Article: Miospores from the Drybrook Sandstone and associated measures in the Forest of Dean basin, Gloucestershire

Miospore assemblages are described from two horizons in rocks formerly regarded as comprising the Drybrook Sandstone of the Forest of Dean. The lower assemblage was obtained from a shaly intercalation in a typical development of massive pink or white sandstones, and the palynological evidence confirms the Upper Visean (Seminula Zone) age of these deposits. The higher horizon was a lenticular coal (herein designated the Edgehills coal) in a sequence of coarse sandstones and conglomerates and the miospores from the coal indicated a much higher stratigraphical position, probably Lower Westphalian A. This is the first time strata of an age between Upper Visean and Westphalian D have been identified in the Forest of Dean. On the basis of this discovery, it is now possible to assess the roles played by the Sudetic and Malvernian movements in the structural evolution of the basin.In the systematic description of the assemblages, two new genera Fabasporites and Cribrosporites are proposed, and a total of eighteen new species erected. Evidence is presented to show that Callisporites should be regarded as a junior synonym of Savitrisporites. Twelve new name combinations are suggested.