The palynology of the Pabay Shale Formation (Lower Jurassic) of SW Raasay, northern Scotland

A thermally-mature palynomorph assemblage containing significant proportions of the characteristic dinoflagellate cyst Liasidium variabile Drugg 1978 was recovered from the Lower Jurassic Pabay Shale Formation of SW Raasay. This is the first record of this biostratigraphically important species from the Jurassic of onshore Scotland. Liasidium variabile is a zonal index for the Late Sinemurian in NW Europe, and this occurrence allows a correlation to the Oxynotum Zone of this substage. This is the first evidence for this chronozone on Raasay. Furthermore, the presence of morphotypes A and B of Liasidium variabile indicates a probable correlation to the Oxynotum Subzone of the Oxynotum Zone. This interpretation is not consistent with a hiatus within the Upper Sinemurian succession on Raasay.