Cyadeoidea medullara and C. cleavelandii, two new species of the genus Cycadeoidea, have been recovered from the Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah. They have been described in histologic detail and relationships with similar species are set forth. Monoecism and pollination mechanisms have been discussed in connection with C. medullara. This data contributes to our knowledge of the diverse composition of Lower Cretaceous floras in Utah.

The coal-bearing Dakota Sandstone at Coal Canyon, Arizona, which is located in the western portion of the Black Mesa basin, has yielded abundant, diverse, and generally well-preserved spores, pollen, and microplankton. The formation is characterized by high frequencies of fern spores, especially striate spores belonging to the Schizaeaceae, and angiospermous pollen consisting primarily of simple tricolpate and tricolporate grains. Gymnospermous pollen is comparatively uncommon. The microflora assemblage contains many exclusively Cretaceous species previously reported from Australia, western Europe, Siberia, and other localities of North America. A microflora which compares closely with the Dakota assemblage occurs in the Woodbine strata of Oklahoma. On the basis of palynologic evidence, the age of the Dakota Sandstone at Coal Canyon, is interpreted as lowermost Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian).

The Klondike District of Central Yukon Territory around Dawson City is particularly advantageous for the study of the sequence of the Pleistocene epoch because it was never glaciated and therefore has never lost its fossiliferous superficial deposits. This paper presents a pollen diagram from a Sphagnum peat bed, which was the youngest deposit discovered, and pollen floras from different ages back to the Pliocene. The peat bed flora shows fairly steady climatic conditions little different from the present; the Pliocene flora shows a distinctly warmer climate; and all the others appear to show colder climates. The paper also presents a theory of correlation of geological events in the district with world-wide climatic variations: cutting of very broad creek valleys; climate warm - Earlier Tertiary - deposition of the oldest gravels; climate warm - Pliocene - deposition of oldest unweathered gravels; climate cold - Nebraskan Glaciation - rapid cutting of narrow lower creek valleys - Three Major Interglacial Ages - major interruptions of valley cutting; climate cold - Kansan and Illinoian Glaciation - deposition of thick valley - bottom muck; climate cold - Wisconsin Glaciation - erosion of valley - bottom muck; climate warmer than the present - Post-Glacial Climatic Optimum - deposition of Sphagnum peat bed; climate same as today - Recent Time [...]

No description available.

Pollen and packrat midden data from the Great Basin indicate that the Pleistocene vegetation of the region was a combination of subalpine conifers on coarse substrates and steppe plants on finer valley bottom soils. While some of the modern dominants of the woodland zone were apparently absent from this region, other woodland and montane plants apparently persisted through the late Pleistocene. Some features of the Pleistocene environment, such as the large pluvial lakes, apparently disappeared by 12,000 yr B.P., while subalpine plants remained well below their modern elevational limits after 11,000 yr B.P. Limber pine and Rocky Mountain juniper apparently did not retreat from the lower mountain slopes until after 6500 yr B.P. Montane and woodland conifers, rare or absent in the region during the Wisconsin, dispersed across the region in the Middle Holocene. Other plants apparently did not reach their modern geographic limits until after 3000 yr B.P. The low elevational occurrences of subalpine species suggest that the late Pleistocene climate of the Great Basin was characterized by summer temperatures that were as much as 10°C cooler than those of today, and that there was some augmentation in the level of mean annual precipitation. The vegetational records provide no evidence of greater than modern levels of summer precipitation. While the persistence of montane plants at relatively low elevations implies cool or moist conditions through the Early Holocene, evidence from lacustrine systems suggests that there was a trend toward increasingly dry conditions during this period. The main period of migrations of woodland plants seems to slightly postdate the warmest and/or driest part of the Holocene, and these migrations may have been related to relatively high levels in summer temperatures, summer precipitation, and/or winter temperatures. Pollen data from a high elevation site, in conjunction with changes in water level in lower elevational lakes, suggest a return to cooler and/or moister conditions after 4000 yr B.P.

The past stability of vegetation patterns in the Markham Valley (6°30’S, 146°30’E), a lowland grassland area of Papua New Guinea, is investigated by pollen analysis of lake deposits and related palaeoecological techniques.¶ The predominantly organic sediments of Lake Wanum (alt. 35 m) span the last 9600 years. A 14C chronology supports the calculation of annual pollen deposition, sediment accumulation, and carbonised particle influx rates. At Yanamugi lake (alt. 170 m), 14C assays of the calcareous muds are influenced by variable ‘hard- water error’. A tentative chronology is based on palaeomagnetic and tephra correlations.¶ Pollen trapping reveals very high contemporary annual deposition rates within forest, but low values over the central lake area. Surface pollen assemblages from different habitats indicate the localised nature of pollen dispersal, although a relatively ‘long-distance component’ from higher altitudes is also recognised.¶ Analysis of floristic data from the herbaceous swamp vegetation of Lake Wanum suggests the existence of two free floating root-mat associations and two or three rooted associations. Water depth appears the primary control on their distribution.¶ Holocene swamp communities analogous with extant associations may be identified in the palynological record of Lake Wanum. Swamp marginal conditions prevail from 9500 BP until 8200 BP when permanent shallow water becomes established. Rooted vegetation associations then predominate until about 5000 BP. Floating vegetation associations first become important at this time, and subsequently (3000 BP to 2000 BP) come to dominate the site. A general trend towards increased water depth is indicated throughout the sequence.¶ Increased representation of dry-land non-forest pollen occurs from 8550 BP, and grassland taxa become more frequent from about 5350 BP. Synchronous trends in carbonised particle influx identify fire as a probable agent of vegetation change.¶ Little change in dry-land vegetation is recorded in the pollen sequence from Yanamugi, although recent encroachment by swamp vegetation occurs. The large proportion of ‘montane’ pollen and spore taxa in the earlier sediments is attributed to variable fluvial influx. ¶ Conditions at Lake Wanum until 8200 BP may reflect the early Holocene aridity widespread in equatorial areas, although the indirect hydrologic effects of rising sea level cannot be discounted. Human impact appears the main determinant of dry-land vegetation change during much of the Holocene.

No description available.

Fossil plants in the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation are preserved in fluvial channel, overbank, and lacustrine deposits. Plant-bearing units in these deposits are classified into seven types based on these depositional environments or subenvironments. Taphonomic characteristics of these assemblages, and of individual plant fossils within them, indicate that most plant fossils have either not been transported far from their growth sites or are preserved in situ. One particular deposit in the central part of Petrified Forest National Park preserves fossil plants in three associations: (1) allochthonous logs in basal lags in a channel-fill/lateral accretion deposits; (2) autochthonous horsetail trunks and parautochthonous horsetail leaves in a crevasse-splay deposits; and (3) parautochthonous and autochthonous cycadaceous, fern and other types of leaves, and erect and prostrate trunks in a paludal/distal splay deposits. Exposures of contemporaneous high-sinuosity channel and overbank deposits in this area enabled the reconstruction of the local paleogeography, paleohydrology, and paleoecology at a high resolution. Fossil plant assemblages of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation are concentrated in the lower members of the formation. The lower part of the Chinle Formation was deposited in an incised valley system. Depositional, hydrological, and near-surface geochemical conditions in the incised valley system were conducive to preservation of terrestrial organic material, even though regional conditions were characterized by seasonal/monsoonal precipitation and groundwater conditions. Fossil plant assemblages preserved in these types of fully terrestrial incised valley-fills are taphonomically biased towards riparian wetland environments.

Perturbações ambientais foram detectadas em sistema de turfeira no sul da Bacia do Paraná (Mina de Faxinal, Formação Rio Bonito) durante o Eopermiano (idade radiométrica 291 ± 1.3 Ma, topo do Sakmariano) sob vigência de período climático pós-glacial da Idade do Gelo do Neopaleozoico. Além da detecção de incêndios recorrentes, foi identificado um evento de incêndio autóctone/hipoautóctone em vegetação arbórea em um horizonte no carvão contendo grandes fragmentos de lenhos queimados comprimidos (21,8 x 13.4 cm). A influência de vulcanismo está registrada sob a forma de uma camada de tonstein (cinza vulcânica sedimentada) intercalada ao carvão, onde estão incluídas abundantes compressões de folhas glossopterídeas. A análise do carvão consistiu em determinação de refletância sob óleo de macerais do grupo inertinita em blocos polidos para confirmar a identificação de carvão vegetal macroscópico e ocorrência de incêndios na turfeira. Adicionalmente, a observação da matéria orgânica sob fluorescência nos blocos revelou que os incêndios não afetaram a microflora, mas alteração na fluorescência evidenciou dessecação ambiental, verificada também em lâminas palinofaciológicas. Sob microscopia eletrônica de varredura, o carvão vegetal apresentou paredes celulares homogeneizadas, indicando temperaturas de queima acima de 325ºC, mas não superiores a 400ºC devido aos baixos resultados de refletância e à preservação de tecido vegetal delicado. A preservação de floema secundário, em associação orgânica com xilema tipo Agathoxylon, é registrada ineditamente. A observação sob microscopia de luz transmitida das cutículas foliares extraídas do tonstein permitiu descrição detalhada de padrões xeromórficos que ocorrem de forma endêmica nas epidermes de glossopterídeas de Faxinal e foram atribuídos a respostas adaptativas às frequentes perturbações ambientais que afetaram a floresta turfosa, tais como incêndios recorrentes por dessecação ambiental cíclica ou influência de vulcanismo regional. Esses fatores, em conjunto ou alternativamente, garantiram a dominância monotípica de Glossopteris pubescens nom. nov. na comunidade. O conjunto de evidências indicou que os incêndios foram de superfície, em baixas temperaturas, o transporte do carvão vegetal foi praticamente inexistente no horizonte de grandes fragmentos de lenhos queimados e que os demais incêndios recorrentes tiveram pouco efeito na comunidade proximal, ocorrendo regularmente nas áreas de entorno da turfeira dado o aporte de carvão vegetal macroscópico fragmentário. Durante a fase de aquecimento pós-glacial no Permiano, os ambientes de turfeira no Gondwana eram altamente suscetíveis à ocorrência de incêndios dos quais as glossopterídeas se beneficiavam para manter sua dominância e abundância nessas comunidades, por possuírem eficiente plasticidade adaptativa para sobreviver a condições extremas em ambientes altamente perturbados. / Environmental disturbances were detected in a peat-forming environment from the southern Brazilian Paraná Basin (Faxinal Coalfield, Rio Bonito Formation) during the lower Permian (radiometric age 291 ± 1.3 Ma, late Sakmarian) under post-glacial conditions in the Late Paleozoic Ice Age. In addition to recurrent wildfires, an autochthonous/hypauthochthonous wildfire event was identified in the woody vegetation from a coal horizon containing compressed, large-sized logs (21,8 x 13.4 cm). Volcanic influence is recorded in a tonstein layer (sedimentary volcanic ash) interbedded in the coal, where abundant compressed glossopterid leaves are entombed. The coal analysis consisted of reflectance measurements in polished blocks under oil of macerals of the inertinite group to confirm the macroscopic charcoal identification and wildfire occurrence in the peatland. Additionally, the observation of the organic matter in the polished block under fluorescence showed that the microflora has not been affected by the wildfires, but altered fluorescence evidenced environmental dryness, verified in palynofacies slides as well. Under scannin electron microscopy, the charcoal showed homogenized cell walls, indicating burning temperatures higher than 325ºC, but not higher than 400ºC given the low reflectance values and the preservation of fragile plant tissue. The preservation of secondary phloem in organic association with Agathoxylon wood-type is a first paleobotanical record. Observation under transmitted light of the leaf cuticles extracted from the tonstein allowed for the detailed description of xeromorphic patterns, which have been attributed to adaptative responses to the frequent environmental disturbances affecting the peat forest, such as recurrent wildfires due to environmental dryness or regional volcanic activity. These factors, collectively or in an alternating way, ensured the monotypic dominance of Glossopteris pubescens nom. nov. in the plant community. The set of evidences indicated low temperature surface fires, virtually inexistent charcoal transport in the charcoalified log horizon and that the other wildfire events had little effect in the proximal community, occurring regularly in the surrounding areas of the peatland given the fragmentary macroscopic charcoal input. During the postglacial warming in the Permian, the Gondwanan peatlands were highly susceptible to wildfires from which the glossopterids benefited to maintain their dominance and abundance in these communities due to efficient adaptative plasticity to survive under extreme conditions in highly disturbed environments.

A Formação Crato, localizada na bacia do Araripe, Nordeste do Brasil, contém um dos registros fossíferos vegetais mais importantes do Cretáceo Inferior. Estes fósseis apresentam excelente estado de preservação, no geral, com pouca fragmentação, órgãos em conexão e estruturas epidérmicas e anatômicas delicadamente substituídas por óxidos de ferro. Como acontecia globalmente, as gimnospermas eram o grupo vegetal dominante na paleoflora eocretácea da Formação Crato, ocorrendo na forma de Bennettitales, Coniferales e Gnetales. As Bennettitales foram um componente aparentemente raro, estando representado pelas espécies Otozamites sp. e Zamites sp. Dentre as Coniferales, encontram-se as famílias Araucariaceae e Cheirolepidiaceae, as Araucariaceae registradas nas espécies Araucarites vulcanoi Duarte e Araucarites kunzmanni sp. nov.; as Cheirolepidiaceae, o grupo mais diverso, estão representadas pelas espécies Brachyphyllum obesum Heer, Brachyphyllum ponsi sp. nov., Brachyphyllum araripense sp. nov., Tomaxellia aff. T. biforme Archangelsky, Toxamellia aff. T. degiustoi e Pseudofrenelopsis sp. As Gnetales ocorrem na forma das espécies Limaephyton cratense gen. et sp. nov., Limaephyton duartei gen. et sp. nov. e Limaephytophyllum mohrium gen. et sp. nov. Características morfológicas, epidérmicas e anatômicas presentes nos macrofitofósseis da Formação Crato, evidenciam adaptações a um ambiente de baixa umidade. Esta flora se desenvolveu dentro da Região Equatorial, numa área intracontinental sob condições climáticas áridas e semi-áridas. / Crato Formation, located in the Araripe Basin, Northeastern Brazil, bears one of the most important Lower Cretaceous fóssil plant Record. The fossils have an excellent preservation, usually low fragmentated, with attached organs and epidermic and anatomic features delicatedly replaced by iron oxides. As it happens worldwide, gymnosperms were the dominant group in the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation paleoflora, existing as Bennettitales, Coniferales e Gnetales. Bennettitales were an apparently scarce component, represented by the species Otozamites sp. and Zamites sp. Between the Coniferales, are the families Araucariaceae and Cheirolepidiaceae, the Araucariaceae recorded by the species Araucarites vulcanoi Duarte and Araucarites kunzmanni sp. nov.; Cheirolepidiaceae, the most diverse group, is registered by species Brachyphyllum obesum Heer, Brachyphyllum ponsi sp. nov., Brachyphyllum araripense sp. nov., Tomaxellia aff. T. biforme Archangelsky, Toxamellia aff. T. degiustoi e Pseudofrenelopsis sp. As Gnetales are documented by the species Limaephyton duartei gen. et sp. nov. and Limaephytophyllum mohrium gen. et sp. nov. Morphologic, epidermic and anatomic features founded in the plant fossils from Crato Formation, evidence low moisture environment adaptations. That flora was developed in the Equatorial Region, in an intracontinental area with arid to semi-arid climatic conditions.