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 southwest 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
northwest 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.