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Centre for Palynology Newsletter 8

December 2018

Editorial

This year was a sad one for Sheffield Palynology with the loss of one of our stalwarts: Dr Ted Spinner.

An obituary appears later in the newsletter. Otherwise the eighth Centre for Palynology Newsletter

reports on another exciting year. We are particularly pleased to introduce a new Ph.D. student,

Alexander Ball, who will be working on spore assemblages from the Late Silurian-Early Devonian

‘Lower Old Red Sandstone’ of the Anglo-Welsh basin. We hope that you enjoy our annual offering.

Dr Ted Spinner (1938-2018)

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Graduating Ph.D. students

Alex Askew was awarded a Ph.D. following his viva voce exam in October. Alex’s thesis is entitled

“The Middle Devonian palynology and biostratigraphy of northern Spain”. It was an ACCE

studentship funded by NERC and supervised by Charles Wellman. Geoff Clayton was internal

examiner and John Marshall (University of Southampton) external examiner. All four papers

generated from Alex’s thesis have already been prepared and are working their way through the

publication process: Spore taxonomy and biostratigraphy (Papers in Palaeontology); acritarch

taxonomy and biostratigraphy (Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology); chitinozoan taxonomy and

biostratigraphy (Review of Palaeobotany and palynology); a summary paper exploring the

palaeogeographical implications of the endemic spore and plankton assemblage (Palaeogeography,

Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology).

Alex Askew’s graduation cake featuring Spanish Devonian spores, chitinozoans and acritarchs

Current Ph.D. students

Martha Gibson is in the third year of her Ph.D. research project studying the palynology of the

Upper Permian Zechstein sequence of North Yorkshire. Martha’s material is from various surface

exposures and over 16,000 m of borehole core drilled by Sirius Minerals in the developmental stages

of what will be the World’s largest polyhalite mine. The project is a 4-year ACCE studentship funded

by NERC and supervised by Charles Wellman, Geoff Warrington (formerly BGS) and Tristan

Pottas/Asher Haynes of Sirius Minerals. Martha has already recovered stunning palynomorph

assemblages, including some from Zechstein cycles surprisingly high in the sequence. This year she

has also undertaken TEM analysis of the wall ultrastructure of key taxa, explored the contentious

?fungal inclusions often reported within Permian pollen grains, and experimented with the unusual

‘brine’preservation of her pollen.

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Alex Ball and Martha in the library of the Linnean Society of London at the Palynology Specialist Group meeting

Alex Ball has commenced a Ph.D. studying spore assemblages from the Late Silurian-Early Devonian

of the Anglo-Welsh Basin. It is a 4-year ACCE studentship funded by NERC that is a CASE award with

the Natural History Museum, London. It will be co-supervised by Charles Wellman (University of

Sheffield) and Dr John Richardson (the Natural History Museum, London). Alex joins us from the

Royal Holloway University of London where he graduated with a B.Sc. degree in Geology and was

particularly influenced by palaeobotanist/palynologist Professor Margaret Collinson. The project is

based on palynological analysis of material collected over many years by John Richardson from the

Welsh Borderlands. It covers the mysterious Apiculiretusispora sp. E spore biozone that lies between

the TS and MN spore biozones and spans the critical Silurian-Devonian boundary. Of course John

Richardson was one of the pioneers of Sheffield Palynology having undertaken both his

undergraduate and Ph.D. studies at the University of Sheffield. John’s Ph.D. was supervised by

Professor Leslie Moore and completed in 1960: “A study of the microflora of the Middle Old Red

Sandstone, Orcadian Basin”. This was the first UK Ph.D. studying Devonian spores.

Visiting Professor of Palynology Geoff Clayton

Geoff continues his regular visits as an ‘unofficial supervisor’, internal examiner and general

sounding board regarding all things palynological, in addition to continuing his work preparing our

‘Palynology Impact Case Study’ for the next national research assessment of all UK university

departments [Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021]. This year Geoff has also been involved

with the organization of the EPPC (European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference) in Dublin

where a special CIMP/Aramco Joint Project session was held. In November Geoff also gave a short

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course on Late Devonian-Mississippian palynostratigraphy, palynofacies, microfloral provinces and

aspects of organic petrology to palynologists in the Biostratigraphy Group of Saudi Aramco in

Dhahran.

From left to right: Hani Boukhamsin , Ammar Banafea, Kaya Ertug, Christian Cesari, Geoff Clayton, Pierre Breuer, Marco Vecoli, Ahmed Al-Shawareb

Undergraduate teaching

This year six undergraduate students selected palaeontology for their Level 3 project topic. They

have been undertaking an analysis of dispersed cuticles from Permian Zechstein deposits from the

Kimberley railway cutting in Nottinghamshire. The project students have examined literally hundreds

of picked cuticle fragments and identified the parent plants and undertaken stomatal counts with a

view to reconstructing Permian atmospheric CO2 levels.

The undergraduate Level 3 project students studying Permian cuticles from Nottingham

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We have two Level 4 M.Biol.Sci. masters students studying palaeontology this year (Shaun

Goodchild and Steffan Samuels). You may recognise both from last year’s newsletter as they are in

the photography of Level 3 project students! Shaun is studying the Middle Jurassic palynology of

Woodeaton Quarry, Oxfordshire. Steff is studying the palynology of Ordovician deposits from

Snowdonia, in particular the occurrence of the enigmatic palynomorph Moyeria.

Steff and Shaun in search of samples for their projects examining the Centre for Palynology log books (that record

samples processed and stored since the late 1960s)

Congratulations to…

Alexander Askew who was awarded travel grants by the Palaeontological Association to

attend Progressive Palaeontology and the IFPS to attend the European Palaeobotany &

Palynology Conference (EPPC) in Dublin.

Chris Cleal who was awarded a D.Sc. by the University of Sheffield. Chris was a Ph.D. student

of Bob Wagner and worked on the Coal Measures floras of Saarland, Germany. Although

primarily a palaeobotanist, in recent years Chris has worked extensively on in situ spores of

Coal Measures plants and the use of dispersed spores in palaeoecological reconstruction.

Sam Peters who was awarded the 2018 Palaeontological Association Undergraduate Prize

for his final year Level 4 M.Biol.Sci. project work on the palynology of the Torridonian of

Scotland.

Charles Wellman who takes on the role of President of the Palaeontological Association.

Professor Charles Downie previously held this post for the term 1984-1986.

Steph Wood who has been appointed to the position of Palynology Laboratory Technician in

the British Geological Survey at Keyworth.

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Outreach

This year our outreach stand ‘Jurassic Plants’ was presented at two outreach events. In March a

group of undergraduate students set the stall up at the annual University of Sheffield event

‘Discovery Night’. Later in the year in September Alex Askew, Martha Gibson and Charles Wellman

presented the stand at the Yorkshire Fossil Festival that this year was held at the University of Hull.

The stand features our collection of living ‘fossil’ plants (Ginkgo biloba, a monkey puzzle, tree ferns

and horsetails) alongside examples of fossil plants and child-friendly microscopes displaying slides of

Jurassic spores and pollen.

Alex Askew and Martha with the ‘Jurassic Plants’ stand at the Yorkshire Fossil Festival in Hull

Laboratory, Library and Collections News

Dave Bodman continues to work two days a week in the Palynology Lab (normally Thursday-Friday)

and continues to upgrade facilities. As usual we have had a number of visitors to the collections and

this year Dodsworth & Eldrett have published on Paul Dodsworth’s Ph.D. material in Review of

Palaeobotany & Palynology and Gurdebeke et al. have published on Chris Reid’s holotype material in

the journal Palynology.

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Dave Bodman in the Palynology Lab with Rob Ashurst (formerly of the Dept. of Earth Sciences but now Chief Technician

in the Dept. of Geography)

Publications 2018

BARANYI, V., WELLMAN, C. H., & KURSCHNER, W. M. 2018. Ultrastructure and probable botanical affinities of the enigmatic

sporomorph Froelichsporites traversei from the Norian (Late Triassic) of North America. International Journal of Plant

Sciences 179, 100-114.

BOYD, J. L., RIDING, J. B., POUND, DE SCHEPPER, S., IVANOVIK, R. F., HAYWOOD, A. M. & WOOD, S. E. L. 2018. The

relationship between Neogene dinoflagellate cysts and global climate dynamics. Earth Science Reviews 177, 366-385.

MORRIS, J. L., PUTTICK, M. N., CLARKE, J. W., EDWARDS, D., KENRICK, P., PRESSEL, S., WELLMAN, C. H., YANG, Z.,

SCHNEIDER, H., & DONOGHUE, P. C. J. 2018. The timescale of early land plant evolution. Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences 115(10), E2274-E2283.

LOPES, G., MCLEAN, D., MANGERUD, G. & CLAYTON, G. 2018. A new Mississippian biozonal scheme for the Finnmark

Platform, Norway-Palynostratigraphic integration of exploration wells 7128/4-1 and 7128/6-1. Marine and Petroleum

Geology 92, 94-108.

PUTTICK, M. N., MORRIS, J. L., WILLIAMS, T. A., COX, C. J., EDWARDS, D., KENRICK, P., PRESSEL, S., WELLMAN, C. H.,

SCHNEIDER, H., PISANI, D. and DONOGHUE, P. C. J. 2018. The interrelationships of land plants and the nature of the

ancestral embryophyte. Current Biology 28, 733-745.

SLATER, S. M., WELLMAN, C. H., ROMANO, M. & VAJDA, V. 2018. Dinosaur-plant interactions within a Middle Jurassic

ecosystem – palynology of the Burniston Bay dinosaur footprint locality, Yorkshire, UK. Palaeobiodiversity and

Palaeoenvironments 98, 139-151.

SPINA, A., VECOLI, M., RIBOULLEAU, A., CLAYTON, G. ET AL. 2018. Application of Palynomorph Darkness Index (PDI) to

assess the thermal maturity of palynomorphs. International Journal of Coal Geology 188, 64-78.

STEEMANS, P. & WELLMAN, C. H. 2018. A key for the identification of cryptospores. Palynology 42

WELLMAN, C. H. 2018. Palaeoecology and palaeophytogeography of the Rhynie chert plants: further evidence from

integrated analysis of in situ dispersed spores. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 373: 20160491.

WELLMAN, C. H. 2018. The classic Lower Devonian plant-bearing deposits of northern New Brunswick, eastern Canada:

dispersed spore taxonomy and biostratigraphy. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 249, 24-49.

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Meetings 2018

In June we hosted the TMS (The Micropalaeontological Society) Palynology Group annual one-day

meeting. John Marshall (University of Southampton) presented the 5th von Post lecture (What

palynology tells us about the Devonian Earth System). This was followed by talks from Bob Morley,

Jim Riding, Martha Gibson, Stephen Ingrams and Charles Wellman. The event was well attended and

followed by a social gathering that involved beer and curry. Many thanks to Alex Askew and Martha

for organising such a successful meeting. This and other meetings attended by current members of

the Centre for Palynology are listed below:-

TMS Palynology Group Meeting at the University of Sheffield [Askew, Bodman, Gibson, Wellman]

Progressive Palaeontology at the University of Manchester [Askew, Ball, Gibson]

The European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference (EPPC) in Dublin [Askew, Clayton, Gibson, Wellman]

Linnean Society Palaeobotany Specialist Group, London [Ball, Gibson, Wellman]

Linnean Society Palynology Specialist Group, London [Askew, Ball, Gibson, Wellman]

Palaeontological Association Annual Meeting at the University of Bristol [Askew, Ball, Gibson, Wellman]

The TMS Palynology Group Meeting in Sheffield in June

Fieldwork 2018

During 2018 Martha Gibson collected from numerous exposures along the outcrop of the Zechstein

of northeast England. Charles Wellman undertook fieldwork collecting Late Silurian-Early Devonian

‘Lower Old Red Sandstone’ deposits in Scotland, Devonian deposits from the Cantabrian Mountains

of northern Spain and Silurian-Devonian deposits on an expedition to northern Spitsbergen. The

latter involved a month living on a cramped boat with four other geologists and the ship’s captain.

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Red Bay in Spitsbergen is so-called because outwash from the Old Red Sandstone stains the water red! Note the

accommodation + transport at anchor just off the spit.

Visitors

As usual we welcomed a number of visitors to the Centre for Palynology this year. These included

Hisham Bakri Ahmed (Zonostrat), Borja Cascales-Minana (University of Lille), Awad Ibrahim (Sudan),

Thomas Servais (University of Lille), David Wacey (University of Western Australia) and many others

during the TMS meeting.

Second edition of ‘Sorby’s legacy: Geology at the University of Sheffield’

Unfortunately Alison Hunter’s website on the history of the University of Sheffield Geology

Department is soon to lose its host [geologyatsheffield.co.uk]. We are exploring the possibility of

moving it to the University of Sheffield. In the meantime the Sheffield Area Geology Trust have set

up a new website [www.sagt.org.uk] that includes a webpage for the history of the department of

geology [http://www.sagt.org.uk/geologyatsheffield].

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“Sorby’s Legacy: Geology at the University of Sheffield” by R. Alison Hunter (1st

and 2nd

editions)

News from former students of the Centre for Palynology

Please keep in touch (e-mail c.wellman@sheffield.ac.uk) and keep us updated with respect to your

contact details. And most importantly--please send in your alumni news for the next newsletter.

Christmas Dinner

The 2018 Christmas Dinner was held on Wednesday 5th December as usual upstairs at the Red Deer

(unfortunately it is currently not possible to book the function room at weekends over the festive

season so a week day is our only option). Along with the current Centre for Palynology and MB

Stratigraphy palynologists various other alumni attended including Paul Dodsworth and Brian

Pedder. Many thanks to Martha Gibson for organising this highly enjoyable event.

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The Christmas Dinner 2018 upstairs at the Red Deer

In memorium

Sadly we have heard of the passing of at least two Sheffield palynology alumni: Ted Spinner (Ph.D.

1965: Megaspores and miospores from the Forest of Dean Coalfield) and John Utting (Ph.D. 1970:

Karoo stratigraphy and palynology of the upper Luangwa valley and lower Karoo palynology of the

mid-Zambesi valley, Zambia). Below is a full obituary of Ted (with abridged versions recently

published in the TMS and CIMP newsletters):-

Dr Edwin (Ted) Spinner [27/1/1938 – 23/2/2018]

Imagine the cultural shock facing some students arriving in Sheffield in the late fifties. The country was in the

process of rebuilding after the war, damaged buildings were still obvious in parts of the city, trams trundled their

noisy way in almost every direction and everywhere could be subject to serious air pollution from the

bourgeoning steel industry. The shock to the young Ted Spinner must have been severe.

Ted was brought up in a farming family in the charming little Suffolk village of Worlingworth, so

small it doesn’t always appear on your road maps. He was the youngest of seven children and attended the local

primary school. On passing his 11+ examinations him and a friend became the first ever two children from the

village to win a place at Eye Grammar School. As no-one from the local primary school had previously

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achieved this the Local Education Authority (LEA) buses did not connect the village to the school. The solution

to this dilemma was to provide Ted with an ‘LEA bike’ to cycle the 7 miles journey to and from school! Ted

excelled, became Head Boy, appeared on the School academic honours board in two consecutive years and

passed his university entrance exams, the first Spinner to achieve this feat. He would have arrived in Sheffield

by train at the old Victoria Station, his first impressions having probably been the views into the steelworks in

Brightside and Attercliffe from the train window. A dramatic contrast to the Constable-like landscape he had left

a few hours before.

Ted spent his undergraduate days in lodgings at Nether Edge with the Collins family, forming a strong

relationship with his landlady Mary that was to survive more than 40 years. He was a fully committed member

of the 1957 Honours Geology cohort and graduated in 1960 with an Upper Second. Almost half of the people

graduating that year decided to continue with postgraduate studies and Ted initially embarked on something

close to his Suffolk heart, a study of the Quaternary palynostratigraphy of the Hoxne district of Suffolk. The

project was in difficulties from the outset with problems over accessing suitable sample suites and poor recovery

from the material he did have. Fortunately a solution emerged that changed everything. Head of Department

Professor Leslie Moore suggested that Ted work alongside the recently appointed palaeobotantist Bob Wagner

(who incidentally passed away only three days before Ted) undertaking a major palynological project on the

Coal Measures of the Forest of Dean to run in tandem with Wagner’s own macroplant investigations. Instant

results were obtained and the dye was cast for a life-long study of Carboniferous megaspores. In the early1960’s

access was still available to many of the mines and adits of the Forest of Dean coalfield and Ted made detailed

collections of everything available. Whilst access to the material didn’t present any problems, extracting the

megaspores was at the time a largely undeveloped technique and Ted was compelled to experiment. The

laboratory in the top floor of St George’s operated with the best safety standards available at the time, but many

of his contemporaries worried about the amount of bromine he employed in the processes!

Life in St George’s saw Ted sharing the lab with a large group that included David Wall, Graham

Williams, Tony Jenkins, John Varker, Ralph Coffey, Frank Spode, Bernard Owens and Barrie Dale. Most days

ended about 10 pm before transferring to the Hallamshire on West Street. Since most of the group had acquired

motorbikes for fieldwork purposes, we would then see Ted get kitted up and blaze off to Nether Edge astride a

monster 650cc BSA. A truly awesome sight.

It wasn’t of course all work. Ted decided early in his post-graduate days to become a football referee.

He qualified first as a linesman and then as a referee able to officiate at Sheffield FA Sunday League matches.

Local football played to the Spinner interpretation of the rules did not always seem to meet with the approval of

players or spectators. Maybe the 650cc BSA was a good idea.

When he finished his PhD in 1964, Ted was appointed as Leslie Moore’s Research Assistant to work

on the organic remains in the Precambrian Nonesuch Shale from the USA. During this time Ted also continued

his work on Carboniferous megaspores including a productive collaboration with Mavis Butterworth who at the

time was a Research Fellow in the department. In 1971 Ted was appointed as a lecturer and remained on the

staff until his retirement in 1997.

Ted lectured in geology at undergraduate level and also on the famous Sheffield M.Sc. in Palynology

that was inaugurated in 1967 and ran continuously until 2001. During his time in Sheffield Ted will have

interacted with all of the ca. 300 palynology students (100+ Ph.D. and 200+ M.Sc.) that graduated through the

‘Sheffield Palynology School’. Ted was an incredibly popular lecturer whom students naturally gravitated

towards. He adopted an open-door policy and was a first port of call for students for academic advice or to air

their concerns and problems that Ted would solve in a most genial manner. It is not too surprising that Ted’s

skilful pastoral care of students lead to roles working with students in the university halls of residence. Between

1965-1973 Ted served as a Tutor at Earnshaw Hall. Later, between 1975-1983, Ted was Warden of Tapton Hall.

This was a role in which he was particularly successful, operating as an efficient director but still available and

accessible to students.

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Ted also generously served the geological community involving himself in the organisation and

development of geology teaching in schools. Between: 1970-1975 Ted was responsible for the introduction of

geology teaching within the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in the Department of Education (a

new approach based on field studies). Subsequently he became chairman of examiners of the NUJMB Geology

Advanced Level and was responsible to the board for syllabus development and for the setting and marking of

papers.

When Charles Downie and Roger Neves retired in 1984 Ted became course director for the M.Sc. in

Palynology. He duly set about invigorating and modernising the course and ensuring its survival through what

were challenging times in the UK Higher Education sector. It is an indication of Ted’s appreciation and respect

within the palynological community that when he retired in 1997 a dinner for ex-Sheffield palynologists was

organised at Tapton Hall and attended by over 100 former students and colleagues including some that had

travelled from as far away as Canada.

Ted was a highly successful scientist. He supervised numerous M.Sc., M.Phil. and Ph.D. projects and

published more than 50 papers including co-operations with Mavis Butterfield, Geoff Clayton, David Jolley,

Bob Wagner and postgraduate students such as Steve Brindley and Nick Turner. These papers were largely on

Carboniferous megaspores, but also on other diverse subject areas deriving from postgraduate student research

projects. Ted served a number of roles within scientific societies including Council Member and Newsletter

Editor of the British Micropalaeontological Society (now TMS) and Council Member of the Yorkshire

Geological Society.

Ted will be remembered with affection by all the students he encountered, be that in his capacity as Warden,

lecturer or project supervisor. All his students and colleagues will recall his trademark pipe and aromatic

tobacco, always with him whether lit or unlit, and used to great effect as an article of gesticulation when he

offered his wise council. The ‘Sheffield Palynology School’ owes a huge debt of gratitude to Ted for a lifetime

of dedication.

(Bernard Owens, Mike Romano, Charles Wellman)