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Terrestrial palynomorphs of the Cenozoic Pagodroma Group, northern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2013

L.J. Wei ,
J.I. Raine  and
X.H. Liu
L.J. Wei*
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China
J.I. Raine
Affiliation:
GNS Science, PO Box 30368, Lower Hutt 6009, New Zealand
X.H. Liu
Affiliation:
Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

Terrestrial palynomorphs from the glaciomarine Pagodroma Group provide the first stratigraphically-constrained record of Cenozoic terrestrial vegetation for the northern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica. In general, contemporaneous spores and pollen are extremely sparse, but palynological assemblages of the late middle–late Miocene Fisher Bench Formation and Battye Glacier Formation have relatively more abundant Cenozoic spores and pollen compared with those of the Oligocene Mount Johnston Formation and the Pliocene–early Pleistocene Bardin Bluffs Formation. Spore-pollen assemblages from the Battye Glacier Formation and the Fisher Bench Formation are dominated by Chenopodipollis, with a few other accessory angiosperm and podocarp pollen, pteridophyte and bryophyte spores, and algal cysts, reflecting a low diversity herb-tundra vegetation and a climate similar to the present-day cool to cold sub-Antarctic regions. Reworked Permian–Triassic miospores in Amery oasis (unofficial name) sediments probably indicate local provenance from the Amery Group but Jurassic–Cretaceous and possible early Cenozoic miospores reflect an unknown source.

Keywords

Amery oasisFisher Massifglaciomarine sedimentsMiocenepalaeovegetationspores and pollen
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , February 2014 , pp. 69 - 79
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2013 

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