Fossil mosses, Beaufort Formation (Tertiary), Northwestern Banks Island, Western Canada Arctic

Kuc, Marian; Hills, L. V.

doi:10.1139/b71-156

Cited by 19 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…(Boulter, 1971), represents the remains of an extinct family of European mosses. Such a fossil contrasts to mosses of similar age reported from the Canadian Beaufort Formation as found on Banks Island at 74"N with 13 species in eight genera (Kuc & Hills, 1971) and Meighen Island at 80"N with Porellu sp. and 42 moss species.…”

Section: (D) Tertiary Fossilscontrasting

confidence: 71%

Bryophyte evolution and geography

Miller

1982

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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The three extant Divisions comprising the bryophytes extend, as fossils, well back into Palaeozoic time. Bryophyte origin is part of the rise of terrestrial, vascularized, plants with sporopollenin‐walled spores in the Silurian. Before the end of Carboniferous time, bryophyte lines were widely present. Separation of Gondwana and Laurasia by the Permian Tethys Sea and subsequent widespread desert episodes fragmented an already diversified bryoflora subjecting it to intense selective pressure. The cool, mesic climate of southern Gondwana provided a refugium for austral bryophytes. Warmer and drier climates of the Permo‐Triassic Laurentian‐Laurasia favoured drought‐adapted or niche‐specific groups creating marked systematic discontinuities. The Angaran wet, probably cool, temperate region provided refuge for basic stock for much of today's rich holarctic and wet ‘tropical’ bryofloras. Climatic changes, correlated with tectonic events and the rise of angiosperms, opened habitats favourable for a diversity explosion. Despite demonstrated potential for long‐distance dispersal, modern distributions are mostly linked with total floras or establishment on islands prior to niche saturation. Remnants of Gondwanan bryoflora persist in high southern latitudes as disjunctions with the possibility that the folded ranges of the African Cape have been an insular fragment at higher latitudes becoming attached shortly after angiosperm diversification. Floras of southern India and east Africa have common features but the Himalayan flora shows evidence that the Gondwanan flora of the Indian plate was lost during the movement through desert and tropical latitudes; neotropical and palaeotropical floras are distinctive. Much of the northern Australian bryoflora is recently Malesian‐derived while the southeast shows strong austral influence and commonality with New Zealand. Tropical Pacific island floras are mostly Malesian‐derived but with both holarctic and austral elements present as in Hawaii and the Society Islands. Holarctic bryoflora is circum‐polar with temperate areas of Euro‐American and far eastern elements floristically bound by disjunct and vicariad species. Kroeber Coefficients of Correlation differ as Pacific island floras are compared and Guttman‐Lingoes Smallest Space Coordinates indicates floristic subgroups within Polynesia. Although these and other mathematical treatments yield potentially promising results, the methods are yet unrefined and there is some uncertainty whether characteristics of numbers or of organisms are implicit in the summations.

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Section: (D) Tertiary Fossilscontrasting

confidence: 71%

Bryophyte evolution and geography

Miller

1982

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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“…8) on northwestern Banks Island has long been known as a source of "tiary plant fossils (Heer, 1868). Hills (1969;Kuc and Hills, 1971) was the first to describe the stratigraphy at Ballast Brook. He divided the thick sequence of gravels, sand and peat into two units: a lower one approximately 40 m thick with compressed wood from large trees and a 4 m thick peat ("lignite," according to Hills, 1969), which can be traced for several kilometres; and an upper unit made up of sand and gravel with lenses of uncompressed wood and finer organic debris.…”

Section: Ballast Brook Beds: Northern Banks Island N M Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the exposures along Ballast Brook (Geological Survey of Canada locality C-5552) reveals an autochthonous peat bed that contains abundant, well-preserved mosses (Kuc and Hills, 1971). These and vascular plant fossils from strata below the peat at C-5552 are listed in Table 5.…”

Section: Al (199ob) Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The remainder occur in boreal regions. No extinct mosses have been found at late Tertiary sites, and in only a few cases have atypical forms of common genera provoked comment (Kuc, 1973; Kuc and Hills, 1971;Ovenden, 1989). A long-term goal of one of the authors (Ovenden) is to develop a paleoenvironmental scenario that will reconcile the apparent stability of the arctic moss flora with the evident mutability of the vascular plant flora.…”

Section: Late Tertiary Plant Macrofossils / 387mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Late Tertiary Plant Macrofossilsf from Localities in Arctic/Subarctic North America: A Review of the Data

Matthews¹,

Ovenden²

1990

ARCTIC

190

206

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ABSTRACT. Bryophyte and vascular plant fossils occur at many late Tertiary sites in Alaska and northern Canada. A number of these floras are reviewed here. The oldest flora, possibly of late Early Miocene age, is probably the one from the Mary Sachs gravel at Duck Hawk Bluffs, Banks Island. The youngest are of early Quaternary age.The floras are of several types. The youngest (Cape Deceit Formation) contains only plants that grow in the Arctic and Subarctic today. The Meighen Island Beaufort Formation contains a few extinct taxa (Amcites globosa) and fossil plants, such as Sambucus, Comptonia, and Physocarpus, that are not found in the present subarctic and arctic regions of North America. Some of these floras also contain fossils of a five-needle pine that may represent the Japanese Stone pine (Pinus pumila). A third group of floras, from Cone Bluff and Lava Camp, Alaska, usually contains more extinct plants (Epiprernnum cmssum, Decodon and cf. Paliurus) as well as fossils of pines in the subsection Cembme. The Mary Sachs gravel flora, with taxa such as Metasequoia, Glyptostrobus, 'Ihxodium, Juglans, and Liriodendron, stands apart from all three of the above-mentioned floral types.

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“…He termed the suite of sediments in the Duck Hawk Bluffs, the Mary Sachs gravel, and the older sediments at Ballast Brook, the Ballast Brook beds. The diverse assemblage of flora and fauna contained in beds of the Duck Hawk Bluffs in southwestern Banks Island and of the Ballast Brook area of northwestern Banks Island were also intensively studied by Hills Hills and Ogilvie (1970), Kuc (1973), Kuc and Hills (1971), Matthews (1976Matthews ( ,1987Matthews ( ,1989, Matthews et al (1986) and Roy and Hills (1972). The fossil plants and ?.…”

Section: Definition and Past Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Tertiary and Early Pleistocene Deposits and History of Banks Island, Southwestern Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Vincent¹

1990

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. Fossil-rich sediments on Banks Island provide an excellent record of events and conditions that prevailed in arctic Canada during the late Tertiary and Early Pleistocene. In the late Tertiary, fluvial sands and gravels of the Beaufort Formation and related deposits were laid down on the coastal plain facing the Beaufort Sea. Relative sea level was lower than today. Both mixed deciduous/coniferous and coniferous forests existed on Banks Island. Mean July temperatures must have been + W C warmer than present. The Early Pleistocene Worth Point Formation records a period during which preglacial landscapes were modified by fluvial, eolian, and colluvial processes. Continuous permafrost was likely present, sea level was lower than today, and southern Banks Island was covered by an open larch-dominated forest-tundra. Mean July temperatures were probably some 5-7OC warmer than present. Although some evidence indicates possible earlier glaciations, the best record of an early continental ice advance is provided by widespread glacial and marine sediments of the Duck Hawk Bluffs Formation laid down during the Early Pleistocene Banks Glaciation. This advance was distinctly more extensive than Middle or Late Pleistocene ones and glacio-isostatically controlled sea levels were much higher than those of today. During the Early to Middle Pleistocene Morgan Bluffs Interglaciation, climate on Banks Island was cooler than in preglacial times. Although the tree line may have extended to the southern part of the island, fossil remains in seven localities indicate typical low arctic conditions (mean July temperatures 2-5OC warmer than present). Eustatic sea level was some 30 m higher than the present and permafrost was continuous. The Banks Island record provides critical information on periods when conditions in the Arctic were significantly warmer than today. As such it can serve as a basis to understand and forecast the nature and impact of future man-induced atmospheric warming. PEaEPAT. n~6nnylo1une ncKonaeMuMn ocracrKaun ornomennn ocrpoea 6 a n~c nennm &OS eenmonennyn, neronncb c o b b I m 8 n ycnoBntl, npeobnanamnx B KaHagCKOs ApnnKe B Konue rpernsnom nepnona n panMM nnetlccrouene. B Konue rpernqnoro nepnona Ha npnneralolud K MOPD 6oWpra paennne ornoxnnncb pesnue necw n rpmn8 @opMaunn &@opTa. OmocnrenbnbIR (unpoKonncrmnue) n xmfinare. r a~ n xmfinue neca.

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Fossil mosses, Beaufort Formation (Tertiary), Northwestern Banks Island, Western Canada Arctic

Cited by 19 publications

References 3 publications

Bryophyte evolution and geography

Bryophyte evolution and geography

Late Tertiary Plant Macrofossilsf from Localities in Arctic/Subarctic North America: A Review of the Data

Late Tertiary and Early Pleistocene Deposits and History of Banks Island, Southwestern Canadian Arctic Archipelago

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