Climatic interpretation of Paleogene and Early Neogene spore-pollen floras from Spitsbergen and Arctic Canada
A relatively complete spore-pollen record through the Late Paleocene and possible Early Eocene from Spitsbergen (lat. 78/sup 0/C long 15/sup 0/E) comprises assemblages commonly with a high conifer and fern content and with moderate triporate angiosperm values. Assemblages are notably dissimilar from those at mid-latitudes and include a number of species which do not appear in Europe until Oligocene or earlier times. This all suggests that the climate varied within a temperate regime. Conifer and fern spores remain abundant but angiosperm pollen is much more diverse and includes taxa referable to Ulmus, Alnus, Juglans, Liquidambar, Pterocarya, Tilia, Fagus, Nyssa, Ilex, .Nuphar, and the Onagraceae which collectively indicate a moderately warm temperate climate. These assemblages thus predate putative Oligocene cooling and fix a maximum possible age limit for its initiation in this area. Eocene floras of the eastern Canadian Arctic (80/sup 0/N, 100/sup 0/W) have been interpreted as sub-tropical but may be warm temperate. Late Eocene spore-pollen assemblages from the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin of western Arctic Canada (l at 69/sup 0/N, long 134/sup 0/W) are similar to those from Spitsbergen. Species diversity decreases near the Eocene/Oligocene boundary notably related to disappearance of thermophylic taxa indicating cooling for at least part of the Early and Middle Oligocene interval. Warm temperate or temperate floras were reestablished in the Late Oligocene and Miocene of Arctic Canada but were replaced by boreal tundra floras in the Pliocene at latest.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Toronto, Ontario (Canada)
- OSTI ID:
- 6320926
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-8510489-
- Journal Information:
- Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States), Vol. 17; Conference: 98. annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, Orlando, FL, USA, 28 Oct 1985
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Paleoecology of Early eocene strata near Buffalo, Wyoming
Palynofacies of lignites and associated sediments in the upper paleocene Tuscahoma sand of southwestern Alabama and eastern Mississippi
Related Subjects
ARCTIC REGIONS
CLIMATE MODELS
PALEOCLIMATOLOGY
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
PALYNOLOGY
AGE ESTIMATION
CANADA
CLIMATES
CONIFERS
EUROPE
FERNS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
POLLEN
SPECIES DIVERSITY
TERTIARY PERIOD
CENOZOIC ERA
GAMETES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GERM CELLS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NORTH AMERICA
PALEONTOLOGY
PINOPHYTA
PLANTS
POLAR REGIONS
ROCKS
580100* - Geology & Hydrology- (-1989)
580300 - Mineralogy
Petrology
& Rock Mechanics- (-1989)