Conifer fossil woods from the Santa Marta Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Brandy Bay, James Ross Island, Antarctica

Ten embedded fossil logs sampled in situ from the middle Eocene volcano‐sedimentary rocks close to Suffield Point in the Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica, are assigned to Protopodocarpoxylon araucarioides Schultze‐Motel ex Vogellehner, Phyllocladoxylon antarcticum Gothan, Agathoxylon antarcticum (Poole & Cantrill) Pujana et al., A. pseudoparenchymatosum (Gothan) Pujana et al. and an unidentified angiosperm wood. Differences in the taxonomic representation and growth‐ring characters of the Eocene woods on King George Island and coeval assemblages from Seymour Island, on the western and eastern sides of the Antarctic Peninsula respectively, are interpreted to result from environmental and climatic gradients across the Peninsula Orogen during the early Palaeogene. In particular, a precipitation gradient inferred across the Peninsula at that time might have been induced by a rain‐shadow effect.

show abstract

“…kellerense (Lucas & Lacey) Pujana (Lucas & Lacey ; Pujana et al . ; Mirabelli et al . ); A. pseudoparenchymatosum (Gothan) Pujana et al .…”

Section: Systematic Palaeontologymentioning

confidence: 99%

New fossil woods from lower Cenozoic volcano‐sedimentary rocks of the Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, and the implications for the trans‐Antarctic Peninsula Eocene climatic gradient

Philippe

McLoughlin

et al. 2019

Papers in Palaeontology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The majority of studies that include fossil woods and descriptions of the palaeoflora from the Santa Marta Formation were published in the last decades, especially from James Ross Island. Most of them refer to vegetation not only with a canopy dominated by conifers (Cantrill & Poole 2005;Pujana et al 2017) but also with an important component of some angiosperms and ferns (Poole & Francis 1999Poole, Cantrill et al 2000;Poole, Gottwald et al 2000;Kvacek & Vodrázka 2016;Pujana et al 2018). Some works briefly mention fossil woods but lack anatomical descriptions (e.g., Cantrill & Poole 2005) or mention gymnosperm fossil woods identified only as conifers because of their poor preservation (e.g., Kvacek & Sakala 2011).…”

Section: Geological Setting and Palaeobotanical Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…the James Ross Island area, where the Santa Marta Formation crops out (Crame et al 1991;Poole & Francis 1999Poole, Cantrill et al 2000;Poole, Gottwald et al 2000;Cantrill & Poole 2005;Poole & Cantrill 2006;Kvacek & Sakala 2011;Leppe et al 2012;Pujana et al 2017;Pujana et al 2018;Pipo et al 2020). However, no palaeobotanical evidence that palaeo-wildfires reached the vegetation in this area has been described so far, although the region as a whole had favourable conditions for fire, for example, abundant vegetation, the presence of ignition sources and adequate pO 2 levels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfires in the Campanian of James Ross Island: a new macro-charcoal record for the Antarctic Peninsula

Lima

Sayão

Ponciano

et al. 2021

polar

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Cretaceous “high-fire” period was a global event that reached almost all continental masses during that period in Earth’s history. The extensive wildfires directly affected plant communities. Significant palaeobotanical records in the Antarctic Peninsula have been studied from the James Ross Sub-Basin, especially from the Santa Marta Formation. However, there is no described evidence for palaeo-wildfires in the area so far. Here, we present the first occurrence of fossilized macro-charcoal coming from James Ross Island, confirming that palaeo-wildfires occurred in the Campanian vegetation preserved in the Santa Marta Formation. The new charcoal material has a gymnospermous taxonomic affinity, more specifically with the Araucariaceae, which is in accordance with previous palaeobotanical records from James Ross Island. This occurrence adds new information to the construction of the palaeo-wildfire scenario for Gondwana.

show abstract

“…In Patagonia, it was previously recorded in the Cretaceous ( Nishida et al 1990 ), Eocene ( Pujana and Ruiz 2019 ), and in sediments of unknown ages ( Kräusel 1924 ). On the Antarctic Peninsula, the fossil-species is the dominant component of the Eocene of Seymour/Marambio Island wood flora ( Torres et al 1994 ; Pujana et al 2014 ) and a common component of wood floras from the Late Cretaceous of James Ross Island ( Pujana et al 2017 ), the Paleocene of Seymour/Marambio Island ( Pujana et al 2015 ; Mirabelli et al 2018 ), and the Eocene of the Fildes Peninsula of King George/25 de Mayo Island ( Torres and Lemoigne 1988 ; Oh et al 2020 ).…”

Section: Systematic Paleontologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…ex Endl.) de Laub., the only extant species of its genus from Patagonia, and Phyllocladoxylon antarcticum share similar wood anatomy ( Pujana et al 2017 ), and it is possible that the fossil-species could be related to the extant P. andina .…”

Section: Systematic Paleontologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Conifer wood assemblage dominated by Podocarpaceae, early Eocene of Laguna del Hunco, central Argentinean Patagonia

Pujana¹,

Wilf²,

Gandolfo³

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During the early Eocene, Patagonia had highly diverse floras that are primarily known from compression and pollen fossils. Fossil wood studies from this epoch are scarce in the region and largely absent from the Laguna del Hunco flora, which has a highly diverse and excellently preserved compression assemblage. A collection of 26 conifer woods from the Laguna del Hunco fossil-lake beds (early Eocene, ca. 52 Ma) from central-western Patagonia was studied, of which 12 could be identified to genus. The dominant species is Phyllocladoxylon antarcticum, which has affinity with early-diverging Podocarpaceae such as Phyllocladus and Prumnnopitys. A single specimen of Protophyllocladoxylon francisiae probably represents an extinct group of Podocarpaceae. In addition, two taxonomic units of cf. Cupressinoxylon with putative affinity to Podocarpaceae were found. Diverse Podocarpaceae taxa consistent with the affinities of these woods were previously reported from vegetative and reproductive macrofossils as well as pollen grains from the same source unit. Some of the woods have galleries filled with frass. Distinct growth ring boundaries indicate seasonality, inferred to represent seasonal light availability. Growth ring widths suggest that the woods came from mature trees, whereas the widths and types of some rings denote near-uniform temperature and water availability conditions.

show abstract

Conifer fossil woods from the Santa Marta Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Brandy Bay, James Ross Island, Antarctica

Cited by 26 publications

References 30 publications

New fossil woods from lower Cenozoic volcano‐sedimentary rocks of the Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, and the implications for the trans‐Antarctic Peninsula Eocene climatic gradient

New fossil woods from lower Cenozoic volcano‐sedimentary rocks of the Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, and the implications for the trans‐Antarctic Peninsula Eocene climatic gradient

Wildfires in the Campanian of James Ross Island: a new macro-charcoal record for the Antarctic Peninsula

Conifer wood assemblage dominated by Podocarpaceae, early Eocene of Laguna del Hunco, central Argentinean Patagonia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About