Palynostratigraphy

The study area is located north of the Chubut River, near Las Plumas locality (Chubut province, Argentina). The Danian age of the mi-crofossiliferous Cerro Bororó Formation here studied was established elsewhere. The objective of this contribution is to explain the pa- ...

This study aims to trace changes in the River Nile flows over the Late Quaternary and is based on palynomorphs which were embedded in the sea floor of the Levantine Basin. The palynomorphs were extracted from two marine sediment cores, which cover the last 86 ka and are located at the two ends of the Levantine Basin: MD-9509, at the southern part of the Levantine Basin, and MD-9501, at its northern part. Core MD-9509 was taken from the Nile cone and is characterized by high sedimentation rates and a good state of palynomorph preservation. The assemblages included palynomorphs which were transported via the Nile headwaters and therefore enabled the reconstruction of the River Nile flows. The results demonstrate that the last glacial period (~75e16 ka) was characterized by a decrease in Nile water discharge and an increase in sediment influx, while opposite trends were observed prior to the last glacial period as well as during the deglaciation and the Holocene. Based on the study of the spores, it is suggested that during the last glacial, the main contributors of freshwater and sediment load to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea were the Blue Nile and the Atbara and only during interglacials was there a more significant contribution of the White Nile. Within the northern core, MD-9501, pollen was preserved only during the formation of sapropels S3 and S1. The comparison of the sapropelic palynological spectra in both core sites clearly indicates that during sapropel deposition, climate conditions were more humid in the Northern Levant, reflecting the north-south regional Mediterranean climatic moisture gradient. Sapropel formation was a result of the intensification of the monsoonal climate system which was most probably related to the maximum insolation values at 65 N, while, currently, the Atlantic is the main influencing climate system in the region. One of the most interesting observations in this study is that during Heinrich Events H2-H6, which originated in the north Atlantic and were identified in MD-9509 based on minimum arboreal pollen percentages, pollen originating from tropical regions was not embedded in the Levantine Basin. These results lend support to the view that episodes of dryness in tropical/sub-tropical Eastern Africa were associated not only with low-latitude climate controls, but also with high-latitude glacial stress.

This thesis presents pertinent data on the low-frequency paleoclimatic regime of the Mesa Verde region in southwestern Colorado from B.C. 100 to the present era. Here, I define low frequency climatic changes as climatic changes over periods greater than 20 years. I place interpretive emphasis on the period A.D. 600 – 1300, an era of continuous habitation by ancestral Puebloan farmers in the central Mesa Verde region. These data are intended for use in the Village Project’s agricultural paleoproductivity model, which seeks to derive estimates of maize production in the central Mesa Verde region during the 700 years of continuous occupation. Knowledge of low-frequency climatic processes is critical to understanding subsistence practices because they not only establish a region’s carrying capacity, but they are also assumed to represent the normative climatic conditions perceived by a population. A tentative comparison of regional paleodemography to low-frequency climate changes suggests that demographic processes are broadly correlated with low-frequency climatic conditions, likely due to associated fluctuations in agricultural productivity.

This study consists of an intensive analysis of 72 closely-spaced stratigraphic pollen samples from a subalpine fen in the La Plata Mountains, southwestern Colorado; 16 radiocarbon samples provide temporal control. The results offer data on the most closely sampled and radiometrically dated pollen core of lacustrine sediments from the past 2,100 years in North America. I use these data to reconstruct low-frequency changes in regional temperature, summer precipitation and winter precipitation, all of which are critical to agricultural production in Mesa Verde region. This reconstruction uses five indicator taxa whose existence around the fen is dictated largely by these climatic conditions: Engelmann spruce, ponderosa pine, pinyon pine, sedge and an inclusive category of plants belonging to the Chenopodaceae family and Amaranthus genus. I argue and demonstrate that changes in the proliferation of these taxa around the fen occurred in response to climatic fluctuations that dictate their distribution. Therefore, I interpret changes in the proliferation of these taxa as changes in associated climate variables, and I extrapolate these climate changes into a regional context that includes the
Village Project’s study area in the central Mesa Verde region.

Although it represents but one geographic data point, the uppermost Maastrichtian Hell Creek Formation (HCF), exposed in the upper Great Plains of the North American craton, remains the most studied source for understanding the final ~1.5 Myr of the Mesozoic Era in the terrestrial realm. Because it lies conformably below the earliest Paleocene Fort Union Formation, and together these two units preserve a rich fauna and flora, much of what is understood about the terrestrial Cretaceouse-Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary comes from this sequence. The HCF has been reconstructed as an expansive, fluvially drained, low coastal plain, built out, to the west, against the Laramide Orogen, and to the east, against the ultimate transgression (Cannonball) of the Western Interior Sea. Its meandering rivers and moist soils supported a multi-tiered angiosperm-dominated flora and rich insect and vertebrate faunas, including dinosaurs, crocodilians, squamates, turtles, and mammals. A dramatic facies change representing the initiation of catastrophic flooding is preserved, within available levels precision, at the K-Pg boundary. High-precision stratigraphy has proven difficult in this lenticular fluvial system. Where present, the boundary can be recognized by the bipartite boundary claystone; otherwise, palynostratigraphy has proven a powerful tool. Numerical dates have been successfully obtained from in tonsteins at the boundary and above, in the Fort Union; however, these have proven elusive below the boundary within the HCF. The KePg boundary in this region is dated at 66.043 Ma (Renne et al., 2013). Magnetostratigraphic studies have been carried out in the HCF; although all but one have lacked numerical dates, these have been used for correlations of widespread, disjunct exposures and for the estimation of sedimentation rates. The palynoflora is largely homogenous through the HCF; at the KePg boundary, it shows an abrupt ~30% extinction. This makes it a powerful tool for identification of the KePg boundary, although because the boundary is identified on absence of Cretaceous taxa rather than presence of earliest Paleocene taxa, several competing methods have been applied to identifying the KePg boundary using pollen. The macroflora, consisting largely of leaves, consists of three successive floras, showing increasing diversity through the HCF. The ultimate of these three floras undergoes an abrupt 57% extinction; taken as a whole, however, the macroflora undergoes a 78% extinction at the KePg boundary. The best data available for dinosaurs - including archaic Aves - show an abrupt extinction. By contrast, salamanders and other lissamphibians, as well as chelonians, cross the boundary virtually without perturbation. Squamates appear to have suffered significant extinctions at the KePg boundary, as did euselachians (elasmobranchs) and insects. Mammals suffered a 75% extinction; however, some of this figure cannot be shown to have occurred in less than the last 500 kyr of the Cretaceous, and thus has been potentially attributable to causes other than a bolide impact. Taken together, the survivorship patterns are concordant with the catastrophic inception of ubiquitous flooding characterizing the KePg boundary. While the key K–Pg boundary question in the HCF was once the rate of the biotic extinction, it has moved to the distinction between single-cause scenarios, with the Chicxulub bolide as agent of extinction, and multi-cause scenarios, uniting habitat partitioning, Deccan flood-basalt volcanism, climate change, competition, and bolide impact. Not every potential environmental perturbation need be a mechanism for the extinction: parsimony and the data continue to be concordant with a bolide impact as the single agent of the terrestrial K–Pg mass extinction.

Because of their small size and vast abundance in various types of sedimentary rocks, microfossils have found a multitude of applications in geology, especially regarding biostratigraphy, correlations and paleoenvironmental analysis. Organic-walled microfossils such as pollen, spores, and various organic debris derived from terrestrial plants, are especially useful when studying terrestrial deposits. This chapter presents the many different groups of organic-walled microfossils, collectively called palynomorphs, and the different methods palynologists use to study and extract them from sediments and rocks. We present a biostratigraphic application, the use of the pollen and spore record across the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, which has proven to be one of the most precise and reliable means for pinpointing this major transition within terrestrial deposits.

Sediments recovered from Leru, Uturu and Ihube area in Anambra Basin, South-eastern Nigeria was analysed for their palynological and sequence stratigraphic potentials. Using palynological evidence, Late Campanian age was assigned to Nkporo Shale (Leru), and Early-Middle Maastrichtian to Mamu Formation (Uturu) on the basis of some age diagnostic taxa e.g Longapertites marginatus, Cingulatisporites ornatus, Buttinia andreevi and Retidiporites magdalenensis, Rugulatisporites caperatus and Gleicheniidites senonicus. The lower unit of Nsukka Formation at Ihube was dated late Maastrichtian age based on stratigraphic age makers such as Dinogymnium sp. and Spinizonocolpites baculatus. A marine to brackish water environment was suggested for Nkporo Shale and brackish to fresh water environment for Mamu Formation while near shore water environment was assigned to Nsukka
Formation, based on the important environmentally significant species encountered. The logged outcrops show
presence of key stratigraphic surfaces and also system tracts with highstand systems tracts dominating.

Terrestrial floras underwent important changes during the Lopingian (late Permian), Early Triassic, and Middle Triassic, i.e., before, during, and after the end-Permian mass extinction. An accurate account of these developments requires reliable correlation. Macrofossils of land plants can only provide a low-resolution biostratigraphy, while detailed zonation schemes based on palynomorphs are available for many regions. Their applicability is still limited due to several factors, such as (micro-)floral provincialism, a lack of suitable marker taxa commonly occurring at important boundaries, and in many cases a lack of independent age control. Nevertheless, these palynostratigraphic schemes are regularly used for dating and correlation of successions between different regions. To support such efforts, the biozonation schemes based on palynomorphs from the Lopingian up to and including the Middle Triassic from across the world are summarized and revised. Thus, a consistent correlation of palynozones with the currently recognized international stages is established.

Hace varios años que, a través de distintos medios, recibimos noticias que nos informan sobre la desaparición de especies vegetales y animales y, de manera más reiterada, sobre especies en riesgo de extinción. De igual forma, nos enteramos de las acciones llevadas a cabo por organizaciones no gubernamentales (ONGs) a favor de la conservación y protección del ambiente global. También percibimos que estos sucesos se dan a nivel local, nacional e internacional. En el año 1992, en un evento llevado a cabo en Río de Janeiro (Brasil), llamado Cumbre de la Tierra - ECO ‘92, se debatió a nivel gubernamental y no gubernamental sobre el estado del ambiente. El problema que subyace en todo este tipo de acciones es el peligroso y crítico estado en que se encuentra el ambiente del planeta Tierra, nuestro planeta, la única casa de la humanidad. Su destino es el nuestro, para bien o para mal. Esta situación ha sido denunciada internacionalmente, no sólo por ONGs, sino también por destacados especi...

Systematic descriptions and illustrations of the best preserved angiosperm pollen
grains (Monocotyledonae or Liliopsida: n= 7 and Dicotyledonae or Magnoliopsida: n=
41) recovered from Cuayuca Formation (late Eocene-early Oligocene), Puebla State,
Mexico are provided, some of them of chronostratigraphic importance (Aglaoreidia
pristina, Armeria, Bombacacidites, Corsinipollenites, Eucommia, Favitricolporites,
Intratriporopollenites, Lymingtonia, Magnaperiporites, Malvacipollis spinulosa, Margocolporites
aff. vanwijhei, Momipites coryloides, Momipites tenuipolus, Mutisiapollis,
Ranunculacidites operculatus, and Thomsonipollis sabinetownensis). Taxa identified
from the Cuayuca Formation suggest local semiarid vegetation such as tropical deciduous
forest, chaparral, grassland, and arid tropical scrub, in which angiosperms are
one of the main representatives. Nevertheless, temperate taxa from Pinus forest and
cloud forest were also registered from regional vegetation. It is noticeable that at the
present time, such taxa are well represented in the vegetation of the Balsas River
Basin, which would suggest the existence of this type of flora in the Cuayuca region
since the Oligocene.

The 116 m deep Fårarp-1 core drilled in the Vomb Trough in southernmost Sweden is dated by integrated terrestrial and marine palynostratigraphy. The lower part of the succession (ca 84 m) encompasses uppermost Jurassic to lowermost Cretaceous (uppermost Tithonian to Valanginian) strata. An unconformity separates the Valanginian strata from an overlying ca 1 m thick interval of upper Albian to Cenomanian Arnager Greensand Formation. The uppermost part of the core is a repetitive succession of lowermost Cretaceous sediments.

During the Jurassic–Cretaceous (J/K) transition NW Europe was located in mid latitudes, and comprised an archipelago of large and small islands separated by deeper grabens and epicontinental seaways that connected the Boreal Sea to the north with the warmer Tethys Ocean to the south. Boundary strata in England, France, the Netherlands and Germany are characterised by relatively prominent climatic change from arid/semi arid to subhumid/humid conditions. Southernmost Sweden was located on the margin of a large landmass comprising most of the Fennoscandian Shield bordering a large epicontinental sea to the west. By combining sedimentology, clay mineralogy and palynofacies the Tithonian to Valanginian cored succession of the Fårarp-1 core provides complementary information on how marginal deposits from the eastern part of the epicontinental sea reflect the climatological and environmental changes observed in other parts of NW Europe.

The Fårarp-1 core shows that during the Tithonian to earliest Berriasian deposition took place in a terrestrial but near-marine depositional setting, in coastal lakes or lagoons with little marine influence. A dry climatic regime favoured stagnant water conditions with common algal blooms of primarily Botryococcus and zygnemataceae. Palynofacies and sedimentology indicate limited transport of freshwater and material to the basin. The stagnant depositional environment was terminated by a marine flooding in the early Berriasian. During the remaining Berriasian and the early Valanginian conditions shifted between near marine and marine settings in a dynamic coastal environment, similar to contemporaneous assemblages reported from the Danish Island of Bornholm.

A shift in clay mineralogy, from a dominance of 10 Å minerals to increasing amounts of mixed layer and kaolinite indicates a change to more humid conditions in the latest Tithonian. Cheirolepidacean pollen (Classopollis) are present but never common in the cored succession, and a similar conspicuous decrease of these pollen, as previously reported from England, Germany and France, is not evident in the Fårarp-1 core. Instead a subsequent shift in both palynofacies and palynoflora, marked by an increase in abundance of heavy terrigenous material, i.e. wood and coal particles, upland pollen grains and reworked palynomorphs is also observed in the uppermost Tithonian–lowermost Berriasian interval. At the same level spores and pollen classified as warmer/drier elements decrease in abundance. This is interpreted as representing a shift to more humid climatic conditions with increased runoff from the hinterland. Thus, the combined sedimentological and palynological data from the Fårarp-1 core suggest that climatic conditions in the area changed from more seasonally dry (semi-arid) to more humid (semi-humid) across the J/K boundary (latest Tithonian to earliest Berriasian) and hence earlier than the mid-Berriasian climatic shift recorded from e.g. England and the Netherlands.

A 105 m early Eocene section exposed in the Gurha mine in the Nagaur-Ganganagar Basin, Rajasthan, India, archiving remains of equatorial vegetation at a time of extreme global warmth and close to the onset of the India-Eurasia collision, is investigated using palynostratigraphic and palynofacies analyses. Four palynozones e.g., Palmidites plicatus Singh, Botryococcus braunii Kützing, Triangulorites bellus Kar and Ovoidites ligneolus are identified stratigraphically on the basis of abundance of these pollen taxa over others. The occurrence of taxonomically
highly diverse angiosperm pollen in all the four palynozones attests to an extremely rich near coastal tropical flora subject to frequent wildfires under a strongly seasonal precipitation regime. Palynotaxa
characteristic of these palynozones are widely distributed in other early Paleogene sediments of India. Sedimentary organic matter (structured terrestrial, biodegraded, amorphous, grey amorphous, resins, charcoal/black brown debris and algal remains) recovered from mire and lacustrine sediments are of terrestrial origin, recording
fluctuations in burial anoxia and salinity. Episodes of elevated salinity are due either to seepage of marine waters and/or a periodic excess of evaporation over precipitation at times when the depositional system was closed.

En la cuenca cretácica de Zimapán la orogenia Laramide generó una fase compresiva que propició la emersión y levantamiento del área. A medida que las rocas de la región ascendieron, se inició la erosión y quedaron conformadas algunas cuencas continentales intermontanas con una orientación que corresponde con las alineaciones de las estructuras plegadas mayores del área. Los episodios de sedimentación continental de tipo aluvial y fluvial en estas cuencas están representados por la Formación El Morro, que en su localidad tipo mide 64 metros y se divide en cuatro litofacies de acuerdo con sus diferentes componentes clásticos. Según estudios estratigráficos en la región, el espesor de la columna de sedimentos de la Formación El Morro varía desde algunos metros hasta cerca de 400 metros, con variaciones laterales drásticas. La sedimentación de la Formación El Morro fue seguida por la acumulación de una sucesión de brecha andesítica de la Formación Las Espinas. Estas dos unidades se interdigitan localmente por unos cuantos metros y se observan clastos de andesita en la cima de la Formación El Morro los cuales fueron fechados por K/Ar obteniéndose una edad de 38.1±1.4 Ma. La edad de actividad de la cobijadura Jiliapán-El Volantín ubicada a 25 Km al norte de Zimapán es de 62 Ma, y fue determinada en la ilita diagénetica, lo que restringe la deformación activa compresiva al Paleoceno inferior e indica el final de la orogenia. En consecuencia la edad de la Formación El Morro es limitada al menos al Paleoceno medio-Eoceno medio mediante la edad isotópica por K-Ar de las rocas volcánicas suprayacentes y la ilita formada en el movimiento de la cobijadura Jiliapán-El Volantín. El estudio palinológico indica un ambiente calido-humedo, que propició la formación de un ambiente fluvial.

As the third part of an ongoing investigation of middle Miocene palynofloras in the Yatağan Basin (YB), southwestern Anatolia, the palynofloras of the Salihpaşalar lignite mine in the main YB were studied. Seven types of algal spores, aplanospores/zygospores or cysts, six types of lycophyte and fern spores, 12 types of gymnosperm pollen and 90 types of angiosperm pollen were identified. Of a total of ca. 140 plant taxa described from the YB, over 10% are confined to the Salihpaşalar assemblage. Differences between coeval palynofloras of the Sekköy Member might reflect changing or prograding depositional environments. A number of rare accessorial taxa reflect these local differences: Pilularia, Valeriana, Drosera and Persicaria aff. amphibia only occur at Salihpaşalar and are typical of shallow water or temporary ponds associated with a lake shore. Apart from this, all the palynofloras, originating from the lignite seams and overlying limnic limestones (uppermost Turgut and Sekköy Member), of the YB are strongly indicative of extensive woody vegetation with a dominance of diverse Fagaceae and Pinaceae. In addition, a list comparing the well-documented YB palynomorphs to morphologically similar palynomorphs of published late early to middle Miocene plant assemblages of western Anatolian was compiled. Such a comparison reveals that in many instances different taxon names have been used to denote the same taxa. Hence, resolving these synonymies is a prerequisite of any meaningful comparison of palynofloras in the region.

The article is dedicated to description of unique palynoassemblage of the Upper Visean deposits from the Mstikhino quarry, Kaluga Region. Species diversity of the palynoassemblage has been statistically analyzed. The palynoassemblage is defined to the CBd Zone of Aleksinian regional stage. Comparison between studied palynoassemblage and zonal palynoassemblages of some regions from the Europe (Great Britain, Germany, Donbass, Central Poland) has been carry out based on stratigraphical range of index-species of the Upper Visean foraminifera and miospores.

The palynological contents of the Permian Tres Islas and Melo formations (Frayle Muerto, Mangrullo and Paso Aguiar members), obtained from boreholes and outcrop in northeastern Uruguay, are reported. These Permian sediments of the Paraná Basin yielded a total of 147 species, including the following new taxa: Archangelskiapollenites globocorpus gen. et sp. nov., A. plicatus gen. et sp. nov., Satsangisaccites uruguaiensis sp. nov. and Platysaccus orientalis sp. nov. The palynomorphs found allow identification, in borehole 221, of two palynological assemblages: 221-I (140-225 m) and 221-II (93-140 m); the former is characterised by the presence of Murospora torifera Ybert, Vallatisporites arcuatus Archangelsky & Gamerro and Lundbladispora areolata Césari et al., whereas assemblage 221-II contains Corisaccites alutas Venkatachala & Kar, Lueckisporites stenotaeniatus Menéndez, L. virkkiae Potonié & Klaus, L. angoulaensis Jardiné, Lunatisporites variesectus Archangelsky & Gamerro, Striatoabieites anaverrucosus Archangelsky & Gamerro and Staurosaccites cordubensis Archangelsky & Gamerro, among others. In borehole 201, two assemblages were also identified: 201-I (34 and 93 m) and 201-II (5 and 34 m). The former is typified by the presence of Cristatisporites chacoparanensis Ottone, C. lestai Archangelsky & Gamerro, Leiotriletes corius Kar & Bose, Murospora torifera, M. bicingulata Ybert, Vallatisporites arcuatus, V. russoi Archangelsky & Gamerro, Illinites unicus Kosanke, Limitisporites hexagonalis Maheswari and Protohaploxypinus bhardwajii Foster among others. Assemblage 201-II is characterized by the presence of Brevitriletes levis (Balme & Hennelly) Bharadwaj & Srivastava, Pakhapites fusus (Bose & Kar) Menéndez, P. ovatus (Bose & Kar) García, Platysaccus papilionis Potonié & Klaus, Protohaploxypinus limpidus (Balme & Hennelly) Balme & Playford, Striatopodocarpites cancellatus (Balme & Hennelly) Hart and Polarisaccites bilateralis Ybert & Marques-Toigo. Based on the previous records of those taxa, assemblages 221-I, 201-I and 201-II are assigned to the Early Permian (Asselian-Artinskian) and assemblage 221-II to the upper part of the Early Permian (Artinskian-Kungurian). According to the stratigraphical schemes of Argentina and Brazil, they are correlated with the Biozones Cristatisporites (assemblages 221-I, 201-I and 201-II) and Striatites (assemblage 221-II and El Barón) (Chacoparaná Basin), Fusacolpites fusus-Vittatina subsaccata (assemblages 221-I, 201-I and 201-II) and Lueckisporites-Weylandites (assemblage 221-II and El Barón) (Paganzo Basin), and Vittatina costabilis (assemblages 221-I, 201-I and 201-II) and Lueckisporites virkkiae (assemblage 221-II and El Barón) (Paraná Basin).

The cyclic succession of brown coals in the Latrobe Valley, Gippsland Basin, Australia, records an exceptional floral and charcoal record from the Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene. New palynological, geological and charcoal data are consistent with existing colourimetry, carbon isotope, and organic geochemical and palaeobotanical data, indicating that the repeated lithotype cycles represent relative drying (terrestrialization). Based on this detailed palynological study, the vegetation succession within the Latrobe Valley peatlands is interpreted to have begun with a fire-prone emergent marsh of bulrushes (Typhaceae), which grades landward into a fire-prone meadow marsh of rushes (Restionaceae), heaths (Ericaceae) and coral-ferns (Gleicheniaceae). This marsh environment then developed into a forested bog, with gymnosperms (e.g. the Podocarpaceae Dacrycarpus and Dacrydium) as the dominant trees, until an ombrogenous forest bog developed, predominantly consisting of an-giosperms (e.g. Nothofagus, Quintinia). The similarity between vegetation successions in New Zealand and the lightening-upwards cycles from the La-trobe Valley coals suggests that New Zealand's modern vegetation communities represent a floral analogue for the successions preserved in the Latrobe Valley coals. High abundances of micro and macro charcoal recorded in the darker lithotypes, within the lithotype cycles of the M1B and M2A seams, suggest that the Latrobe Valley peatlands were subject to repeated fires during the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene.

Organic material from the Noordhoek area on the western margin of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa, was obtained from a ~ 50 m-long drill-core dominated by fluvio-lacustrine siliciclastic sediments. The aim of this study is to constrain fluctuations in climate and the decline of tropical vegetation elements along the southwestern coast and the Cape Peninsula of South Africa, during the Late Cenozoic phase, when the Benguela upwelling system was established. The approach was to combine palynological, biogeochemical (tetraether lipids) and stable isotope (C, N) studies of the organic-bearing record from the Noordhoek area on the western margin of the Cape Peninsula. Bulk C and N isotope data of sediment organic matter, point to a predominantly C3 higher plant source vegetation. Mean annual air temperature (MAT) from the analyses of tetraether lipids (MBT′–CBT index) was compared with palynomorphs from partly unpublished data of a previously drilled core adjacent to the study site. The palynomorphs are of subtropical affinities, and suggest that an open riparian forest would have existed in the early to middle Miocene of the southwestern coast of South Africa. Together these data sources allow vegetation and climate reconstructions of subtropical conditions during the early to middle Miocene, which comprised fluctuating open riparian forest and swamp vegetation. Temperatures rose in the middle Miocene and were higher than those of the present day.

Palynological assemblages of the Huitrera Formation from two localities of the Rio Negro and Neuquen provinces, are analysed. 1) At Nahuel Huapi Este ! locality the microflora contains forms with records starting during the Early Eocene (Periporopollenites demarcatus) and forms whose records end with the Early Eocene (Plicatopvllis wodehousei). The form-genus Nothofagidites is absent from this i association. The corresponding microfloras would be of Early Eocene age. -2). At I the Confluencia locality appears, at higher stratigraphic levels of the same Huitrera Formation, a microflora of Middle to Late Eocene age with Rhoipites sphaerica (with records beginning with the Middle Eocene) and Tricolporites valvatus (known from the Middle Eocene), together with Tricolpites (Psilati.icolpifes) Izrmbrerensis (whose youngest register is of Middle Eocene age) and Matonisporites ornamentalis !

На підставі аналізу літературних даних та особистих матеріалів розглянуто головні критерії паліностратиграфії різнофаціальних плейстоценових відкладів Східноєвропейської платформи. Визначено та обґрунтовано сім головних критеріїв для стратиграфічних побудов та кореляційних зіставлень субаеральних відкладів верх-нього пліоцену-нижнього неоплейстоцену рівнинної частини України за палінологі-чними даними. Ключові слова: паліностратиграфія, відклади верхнього пліоцену-нижнього неоплейстоцену, Україна. Based on the analysis of literature data and own materials, the basic criteria for palynological stratigraphy of different-facies Pleistocene deposits of East European Platform are considered. Based on palynological data, seven basic criteria for stratigraphic constructions and correlations have been established and defined for subaerial deposits of Upper Pliocene – Lower Neopleistocene of plain part of Ukraine.
Key words: palynostratigraphy, Upper Pliocene- Lower Neopleistocene deposits, Ukraine.

The author considers methodical problems of spore-pollen analysis use for stratigraphy and paleogeographic reconstructions including possible causes of impoverished spore and pollen spectra from the subaerial Pliocene and Neopleistocene sediments; formation ways of spore and pollen spectra in soil and intersoil depositions; adequacy level between spore and pollen spectra and vegetation composition; choice of optimum techniques for spores and pollen extraction from the rocks; way of graphical representation of palynological data as well as palynostratigraphic criteria.

Наведено результати детальних палінологічних досліджень відкладів юри (байос, титон) та крейди (сеноман, турон) розрізу біля сіл Завадівка та Коржова у долині р. Золота Липа, що розташований у межах Волино-Подільської плити. Описа-
но чотири спорово-пилкові комплекси та чотири комплекси диноцист: байоський, титонський, сеноманський, туронський. Уперше палінологічно обґрунтовано розташування межі юри з палеозоєм (девон) та крейди з юрою у вивченому розрізі.
Ключові слова: спори, пилок, диноцисти, юрські та крейдові відклади, біостратиграфія, Поділля.
The results of detailed palynological studies of Jurassic sediments (Bajocian, Tithonian)
and Cretaceous (Cenomanian, Turonian) sections near Zavadivka and Korzhova villages in
Zolota Lypa river valley, which is located within the Volyno-Podillya plate. The four sporepollen
complex and four complex dinocysts: Bajocian, Tithonian, Cenomanian, Turonian are
described. Based on the palynological data for the first time is proven the position of the
border between Jurassic and Paleozoic (Devonian)and between Cretaceous and Jurassic in the
studied succession.

We present new data on the Vichigasta Carboniferous paleovalley, a glacial trough crucial to understand the type of glaciation that affected western Gondwana during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA). The filling of this paleovalley starts soon after the mid-Carboniferous glacial peak. Stage I represents pro-glacial lacustrine deposits with outwash, glacially rafted dropstones, mass transport deposits (MTDs) and turbidites of the trunk and a lateral tributary valley. Base-level drop created the scenario for Stage II outwash deltas and sandur deposits, with westward flow. Stage III represents a flooding at the base of the Bashkirian, characterized by typical transgressive dark shales and distal turbidites. Stage IV represents a highstand prograding turbidite wedge. We worked in a detailed terrain analysis, surveyed the scarce sedimentary record left and recovered a rich palynoflora from mudstones of Stage 3. The almost complete erosion of the fill allowed us to analyze the shape of this paleovalley and compare it to Olta and Malanzán ones. Vichigasta and Malanzán paleovalleys show similar size, a clear U-shape and regular and homogeneous width downslope, a requisite for bypass glacial paleovalleys carved in a subcrop of homogeneous composition (basement), which allow us to interpret them as outlet valleys. Olta paleovalley ranks as tributary as its capacity is only one-third of the others. We also identified a basement high over the Vichigasta valley floor that suggests the presence of a potential drumlin supporting our interpretation as a bypass glacial valley. This post-glacial flooding event is widely observed at other glacial valleys as the Olta-Malanzán herein analyzed and others like Las Lajas and Quebrada Grande. The new data from Vichigasta paleovalley reinforce the hypothesis of a large ice-sheet located to the east of the craton.

SUMMARY Following a preliminary palynological report of two samples from the lower part of the Kuhlan Formation (Unit A) near Kuhlan village, northwest Yemen (Stephenson and Al-Mashaikie, 2010), a further seven samples from Unit A, and an additional 22 samples from the underlying Akbarah Formation in the same locality are reported.

Palynological assemblages from the Tehuac
an Formation (TF), geochronologically dated as Middle Miocene
(15.6
0.4 Ma), provide evidence of a highly diverse flora that, at the generic level, is similar to the extant flora in
the Tehuac
an Valley. We propose that, during Miocene times, plant communities may have been formed of similar
botanical elements to those seen today in the region, with some taxa adapted to semiarid conditions. While major
temperate floristic elements of Pinus, Quercus, Juniperus, cloud forest and mexical vegetation can be recognized,
components of tropical deciduous forests, such as Burseraceae, Leguminosae and Cactaceae, are also present, indicating
semiarid conditions. Semiarid local conditions are also inferred from the geological record, consisting of lacustrine
and alluvial fan deposits, which contain abundant evaporites beds. This lithology was formed under high
evaporation and moderate precipitation conditions, as usually occurs in small basins fed by a seasonal input of water
in semiarid environments. Important differences in the vegetation from the TF palynoflora as compared to older
associations from south-central Mexico can be inferred, such as an increase in the diversity of semiarid taxa, belonging
to Leguminosae and Burseraceae, and the oldest abundant occurrence of the Cactaceae.

Organic material from the Noordhoek area on the western margin of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa, was obtained from a ~ 50 m-long drill-core dominated by fluvio-lacustrine siliciclastic sediments. The aim of this study is to constrain fluctuations in climate and the decline of tropical vegetation elements along the southwestern coast and the Cape Peninsula of South Africa, during the Late Cenozoic phase, when the Benguela upwelling system was established. The approach was to combine palynological, biogeochemical (tetraether lipids) and stable isotope (C, N) studies of the organic-bearing record from the Noordhoek area on the western margin of the Cape Peninsula. Bulk C and N isotope data of sediment organic matter, point to a predominantly C 3 higher plant source vegetation. Mean annual air temperature (MAT) from the analyses of tetraether lipids (MBT′–CBT index) was compared with palynomorphs from partly unpublished data of a previously drilled core adjacent to the study site. Th...

Late Cretaceous-Paleocene foraminiferans and palynomorphs were recovered from the upper section of the Djega outcrop in the Rio del Rey Basin. Only a few planktonic foraminiferan species of the genera Heterohelix and Hedbergella were recovered among an assemblage dominated by calcareous and agglutinated benthonics. Marine dinocysts are curiously absent from among the palynomorph assemblage, which consists dominantly of pollen grains from land plants (angiosperms and gymnosperms) and pteridophytic spores, together with a few fungal remains. Two benthonic foraminiferal assemblages that include the Campanian-Maastrichtian Bolivina afra-Haplophragmoides talokensis and the Paleocene Anomalinoides umboniferus-Eponides pseudoelevatus are well established at this outcrop. The palynomorphs include a few typical Late Cretaceous and typical Paleogene species, while the majority are long ranging forms that straddle the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. The foraminiferal and palynomorph biostratigra...

Here in published data on paiynology of the Pontian sediments from sections of Eastern Para-Theiys. New j;a!yno-logical data are given on characteristic oi the Pontian sediments of stratotypical section of Yakshy-Takyi mulda (Kerch peninsula). Three spore and pollen complexes are described which correspond to sediments of Novorossiysk, Portafera and Bosporus horizons, as well as their features.

... & Ángeles Beri b pages 459-502. ... In 1980, palynological studies started in Uruguay and a series of papers were subsequently published covering the systematics, biostratigraphy and palaeoecology of the San Gregorio, Tres Islas and Melo formations (Beri 198720. Beri, A. 1987. ...

During the Albian siliciclastic rock palynological analyses which correspond to Itapecuru Formation, Parnaiba basin were registered stomata cuticle fragments. These deposits outcrop in the left margin of the Itapecuru River in Querru Village, Itapecuru Mirim city (Maranhao state), where are interbedded sandstones, shales and claystones deposited in lacustrine environment with fluvial influence. Some stomata cuticle fragments represented by anomocytic, laterocytic and stephanocytic complexes are identified. These three complexes suggest development of hydrophyte, hygrophyte, mesophyte and xerophyte plants near of the deposition site. Trichomes of the Y-form and robust or thin simple morphotypes are associated to complexes.

Because of their small size and vast abundance in various types of sedimentary rocks, microfossils have found a multitude of applications in geology, especially regarding biostratigraphy, correlations and paleoenvironmental analysis. Organic-walled microfossils such as pollen, spores, and various organic debris derived from terrestrial plants, are especially useful when studying terrestrial deposits. This chapter presents the many different groups of organic-walled microfossils, collectively called palynomorphs, and the different methods palynologists use to study and extract them from sediments and rocks. We present a biostratigraphic application, the use of the pollen and spore record across the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, which has proven to be one of the most precise and reliable means for pinpointing this major transition within terrestrial deposits.

Systematic descriptions and illustrations of the best preserved angiosperm pollen grains (Monocotyledonae or Liliopsida: n= 7 and Dicotyledonae or Magnoliopsida: n= 41) recovered from Cuayuca Formation (late Eocene-early Oligocene), Puebla State, Mexico are provided, some of them of chronostratigraphic importance (Aglaoreidia pristina, Armeria, Bombacacidites, Corsinipollenites, Eucommia, Favitricolporites, Intratriporopollenites, Lymingtonia, Magnaperiporites, Malvacipollis spinulosa, Margocolporites aff. vanwijhei, Momipites coryloides, Momipites tenuipolus, Mutisiapollis, Ranunculacidites operculatus, and Thomsonipollis sabinetownensis). Taxa identified from the Cuayuca Formation suggest local semiarid vegetation such as tropical deciduous forest, chaparral, grassland, and arid tropical scrub, in which angiosperms are one of the main representatives. Nevertheless, temperate taxa from Pinus forest and cloud forest were also registered from regional vegetation. It is noticeable tha...

As the third part of an ongoing investigation of middle Miocene palynofloras in the Yatağan Basin (YB), southwestern Anatolia, the palynofloras of the Salihpaşalar lignite mine in the main YB were studied. Seven types of algal spores, aplanospores/zygospores or cysts, six types of lycophyte and fern spores, 12 types of gymnosperm pollen and 90 types of angiosperm pollen were identified. Of a total of ca. 140 plant taxa described from the YB, over 10% are confined to the Salihpaşalar assemblage. Differences between coeval palynofloras of the Sekköy Member might reflect changing or prograding depositional environments. A number of rare accessorial taxa reflect these local differences: Pilularia, Valeriana, Drosera and Persicaria aff. amphibia only occur at Salihpaşalar and are typical of shallow water or temporary ponds associated with a lake shore. Apart from this, all the palynofloras, originating from the lignite seams and overlying limnic limestones (uppermost Turgut and Sekköy Member), of the YB are strongly indicative of extensive woody vegetation with a dominance of diverse Fagaceae and Pinaceae. In addition, a list comparing the well-documented YB palynomorphs to morphologically similar palynomorphs of published late early to middle Miocene plant assemblages of western Anatolian was compiled. Such a comparison reveals that in many instances different taxon names have been used to denote the same taxa. Hence, resolving these synonymies is a prerequisite of any meaningful comparison of palynofloras in the region.

The palynocomplexes of Cenomanian sediments Ukraine are determined and described: Volyn-Podillia plate, west side of Ukrainian shield, Dneprovsko-Donetska depression, the north part of Donbass, Prichernomorskaya depression, Mountain Crimea, part akvatoryy Ukrainian Azov Sea. Early Cenomanian, Middle Cenomanian and Late Cenomanian palynocomplexes are determined in some region. The Cenomanian palynocomplexes the studied region Ukraine subdivided correlation on palynological data.
Key words: palynocomplex, Cenomanian sediments, Ukraine.
Установлены и охарактеризованы палинокомлексы сеноманских отложений Украины: Волыно-Подольской плиты, западного склона Украинского щита, Днепровско-Донецкой впадины, северной окраины Донбасса, Причерноморской впадины, Горного Крыма, украинской части акватории Азовского моря. В некоторых регионах установлены ранне-, средне- и позднесеноманские палинокомплексы. Проведено корреляцию сеноманских палинокомплексов изученых регионов Украины по палинологическим данным.
Ключевые слова: палинокомплекс, сеноманские отложения, Украина