Early Devonian vertebrates from Hall Land, North Greenland

Abstract

During investigation of collections from North Greenland made by P. R. Dawes and J. H. Allaart, as part of Operation Grant Land 1965-66, one of the authors (J. S. P.) found vertebrate remains in samples which had been subjected to acetic acid digestion. The vertebrate material was subsequently examined by S.E.R.A. who found it to comprise thelodonts, heterostracans and acanthodians (illustrated in Bendix-Almgreen, in press) suggestive of an approximate late Silurian (Pridoli) - Lower Devonian age. This age is in general agreement with the late Silurian - early Devonian date suggested by Berry et al. (this report) for graptolites from stratigraphically slightly lower beds in the same sequenee of strata in western Hall Land. The two age determinations provide the first palaeontological evidence for the presenee of late Silurian (Pridoli) and early Devonian strata in the Franklinian geosynclinal sequence of North Greenland.