The Late Cretaceous (Coniacian) leaf and cone flora from the Sudetes

Abstract

Late Cretaceous (Coniacian, mostly late Coniacian; ammonite-and inoceramid-based stratigraphy) leaf floras from the Nysa Kłodzka Graben in the Sudetes (south-western Poland) are described. Plant remains are preserved in coarse clastic rocks as imprints devoid of cuticles and occur in marginal marine sediments deposited by a palaeocurrent flowing along the shores of the East Sudetic Island, the origin place of the plants.

Coniacian flora of the Sudetes (south-western Poland): Palaeoecological and palaeoclimatic interpretations

“…1). More precisely, 98% of the plant fossils revised by Halamski and Kvaček (2015) come from a small area within the Nysa Graben, namely the Idzików Brachysyncline (see Don and Gotowała, 2008 for a tectonic map of the Nysa Graben). Rare plant fossils come from Stary Waliszów (Idzików Syncline), Krosnowice and Stary Wielisław (both Krosnowice Syncline; see Table 1).…”

“…1 X Debeya sp. X X Cinnamomoides extinctus (Velenovský, 1885a;Halamski and Kvaček, 2015) X X Laurophyllum acuminatum (Goeppert, 1848a;Halamski and Kvaček, 2015) X X Laurophyllum sp. 1 X X Laurophyllum sp.…”

“…The plant material described by Halamski and Kvaček (2015) and in the present paper comes from the north-eastern part of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin, namely from the Upper Nysa Kłodzka Graben (abbreviated as 'Nysa Graben'), a graben within the Proterozoic to Palaeozoic structures of the Sudetes, filled with Cenomanian to Coniacian sediments (Walaszczyk in Voigt et al, 2008). During the Coniacian, this area was an epicontinental sea with several islands constituting the Central European Archipelago.…”

“…schlotheimii (Kunzmann et al, 2003) X Conago sp. X Angiosperms Dryophyllum geinitzianum (Goeppert, 1848a;Halamski and Kvaček, 2015) X X Juglandiphyllites cf. pelagicus (Unger, 1867;Herman and Kvaček, 2010) X X Dalbergites atavius (Velenovský, 1885a;Halamski and Kvaček, 2015) X X Dalbergites sp.…”

“…More advanced knowledge of plant reproductive organs and associated foliage studied in other Late Cretaceous localities (e.g., Kvaček and Eklund, 2003;Kvaček and Friis, 2010, Kvaček 2003, Maslova et al, 2005 have allowed Halamski and Kvaček (2015) to improve systematic classification of fossil leaves described from Idzików, and prepare a critical revision. The reader is referred to that monograph for details on fossil sites, stratigraphy, taphonomy, and for systematic description of the megaflora.…”