- journal_title：Journal of the Geological Society
- Contributor：S.F. Parry ; S.R. Noble ; Q.G. Crowley ; C.H. Wellman
- Publisher：Geological Society of London
- Date：2011-
- Format：text/html
- Language：en
- Identifier：10.1144/0016-76492010-043
- journal_abbrev：Journal of the Geological Society
- issn：0016-7649
- volume：168
- issue：4
- firstpage：863
- section：Research Article
An isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry U–Pb zircon age of 411.5 ± 1.3 Ma obtained from an andesitic lava occurring within the Lower Devonian Rhynie Outlier (Aberdeenshire, NE Scotland) effectively dates the Rhynie Chert Konservat-Lagerstätte. Biostratigraphical constraints on the Rhynie Chert-bearing succession indicate that this age lies within the interval early (but not earliest) Pragian–(?)earliest Emsian. Accordingly, the Pragian–Emsian boundary must post-date or closely approximate to 411.5 ± 1.3 Ma, while the Lochkovian–Pragian boundary must predate 411.5 ± 1.3 Ma. Integration of this new high-precision age with an improved temporal framework for late Caledonian intrusive activity in NE Scotland suggests that the Rhynie hot-spring system (the ‘parental' hydrothermal system to the Rhynie cherts) was unrelated to any ‘Newer Granite' intrusion. Rhynie was instead powered by a basaltic andesite magma whose generation and ascent were directly linked to the transcurrent fault movements responsible for the formation of the Rhynie basin.