Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2004.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 294-310). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2005. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography.

Resumo: São apresentados os resultados de análises palinológicas realizadas em 37 amostras de testemunhos dos furos de sondagem no sul do Município de Congonhinhas (PR), nas formações Serra Alta, Teresina e Rio do Rasto (somente no Membro Serrinha), abrangendo uma extensão vertical de aproximadamente 600 m. A primeira formação revelou-se estéril. Entre as 32 espécies descritas, três provavelmente são novas, cinco foram previamente registradas em níveis estratigráficos mais baixos da Bacia do Paraná e 7 espécies eram apenas conhecidas em outros países. As assembléias palinológicas coadunam com a idade aproximadamente mesopermiana previamente interpretada para os depósitos. A priori, todo o intervalo estudado faz parte da Zona Lueckisporites virkkiae e as novas espécies registradas para a bacia apresentam potencial para futuros refinamentos bioestratigráficos. Diferenças na abundância relativa de espécies de esporos permitiram visualizar dois possíveis intervalos, um com predominância de Laevigatosporites vulgaris, a grosso modo na Formação Teresina, e o outro dominado por Thymospora, no Membro Serrinha. Os esporos com afinidade a filicíneas predominam largamente em relação aos de outros grupos e também são bem mais abundantes que grãos de pólen. Este resultado dá margem a muitas interpretações, tendo em vista que o quadro florístico sugerido pelos macrofitofósseis é distinto e que as condições deposicionais dos folhelhos estudados provavelmente não foram proximais. / Abstract: Palynological analyses of 37 core samples of two boreholes in Congonhinhas Municipality (PR) from the Serra Alta, Teresina and lower Rio do Rasto formations (total thickness= ~600 m) are presented. The first formation did not provide fertile samples. From the 32 described species, three probably are new, five were previously recorded at lower stratigraphic levels of the Paraná Basin and 7 species were only known in other countries. The microfloristic assemblages are consistent with the approximately Mid Permian age anteriorly interpreted for the succession. A priori, the whole studied interval belongs to the Lueckisporites virkkiae Zone and the species now recorded in the Paraná Basin bear potential for a possible future biostratigrafic improvement. Two intervals were recognized in the studied succession according to the relative abundance of some spore species: one interval (roughly coincident with the range of the Teresina Formation) is characterized by the predominance of Laevigatosporites vulgaris, and the second (in the Serrinha Member, lower Rio do Rasto Formation) is dominated by Thymospora. Spores with affinities to ferns are predominant in relation to other groups and are also more abundant than pollen grains. This result is not easily interpreted because de macroflora is relatively distinct and the dark shales used for the palynological analyses probably were not originated in very proximal depositional environments. / Orientador: Rosemeire Rohn Davies / Coorientador: Paulo Alves de Souza / Banca: Frésia Soledad Torres Ricardi-Branco / Banca: Mary Elisabeth Cerruti Bernardes-de-Oliveira / Mestre

Lower and Middle Tertiary continental sedimentary rocks comprise the fill in a large structural basin adjacent to the Georgia Depression in southwestern British Columbia and northwestern Washington. Upper Cretaceous continental sedimentary rocks apparently underlie the entire basin. Outcrops of Tertiary rocks are restricted to the north, south and east margins where they are dipping into the basin and overlying older rocks rimming the basin. Relationships to the west are obscured by the Strait of Georgia, but apparently the Whatcom basin is part of, and contiguous with, the Georgia depression. Over most of the area, surface cover is Pleistocene and Recent sediments. Investigations of plant microfossils from two deep basin wells indicate three distinct floras in pre-Pleistocene rocks. Basal portions contain a relatively small Upper Cretaceous floral assemblage. Above this are Middle and probably Upper Eocene assemblages. Upper parts of the section contain a predominantly dicotyledonous Miocene assemblage. Palynological study of the outcrops indicates a Middle to Upper Eocene age for all except the Brothers Creek outcrop on the north side of Burrard Inlet, which appears to be Upper Cretaceous. Miocene rocks are found only in the wells, and apparently do not crop out. Eocene assemblages contain Pistillipollenites and Platycarya together with significant numbers of Cactricosisporites and Anemia spores, and suggest a warm temperate to subtropical climate. Miocene assemblages are generally characterized by Glyptostrobus, Pterocarya, Ulmus-Zelkoya and Fagus and several other dicotyledonous pollen. Miocene assemblages indicate a more temperate aspect than those of the Eocene. / Science, Faculty of / Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1963 S674 / Master of Science

There is a polarised debate amongst Neotropical archaeologists and ecologists over the extent of Pre-Columbian (pre-AD 1492) anthropogenic environmental impacts in Amazonia. While some maintain the old paradigm of pre-Columbian Amazonia as a “pristine wilderness”, which was sparsely populated by humans, others point to the discovery of an increasing number of archaeological sites across the Amazon basin as evidence for large, complex societies, supported by intensive agriculture and management of forest and aquatic resources. Under this model, pre- Columbian people had profound impacts on biogeochemical cycles through largescale deforestation and biomass burning, and left an indelible legacy on Amazonian ecosystems by altering edaphics, geomorphology, hydrology, and the distribution of plant taxa. However, so far this debate has continued amongst a paucity of palaeoecological data, meaning that we have little evidence to indicate the scale of impact, and often no palaeoenvironmental context in which to place these societies. Other aspects of pre-Columbian cultures, such as their chronology, land use practices and subsistence strategies, are also poorly understood. In this thesis, palaeoecological methods are applied to improve our understanding of the scale, nature, and legacy of land use associated with pre- Columbian geometric earthwork cultures in north-east Bolivia. The methodology employs analysis of fossil pollen and macroscopic charcoal from lake core sediments. In total 110 pollen and 628 charcoal samples were analysed from four lakes: Laguna Isireri (14°49’18”S, 65°40’57”W), Laguna Orícore (13°20’44”S, 63°31’31”W), Laguna Granja (13°15’44”S, 63°42’37”W) and Laguna La Luna (13°21’20”S, 63°35’2”W). Chronologies were built for these cores from 12 AMS 14C dates. Results are presented in four chapters (thesis chapters 2-5), in the form of academic papers. Chapter 2 describes a new laboratory technique co-developed with Whitney et al., which improves the recovery of cultigen pollen grains from sediments from large, Neotropical lake basins. This technique was applied in the laboratory preparations of sediments analysed for Chapters 3-5. Chapter 3 employs palaeoecological reconstructions from differently sized lakes (L. Granja and L. Orícore) in the same earthwork region, to obtain both a regional- and a local-scale history of environmental change/human impact around the archaeological site. Key findings of this paper are: 1) earthworks were built in an originally open savannah landscape, which existed under drier-than-present climatic conditions in the mid-to-late-Holocene; 2) forest expanded into this region from ~ 2000 (cal yrs) BP and was supressed locally around the settlement to maintain an open landscape; therefore, 3) earthwork construction across southern Amazonia, may not have required extensive deforestation, and pre-Columbian impacts on biogeochemical cycling may have been much less than some authors have suggested. Chapter 4 looks more closely at the local scale record provided by L. Granja. These data are integrated with phytolith data analysed by co-author J. Watling and existing archaeological data, to discuss the chronology of settlement on the site, the agricultural/land use strategies employed by its inhabitants, and the spatial scale and distribution of impacts locally around the site. Key findings are that: 1) first occupation of the site is much earlier than previously dated from archaeological contexts, beginning ~2500 BP; 2) maize was the staple crop grown on site; 3) land use involved more extensive and intensive burning of the landscape than compared to modern slash-and-burn agriculture; 4) site decline occurred ~ 500 BP, and may have been related to the Columbian Encounter of AD1492; 5) the close integration of local scale palaeoecological records with archaeology, is highly useful in discerning aspects of chronology and spatial variability of land use. Chapter 5 presents a 6000 year record of palaeoenvironmental change and land use on a pre-Columbian forest island site. Key findings are that: 1) As in Chapter 3, inhabitants exploited an originally open landscape and practiced forest suppression to maintain that open landscape; 2) the earliest recorded evidence for maize agriculture in the region is found at 2100 BP; 3) the economically useful species Theobroma cacao, which is abundant on the site today, is not detectable in the pollen record; 4) clear-cutting was not practiced on the site and previous population estimates, based on labour for deforestation, must be reconsidered. The work in this thesis reveals a new model of human-environment interactions, demonstrating that pre-Columbian earthwork cultures in southern Amazonia occupied and adapted to a region of dynamic, climatically controlled forest-savannah transition during the mid-to-late-Holocene. Obtaining a palaeoenvironmental context for archaeological landscapes, is shown to be a vital pre-requisite to inferring past environmental impacts. Furthermore, we demonstrate the valuable contribution that palaeoecology can make to a better understanding of the chronology and land use practices of pre-Columbian cultures.

No description available.