Frederick J. Rich

A warm thermal enclave in the Late Pleistocene of the South-eastern United States

Physical and biological evidence supports the probable existence of an enclave of relatively warm climate located between the Southern Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean in the United States during the Last Glacial Maximum. The region supported a mosaic of forest and prairie habitats inhabited by a “Floridian” ice‐age biota. Plant and vertebrate remains suggest an ecological gradient towards Cape Hatteras (35°N) wherein forests tended to replace prairies, and browsing proboscideans tended to replace grazing proboscideans. Beyond 35°N, warm waters of the Gulf Stream were deflected towards the central Atlantic, and a cold‐facies biota replaced “Floridian” biota on the Atlantic coastal plain. Because of niche diversity and relatively benign climate, biodiversity may have been greater in the south‐eastern thermal enclave than in other unglaciated areas of North America. However, the impact of terminal Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions may also have been shorter and more severe in the enclave than further north. A comparison with biotic changes that occurred in North America approximately 55 million years (ma) ago at the Paleocene‐Eocene Thermal Maximum suggests that similar processes of change took place under both ice‐house and greenhouse climates.

Paleoecology of Mid-Wisconsinan Peat Clasts from Skidaway Island, Georgia

Abstract Twelve peat clasts were recovered from a paleochannel deposit on Skidaway Island, Chatham County, Georgia. An AMS radiocarbon date from a plant stem in one of these clasts indicates original peat deposition 36,830 ± 340 14C years B.P., and the stratigraphic position of the clasts supports this age assignment. Fossil Pinus needles, pollen, and testate amoebae provide a snapshot of the environment and biota at a time when most other sites in coastal Georgia were not accumulating sediment. Pollen from the peat clasts is dominated by Pinus and other genera common on the coastal plain today (e.g., Quercus, Carya). Morphological and anatomical analyses of the fossil Pinus needles indicate they are either Pinus taeda or Pinus serotina, which both currently inhabit the Coastal Plain of Georgia. Seven testate amoeba taxa, all characteristic of relatively dry peatland conditions, were encountered in the clasts. Testate amoeba assemblages are dominated by Hyalosphenia subflava, a taxon that is not typically dominant in modern assemblages. More investigations describing the occurrence and distribution of Quaternary testate amoebae, as well as modern ecology and biogeography of testate amoebae, are necessary before the significance of these assemblages can be assessed fully. Deposition of the peat clasts occurred at a time when pollen evidence from Florida indicates warm and wet climatic conditions, and the paleoecology of the peat clasts indicates that a relatively warm climate also existed in coastal Georgia.

Evolution of a freshwater barrier-island marsh in coastal Georgia, USA

Beach Pond is a freshwater pond and marsh, located approximately 50–100 m from the beach scarp in the mid-southern portion of St. Catherines Island, Liberty County, Georgia (31°37′N latitude, 81°09′W longitude). A 4.5-m sediment core was obtained from the pond in an effort to reconstruct the paleoecology of the site. The sediments (sand, clay, and peat) are Holocene age (<10,000 years). Gross sedimentological characteristics of the core suggest cyclic depositional trends. The modern vegetation of Beach Pond is dominated byPluchea and other composites,Typha, Cyperaceae, and Poaceae. The palynology of the core reveals dynamic changes in depositional environments and plant communities during sediment accumulation. Sediments from the lower portion of the core were derived from nearshore marine environments and probably represent accumulation in a shallow lagoon; these are characterized by the abundant pollen ofPinus and a large percentage of brokenPinus pollen grains. A piece of wood recovered from the uppermost lagoonal sediments yielded a radiocarbon date (AMS) of 1210±40 BP. These sediments are overlain by tidal-flat-derived sediments, which are overlain by a thin peat layer derived from an interdunal swale community dominated byMyrica. A return to brackish marsh conditions then occurred, as indicated by the presence ofLimonium, Cheno-Am type (e.g.,Salicornia), and abundant Poaccae pollen. The modern freshwater pond plant community became established as the salinity decreased; this is indicated by the abundance of freshwater plant taxa (i.e.,Azolla, Typha, Cyperaceae). Sea-level fluctuation, erosion, storm overwash, and anthropogenic factors (i.e., road building, water-well drilling) have all influenced the development of past and modern plant communities by altering the hydrology and salinity of the site.

A Biography and Obituary of Alfred Traverse (1925–2015)

Al and Betty Traverse in the Botanischer Garten , Berlin, Germany in August 1987. Professor Alfred (‘Al’) Traverse passed away following a long illness at 90 years of age on September 15th 2015 at Juniper Village, State College, Pennsylvania, USA. With his death, the twin sciences of palaeobotany and palynology have lost one of their most influential and productive of practitioners and teachers. He had a stellar student career, was a coal petrologist, an industrial palynologist and held parallel positions in the Episcopal (Anglican) church. However he is principally defined by his 30-year tenure as a professor at The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) from 1966 to his full retirement in 1996. Al was an incredibly diverse scientist; the topics of his numerous research papers are highly eclectic. He demonstrated a truly polymathic approach to palaeobotany and palynology. Most notably, he published two editions of the only single-author textbook ever published in English on pre-Quaternary palynology. This short article seeks to celebrate and document Al’s fascinating, fulfilling, long and productive life, hence it is designated as both a biography and an obituary. The authors have drawn on their collective memories, Al’s publications, online information and other obituaries such as Anonymous (2015) and Rich & Strother (2015). Alfred Traverse was born on the 7th of September (Labor Day) 1925 at St. James Anglican rectory in Port Hill, Prince Edward Island, Canada. He was always known as Al to everyone, and was the son of the Reverend A. Freeman Traverse, a priest in the Episcopal church. His mother was Pearle Akerley Traverse, who was a dietician and schoolteacher. In 1926 the Traverse family moved to Lucknow in southern Ontario, and then to Allegan, Michigan, USA in 1928. Al never moved back to Canada, and he became a naturalised United …

Preliminary Trends in Reflectance and Maceral Analysis of Upper Cretaceous Menefee and Crevasse Canyon Coals in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico

Abstract Mean-maximum reflectances and maceral analyses were obtained for 45 samples of Cretaceous coal from the southeastern portion of the San Juan Basin of New Mexico. Samples represented Menefee and Crevasse Canyon formations. In general, the range of reflectance at any one site was found to be greater than the range between sites. Reflectance variations appeared to be more closely related to original depositional environments and source vegetation (maceral types and contents) than to degree of coalification (rank).