanding
coprolites a lot of information can be also
gained on the interactions between fauna
and flora (see Habgood et al. in press).

An interesting point to note is that the coprolitic micro-texture (inset above right) is often a good 'pathfinder'
texture when prospecting for well preserved arthropods in the chert.

The image on the left shows a similar chert

sample taken at a lower magnification. The
coprolites often occur together with a fine
meshwork of filaments (fungal and/or
cyanobacterial), unicells and aggregated
fine amorphous organic material forming an
open, loose, plexus-like matrix that often
binds and coats floral and faunal remains,
giving the chert a 'clotted' appearance in
thin section (cl). Often associated with this
texture are fossils of aquatic biota such as
charophyte algae and branchiopod
crustaceans, though remains of terrestrial
plants and arthropods may also be common.

This distinctive clotted chert texture is

directly comparable to mulm, the
amorphous organic material that is often
found in modern freshwater ponds
(Anderson & Trewin 2003; Trewin et al.
Above: Thin section of Windyfield chert, from the same massive
and vuggy block illustrated above, showing partially decayed
2003; Fayers & Trewin in press). The
stems and sporangia of Ventarura lyonii enclosed in a patchy, presence of this texture in some of the chert
organic-rich, clotted chert matrix (cl). Open voids in the matrix beds is useful in a number of respects. As
have been lined with an overlay of chert cement (c) and later in mentioned above, it acts as a useful
filled by geopetal sediment (g) and cryptocrystalline chert. The 'pathfinder' texture for finding well-
preservation of this open framework suggests initial silicification preserved arthropods. It also indicates that
of the matrix and plants occurred whilst still in an aquatic setting silicification in these particular beds took
before exposure and/or burial (scale bar = 2mm).
place in an aquatic setting with no
desiccation prior to preservation, since
desiccation would have led to the collapse
and degradation of these fine, open organic
mesh-works (Fayers & Trewin 2003; Fayers
& Trewin in press).

Very often chert beds displaying these textures and containing some of the most exquisitely preserved plants and
arthropods also exhibit finely disseminated pyrite in the chert matrix, occasionally occurring in framboidal
clusters (see above). The pyrite appears to be contemporaneous with the earliest stages of silicification. Its
presence indicates the waters from which it precipitated were at least mildly reducing, suggesting that some of
these small ponds were at times stagnant. Such localised reducing conditions would inhibit the rapid decay of
organic matter and may in part explain the fantastic preservation of some of the fossils (Fayers & Trewin 2003).
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/rhynie/texture.htm#micro 7/8
2/26/2020 Chert textures

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/rhynie/texture.htm#micro 8/8