Fossil wood diversity gradient and Far-East Asia palaeoclimatology during the Late Triassic – Cretaceous interval

Paleoclimate and ecology of Cretaceous continental ecosystems of Japan inferred from the stable oxygen and carbon isotope compositions of vertebrate bioapatite

“…This would be compatible with the amount of precipitations calculated from the Aptian Kitadani and Albian Sasayama vertebrate δ 13 C values, but not with the drier environments inferred from the Fuxin vertebrates (Amiot et al, 2015). Far-East Asia fossil wood record for the Cretaceous is consistent with the hypothesis that regional paleogeography might explain this peculiar climate pattern (Oh et al, 2011). Indeed, Northeastern China was then bordered on the southeast by the Su-Lu mountain range, locally producing a "rain shadow" that limited air moisture from the Pacific Ocean to enter from the East inlandward.…”

“…Differences in paleoclimatic and paleogeographic conditions have been proposed to explain the strong provincialism that characterizes East Asian faunas during the Early Cretaceous, such as a strong latitudinal thermal gradient (Amiot et al, 2011) or differences in humidity and amount of precipitations (Amiot et al, 2015) linked to regional paleotopography (Liu et al, 2015) and marine influence (Matsukawa et al, 1993). The associated phytocenoses suggest that the biogeographical partitioning was induced by a longitudinal gradient of continentality (Oh et al, 2011). Another peculiar aspect of the temporal evolution of the Tetori Biota is the change from choristoderan occurrences without crocodilyforms in the Okurodani and Kuwajima formations to crocodilyform occurrence without choristoderes in the Kitadani Formation, suggesting climatic change from cool to hot (Matsumoto et al, 2015).…”

Potomacapnos apeleutherongen. et sp. nov., a new Early Cretaceous angiosperm from the Potomac Group and its implications for the evolution of eudicot leaf architecture

“…The description of Potomacapnos apeleutheron contributes to an emerging picture of early (Hauterivian–Aptian) flowering plants as locally rare, herbaceous plants that were nevertheless geographically widespread and morphologically diverse. The evidence for the herbaceous habit comes from the characters described above in Potomacapnos , as well as other characters observed in other early angiosperm fossils (Taylor and Hickey, 1990, 1996; Sun et al, 1998; Leng and Friis, 2003; Doyle et al, 2008; Mohr et al, 2008) and from the virtual absence of Hauterivian–Aptian angiosperm wood fossils (Stopes, 1913; Nishida, 1962; Suzuki and Nishida, 1974; but see Hughes, 1976; Oh et al, 2011), despite the abundance of fossil gymnosperm wood (Philippe et al, 2008; Peralta‐Medina and Falcon‐Lang, 2012). The fossil evidence for herbaceous habit in early angiosperms, and in particular early eudicots and monocots, superficially conflicts with phylogenetic studies of living plants in which the common ancestor of both eudicots and crown‐group angiosperms has been reconstructed as woody (Kim et al, 2004).…”

Occurrences of Early Cretaceous fossil woods in China: Implications for paleoclimates

“…Growth rings preserved a continuous record of environmental factors present during the life of a tree, and growing conditions experienced by trees left their marks in the structural features of the wood (Creber, 1977;Creber and Chaloner, 1984;Francis, 1984Francis, , 1986Falcon-Lang, 2005;Pires and Guerra-Sommer, 2011). The diversity of fossil wood assemblage is a good indicator for Mesozoic climates (Philippe et al, 2004;Oh et al, 2011aOh et al, , 2011b. The abundant Early Cretaceous fossil woods of China provide a valuable source of paleoclimatic data.…”