Basic Facts
- The Rhynie chert is a rock containing exceptionally well-preserved fossil plants and animals (arthropods).
- It is found near the village of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland [map].
- Discovered in 1912 by Dr William Mackie [History].
- Chert is a hard silica-rich rock.
- The age of the chert is Early Devonian (Pragian): between 400 and 412 Million years old [timescale].
- At this time Scotland was situated around 28o south of the equator as part of a huge continent made up of northern Europe, North America and Greenland, called Laurussia [palaeogeographic map].
- The cherts are altered siliceous sinters deposited by hot springs and geysers similar to those active today in Yellowstone National Park, USA.
- The sinters coated and fossilised plants and animals preserving them in amazing detail.
- The plant and animal fossils are important because they were some of the earliest colonisers of the land.
- The fossils help us reconstruct early land-based ecosystems.
- The oldest 'insect' fossils known, Rhyniella (a type of springtail) and Rhyniognatha (a primitive pterygote insect), have been found in the Rhynie chert.
- The flora includes seven named higher land plants, all less than 40 cm tall. [plants].
- At least fifteen different (valid) named species of early terrestrial and freshwater arthropods have been described from the chert, and still more are currently being described or await publication [animals].
- Algae, fungi, a lichen and various bacteria are also fossilised in the chert.
- The hot spring waters that deposited the sinter contained gold, arsenic, antimony and other metals.
- The Rhynie chert is the oldest hot spring system known anywhere in the world where surface features such as geyser vents are preserved.