Latest Mid-Pennsylvanian tree-fern forests in retrograding coastal plain deposits, Sydney Mines Formation, Nova Scotia, Canada

Journal of the Geological Society

Volumn 163, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 81-93

  Falcon Lang, Howard J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CARBONIFEROUS; FOREST; FOSSIL; PALEOBOTANY; PENNSYLVANIAN;

CANADA; NORTH AMERICA; NOVA SCOTIA;

FILICOPHYTA; LYCOPODIOPSIDA; NEUROPTERIDA; SIGILLARIA; VACCINIUM MACROCARPON;

EID: 29244486484     PISSN: 00167649     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1144/0016-764905-003     Document Type: Article

References (72)

1. Andrews, H.N. 1961. Studies in Palaeobotany. Wiley, New York.
2. Archer, A.W., Calder, J.H., Gibling, M.R., Naylor, R.D., Reid, D.R. & Wightman, W.G. 1995. Invertebrate trace fossils and agglutinated Foraminifera as indicators of marine influences within the classic Carboniferous section at Joggins, Nova Scotia, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 32, 2027-2039.
3. Baker, R.A. & DiMichele, W.A. 1997. Biomass allocation in Late Pennsylvanian coal-swamp plants. Palaios, 12, 127-132.
4. Brown, R. 1849. Section of the Lower Coal Measures of the Sydney Coalfield in the island of Cape Breton. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 6, 115-133.
5. Calder, J.H., Gibling, M.R., Eble, C.F., Scott, A.C. & MacNeil, D.J. 1996. The Westphalian D fossil forest at Table Head, Sydney Basin, Nova Scotia: sedimentology, paleoecology and floral response to changing edaphic conditions. International Journal of Coal Geology, 31, 277-313.
6. Cleal, C.J. & Thomas, B.A. 1997. A provisional list for GEOSITES for Carboniferous palaeobotany. Newsletter on Carboniferous Stratigraphy, 15, 32-33.
7. Cleal, C.J. & Zodrow, E.L. 1989. Epidermal structure of some medullosan Neuropteris foliage from the middle and upper Carboniferous of Canada and Germany. Palaeontology, 32, 837-882.
8. Cleal, C.J., Shute, C.H. & Zodrow, E.L. 1990. A revised taxonomy for Palaeozoic neuropterid foliage. Taxon, 39, 486-492.
9. Cleal, C.J., James, R.M. & Zodrow, E.L. 1999. Variation in stomatal density in the Late Carboniferous gymnosperm frond Neuropteris ovata. Palaios, 14, 180-185.
10. Cleal, C.J., Dimitrova, T.K. & Zodrow, E.L. 2003. Macrofloral and palynological criteria for recognising the Westphalian-Stephanian boundary. Newsletter on Stratigraphy, 39, 181-208.
11. Dawson, J.W. 1868. Acadian Geology or The geological structure, organic remains, and mineral resources of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, 2nd. Macmillan, London.
12. DeWolfe, L.A. 1906. The structure and succession at North Sydney and Sydney Mines, Cape Breton. Nova Scotia Institute of Science, Proceedings and Transactions, 10, 289-323.
13. DiMichele, W.A. & Phillips, T.L. 1977. Monocylic Psaronius from the Lower Pennsylvanian of the Illinois Basin. Canadian Journal of Botany, 55, 2514-2524.
14. DiMichele, W.A. & Phillips, T.L. 1994. Palaeobotanical and palaeoecological constraints on models of peat formation in the Late Carboniferous of Euramerica. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 106, 39-90.
15. DiMichele, W.A. & Phillips, T.L. 1996. Climate change, plant extinctions and vegetational recovery during the Middle-Late Pennsylvanian transition: the case of tropical peat-forming environments in North America. In: Hart, M.B. (ed.) Biotic Recovery from Mass Extinction Events. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 102, 201-221.
16. DiMichele, W.A. & Phillips, T.L. 2002. The ecology of Paleozoic ferns. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 119, 143-159.
17. DiMichele, W.A., Eble, C.F. & Chaney, D.S. 1996a. A drowned lycopsid forest above the Mahoning coal (Conemaugh Group, Upper Pennsylvanian) in eastern Ohio, USA. International Journal of Coal Geology, 31, 249-276.
18. DiMichele, W.A., Pfefferkorn, H.W. & Phillips, T.L. 1996b. Persistence of Late Carboniferous tropical vegetation during glacially-driven climatic and sea-level fluctuations. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 125, 105-128.
19. DiMichele, W.A., Pferfferkorn, H.W. & Gastaldo, R.A. 2001. Response of Late Carboniferous and Early Permian plant communities to climate change. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 29, 461-487.
20. DiMichele, W.A., Behrensmeyer, A.K., Olszewski, T.D., Labandeira, C.C., Pandolfi, J.M., Wing, S.L. & Bobe, R. 2004. Long-term stasis in ecological assemblages. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 35, 285-322.
21. Dolby, G. 1988. The palynology of the Morien Group, Sydney Basin, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources, Open-File Report, 88-061.
22. Falcon-Lang, H.J. 2003. Late Carboniferous dryland tropical vegetation, Joggins, Nova Scotia, Canada. Palaios, 18, 197-211.
23. Falcon-Lang, H.J. 2004. Pennsylvanian tropical rainforests responded to glacial-interglacial rhythms. Geology, 32, 689-692.
24. Falcon-Lang, H.J. 2005. Small cordaitalean trees in a marine-influenced coastal habitat in the Pennsylvanian Joggins Formation, Nova Scotia, Canada. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 162, 485-500.
25. Fielding, C.R. 1986. Fluvial channel and overbank deposits from the Westphalian of the Durham coalfield, NE England. Sedimentology, 33, 119-140.
26. Gastaldo, R.A. 1987. Confirmation of Carboniferous clastic swamp communities. Nature, 326, 869-871.
27. Gastaldo, R.A. 1990. Earliest evidence for helical crown configuration in a Carboniferous tree of uncertain affinity. Journal of Palaeontology, 64, 146-151.
28. Gastaldo, R.A. 1992. Regenerative growth in fossil horse-tails following burial by alluvium. Historical Biology, 6, 203-219.
29. Gastaldo, R.A. & Zodrow, E.L. 1982. Studies on North American pecopterids. IV. Diversity and stratigraphic occurrence in the Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia. In: Third North American Palaeontological Convention, Proceedings. 1, 193-198.
30. Gastaldo, R.A., Stevanovic-Walls, I.M. & Ware, W.N. 2004a. Erect forests are evidence for coseismic base-level changes in Pennsylvanian cyclothems of the Black Warrior Basin, USA. In: Pashin, J.C. & Gastaldo, R.A. (eds) Sequence Stratigraphy, Paleoclimate, and Tectonics of Coal-bearing Strata. AAPG Studies in Geology, 51, 219-238.
31. Gastaldo, R.A., Stevanovic-Walls, I.M., Ware, W.N. & Greb, S.F. 2004b. Community heterogeneity of Early Pennsylvanian peat mires. Geology, 32, 693-696.
32. Gerrienne, P., Fairon-Demaret, M. & Galtier, J. 1999. Namurian A (Silesian) permineralized flora from the Carriere du Lion at Engihoul (Belgium). Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 107, 1-15.
33. Gibling, M.R. 1995. Upper Paleozoic rocks, Nova Scotia. In: Williams, H. (ed.) Geology of the Appalachian-Caledonian Orogen in Canada and Greenland. Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, F-1, 493-523.
34. Gibling, M.R. & Bird, D.J. 1994. Late Carboniferous cyclothems and alluvial paleovalleys in the Sydney Basin, Nova Scotia. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 106, 105-117.
35. Gibling, M.R. & Wightman, W.G. 1994. Palaeovalleys and protozoan assemblages in a Late Carboniferous cyclothem, Sydney Basin, Nova Scotia. Sedimentology, 41, 699-719.
36. Gibling, M.R., Saunders, K.I., Tibert, N.E. & White, J.A. 2004. Sequence sets, high-accommodation events and the coal window in the Carboniferous Coalfield, Atlantic Canada. In: Pashin, J. & Gastaldo, R.A. (eds) Coal-bearing Strata: Sequence Stratigraphy, Paleoclimate, and Tectonics. AAPG Studies in Geology, 51, 169-198.
37. Hacquebard, P.A. 1976. Appraisal of coal intersected in Murphy offshore well (North Sydney P-05) of Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia. Geological Survey of Canada Report.
38. Hartley, A.J. 1993. A depositional model for the mid-Westphalian A to late Westphalian B Coal Measures of South Wales. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 150, 1121-1136.
39. Isbell, J.L., Miller, M.F., Wolfe, K.L. & Lenaker, P.A. 2003. Timing of late Palaeozoic glaciation in Gondwana: Was glaciation responsible for the development of Northern Hemisphere cyclothems? Geological Society of America, Special Papers, 370, 5-20.
40. Lesnikowska, A.D. & Willard, D.A. 1997. Two new species of Scolecopteris (Marattiales), sources of Torispora securis Balme and Thymospora thiessenii (Kosanke) Wilson et Venkatachala. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 95, 211-225.
41. Millay, M.A. 1997. A review of permineralized Euramerican Carboniferous tree-ferns. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 95, 191-209.
42. Morgans, J. 1959. The morphology and anatomy of American species of Psaronius. Illinois Biological Monographs, 27, 1-107.
43. Mueck, S.G., Ough, K. & Banks, J.C.G. 1996. How old are Wet Forest understories? Australian Journal of Ecology, 21, 345-348.
44. Opluštil, S. 2004. Late Carboniferous tectono-sedimentary evolution and related terrestrial biotic changes on the North Variscan and Appalachian forelands, and adjacent paralic and continental basins. Geologica Balcanica, 34, 51-67.
45. Pascucci, V., Gibling, M.R. & Williamson, M.A. 2000. Late Paleozoic to Cenozoic history of the offshore Sydney Basin, Atlantic Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 37, 1143-1165.
46. Peppers, R.A. 1997. Palynology of the Lost Branch Formation of Kansas - new insights on the major floral transition at the Middle-Upper Pennsylvanian boundary. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 98, 223-246.
47. Pfefferkorn, H.W. 1976. Pennsylvanian tree-fern compressions Caulopteris, Megaphyton, and Artisophyton gen. nov. in Illinois. Illinois State Geological Survey Circular, 492.
48. Pfefferkorn, H.W. 1979. High diversity and stratigraphic age of the Mazon Creek flora. In: Nitecki, M.H. (ed.) Mazon Creek Fossils. Academic Press, New York, 129-142.
49. Pfefferkorn, H.W. & Thomson, M.C. 1982. Changes in dominance patterns in Upper Carboniferous plant-fossil assemblages. Geology, 10, 641-644.
50. Pfefferkorn, H.W., Gastaldo, R.A. & DiMichele, W.A. 2000. Ecological stability during the Late Paleozoic cold interval. In: Gastaldo, R.A. & DiMichele, W.A. (eds) Phanerozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems. Paleontological Society Special Papers, 6, 63-78.
51. Phillips, T.L., Peppers, R.A., Avcin, M.J. & Laughnan, P.F. 1974. Fossil plants and coal: patterns of change in Pennsylvanian coal swamps of the Illinois Basin. Science, 184, 1367-1369.
52. Phillips, T.L., Avcin, M.J. & Berggren, D. 1976. Fossil Peat from the Illinois Basin. Illinois State Geological Survey Educational Series, 11.
53. Phillips, T.L., Peppers, R.A. & DiMichele, W.A. 1985. Stratigraphic and interregional changes in Pennsylvanian coal swamp vegetation: environmental inferences. International Journal of Coal Geology, 5, 43-109.
54. Psenicka, J. 2005. Taxonomy of Pennsylvanian-Permian ferns from coal basins in the Czech Republic and Canada. PhD thesis, Charles University, Prague.
55. Rößler, R. 2000. The Late Palaeozoic tree-fern Psaronius - an ecosystem unto itself. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 108, 55-74.
56. Rothwell, G.W. 1991. Botryopteris forensis, a trunk epiphyte of the tree-fern Psaronius. American Journal of Botany, 78, 782-788.
57. Rothwell, G.W. & Blickle, A.H. 1982. Psaronius magnificus n. comb., a marrattialean fern from the Upper Pennsylvanian of North America. Journal of Palaeontology, 56, 459-468.
58. Rygel, M.C., Gibling, M.R. & Calder, J.H. 2004. Vegetation-induced sedimentary structures from fossil forests in the Pennsylvanian Joggins Formation, Nova Scotia. Sedimentology, 51, 531-552.
59. Stidd, B.N. 1971. Morphology and anatomy of the frond of Psaronius. Palaeontographica, Abt. B, 134, 87-123.
60. Tandon, S.K. & Gibling, M.R. 1994. Calcrete and coal in Late Carboniferous cyclothems of Nova Scotia, Canada: climate and sea-level changes linked. Geology, 22, 755-758.
61. Tandon, S.K. & Gibling, M.R. 1997. Calcrete at sequence boundaries in Upper Carboniferous cyclothems of the Sydney Basin, Atlantic Canada. Sedimentary Geology, 112, 43-67.
62. Wagner, R.H. & Lyons, P.C. 1997. A critical analysis of the higher Pennsylvanian megafloras of the Appalachian region. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 95, 255-283.
63. Wagner, R.H., Sánchez de Posada, S., Chacón, M., Fernandez, L.P., Villa, E. & Winkler Prins, C.F. 2002. The Asturian Stage: a preliminary proposal for the definition of a substitute for Westphalian D. In: Hills, L.V., Henderson, C.M. & Bamber, E.W. (eds) Carboniferous and Permian of the World. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Memoirs, 19, 832-850.
64. Willard, D.A. & Phillips, T.L. 1993. Paleobotany and palynology of the Bristol Hill Coal Member (Bond Formation) and Friendsville Coal Member (Matton Formation) of the Illinois Basin (Upper Pennsylvanian). Palaios, 8, 574-586.
65. Wimbledon, W.A.P., Andersen, S. & Cleal, C.J. et al. 1999. Geological World Heritage: GEOSITES - a global comparative site inventory to enable priorisation for conservation. Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on the Conservation of the Geological Heritage. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Italy, 54, 45-60.
66. Zodrow, E.L. 1986. Succession of palaeobotanical events: evidence for mid-Westphalian D floral changes, Morien Group (Late Pennsylvanian, Nova Scotia). Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 47, 293-326.
67. Zodrow, E.L. 1989a. Summary of macrofloral biostratigraphy of the Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia, Canada (Carboniferous, Westphalian/Cantabrian age). Atlantic Geology, 25, 73-79.
68. Zodrow, E.L. 1989b. Revision of sphenophyll biostratigraphy of Canada. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 58, 301-331.
69. Zodrow, E.L. 1990. Revision and emendation of Pecopteris arborescens group, Permo-Carboniferous. Palaeontographica, Abt. B, 217, 1-49.
70. Zodrow, E.L. & Cleal, C.J. 1985. Phyto- and chronostratigraphical correlations between the late Pennsylvanian Morien Group (Sydney, Nova Scotia) and the Silesian Pennant Measures (South Wales). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 22, 1465-1473.
71. Zodrow, E.L. & McCandlish, K. 1978. Distribution of Linopteris obliqua in the Sydney Coalfield of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Palaeontographica, Abt. B, 168, 1-16.
72. Zodrow, E.L. & McCandlish K. 1980. Upper Carboniferous fossil flora of Nova Scotia in the collections of the Nova Scotia Museum, with special reference to the Sydney Coalfield. The Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax.