As part of Phase 3 of the BGS Faroe-Shetland Consortium project on the Jurassic of the UK sector of the Faroe-Shetland Basin, detailed logging of core from well 202/03a-3 was undertaken and samples were taken for palynology in order to provide additional facies information and age determinations.
The palynological assemblages were dominated by terrestrially derived pollen and spores. Marine palynomorph assemblages, were mostly made up of actitarchs and foraminiferal test linings, dinoflagellate cysts (dinocysts) being rare. A marine setting is indicated.
Rare specimens of the dinoflagellate cyst Liasidium variabile indicate the Late Sinemurian (Early Jurassic) in the lower core run. These palynological age determinations are compatible with ammonite specimens indicating the late Sinemurian Raricostatum ammonite zone (Raricostatoides subzone). In the other samples, negative evidence, such as the absence of heavily ornamented spores such as Cicatricosisporites, of the pollen genus Callialasporites, and of characteristic Triassic forms, suggests the Early Jurassic
