Norman O. Frederiksen

Taxonomy and biostratigraphy of Late Cretaceous and Paleogene triatrite pollen from South Carolina

Abstract This paper discusses the morphology, taxonomy, and stratigraphic occurrences of 24 species and species groups of triatriate pollen. The material is from uppermost Paleogene rocks of the U. S. Geological Survey Charleston Project Deep Corehole No. 1 (Clubhouse Crossroads corehole), Dorchester County, South Carolina. The 24 pollen types are assigned to seven genera: Momipites, Plicatopollis, Platycaryapollenites, Platycarya, Subtriporopollenites, Carya, and Casuarinidites. The definitions of the first three of these genera are emended in this paper, and five new species are proposed: Momipites fragilis, Momipites strictus, Momipites? annulatus, Plicatopollis cretacea, and Casuarinidites sparsus. The stratigraphically lowest occurrence of juglandaceous triatriate pollen in the core is in rocks of Austinian (possible Santonian) Age, and altogether seven triatriate types are known from the Upper Cretaceous. The maximum diversity of these pollen types is in the upper Paleocene and lower Eocene (13–15 f...

Paleogene sporomorph biostratigraphy, Northeastern Virginia

Abstract This paper discusses the morphology, taxonomy, and stratigraphic occurrences of 62 forms of spores and pollen grains and four forms of freshwater(?) microplankton, in the Paleogene part of the Oak Grove core from northeastern Virginia. The known geologic ranges of these taxa in southeastern United States are also given. Seven new species are proposed: Lusatisporis indistincta, Momipites flexus, Nuxpollenites psilatus, Piolencipollis endocuspoides, Porocolpopollenites virginiensis, Triatriopollenites triangulus, and Tricolpites crassus. Sporomorph occurrences in seven samples from the upper Sabinian (lower Eocene) and lower Claibornian (lower part of the middle Eocene) of the Gulf Coast are also listed; these samples were analyzed to provide additional control for correlating the assemblages from Virginia with those in southeastern United States. Several sporomorph taxa, including Carya and Kyandopollenites anneratus, appear to range lower in the section (into probable Midwayan rocks) in Virginia ...

Paleogene sporomorphs from South Carolina and quantitative correlations with the Gulf Coast

Abstract This paper presents the observed stratigraphic ranges of 99 sporomorph (spore and pollen) taxa in the lower Paleocene to upper Oligocene part of the core from the U.S. Geological Survey Clubhouse Crossroads corehole 1 near Charleston, South Carolina. Morphologic and taxonomic data are given for some of these taxa, and three new species are proposed: Nyssapollenites paleocenicus, Osculapollis? colporatus, and Triporopollenites microgranulatus. Fifty‐four sporomorph taxa in the core samples also are found in significant numbers in Gulf Coast Paleogene deposits. The Gulf Coast Paleogene section is divided into 18 provisional sporomorph assemblage zones by using occurrence data from the literature on these 54 taxa. Each South Carolina sample is compared numerically with each Gulf Coast assemblage zone, producing a binary SCMC (presence‐absence Similarity Coefficient Matrix Contour) diagram. Use of this method indicates that sporomorph correlation of “packages”; of Paleogene strata is generally feasib...

Middle and late paleocene angiosperm pollen from Pakistan

Abstract This paper is based on study of angiosperm pollen from (1) 75 upper Paleocene samples from eight coreholes in the Lower Indus coal region of southern Pakistan, (2) two middle Paleocene and two upper Paleocene outcrop samples from the northern part of this coal region, and (3) eight middle Paleocene samples from the Surghar and Salt ranges of northern Pakistan. Forty‐five formally named pollen species are illustrated as well as a number of informally named taxa. The known stratigraphic distributions are given particularly for the new species and for taxa that appear to have restricted stratigraphic ranges. The taxa studied include two new genera, Crassivestibulites and Rhombipollis, and 21 formally named new species: Triporopollenites ranikotensis, T. parviannulatus, T. cracentis, T. trilobus, Triatriopollenites rectus, Spinizonocolpites adamanteus, Longapertites psilatus, L. punctatus, L. discordis, L. dupliclavatus, Brevitricolpites vadosus, Myrtacidites secus, Warkallipollenitesi medius, W.? so...

Studies in Neotropical paleobotany. XIV. A palynoflora from the Middle Eocene Saramaguacan Formation of Cuba.

An assemblage of 46 fossil pollen and spore types is described from a core drilled through the middle Eocene Saramaguacán Formation, Camagüey Province, eastern Cuba. Many of the specimens represent unidentified or extinct taxa but several can be identified to family (Palmae, Bombacaceae, Gramineae, Moraceae, Myrtaceae) and some to genus (Pteris, Crudia, Lymingtonia?). The paleoclimate was warm-temperate to subtropical which is consistent with other floras in the region of comparable age and with the global paleotemperature curve. Older plate tectonic models show a variety of locations for proto-Cuba during Late Cretaceous and later times, including along the norther coast of South America. More recent models depict western and central Cuba as two separate parts until the Eocene, and eastern Cuba (joined to northern Hispaniola) docking to central Cuba also in the Eocene. All fragments are part of the North American Plate and none were directly connected with northern South America in late Mesozoic or Cenozoic time. The Saramaguacán flora supports this model because the assemblage is distinctly North American in affinities, with only one type (Retimonocolpites type 1) found elsewhere only in South America.

Paleocene floral diversities and turnover events in eastern North America and their relation to diversity models

Abstract This paper uses angiosperm pollen taxon turnover (first and last appearance) and diversity events as metrics to describe the Paleocene floral history of the eastern Gulf Coast; data are from 64 samples and 67 angiosperm pollen taxa. Angiosperm pollen diversity was very low at the beginning of the Paleocene, rose slowly and then somewhat more rapidly to a maximum for the epoch in the middle of the late Paleoceneas a result of the maximum in rate of first appearances during the late early Paleocene and earliest late Paleocene. Diversity then dropped very rapidly at or near the end of the epoch as the rate of last appearances reached its maximum, resulting in the Terminal Paleocene Extinction Event. The latest Paleocene diversity decline coincided with an increase in mean annual temperature and probably in rainfall, representing the beginning of the climatic maximum for the Tertiary which characterized the early Eocene. The increase in diversity of early Paleocene floras in the eastern Gulf Coast resulted from exploitation of unfilled ecospace originating from (1) low regional diversity following the Terminal Cretaceous Extinction Event, and (2) creation of many new niches during the Paleocene, resulting, according to megafloral evidence, from a change to a new vegetation type (multistratal tropical rainforest) brought about by an increase in rainfall. The slow rate of recovery of earliest Paleocene angiosperm diversity in the eastern Gulf Coast may be explained in part by the diversity-dependence model of Carr and Kitchell (1980). However, additional factors may have contributed to the slow recovery: (1) the adverse terminal Cretaceous climates may have extended into the early Paleocene, (2) the initial Paleocene environment of the eastern Gulf Coast may have contained relatively few niches, (3) some earliest Paleocene angiosperms, particularly trees, may have had inherently poor capabilities for rapid evolution, and (4) there was a lack of significant immigration of new taxa to the region. In contrast, the earliest Eocene angiosperm flora recovered very rapidly from the Terminal Paleocene Extinction Event, and this high recovery rate resulted to a significant degree from immigration of new taxa from Europe; thus, the shape of the earliest Eocene diversity curve supports the immigration-dependence recovery model of Barry et al. (1991).

Changes in floral diversities, floral turnover rates, and climates in Campanian and Maastrichtian time, North Slope of Alaska

Abstract One-hundred-and-ten angiosperm pollen taxa have been found in upper Campanian to Masstrichtian rocks of the Colville River region, North Slope of Alaska. These are the highest paleolatitude Campanian and Maastrichtian floras known from North America. Total angiosperm pollen diversity rose during the Campanian and declined toward the end of the Maastrichtian. However, anemophilous porate pollen of the Betulaceae-Myricaceae-Ulmaceae complex increased gradually in diversity during the late Campanian and Maastrichtian and into the Paleocene. Turnover of angiosperm taxa was active throughout most of late Campanian and Maastrichtian time; rapid turnover affected mainly the taxa of zoophilous herbs, representing an bundant but ecologically subordinate element of the vegetation. Last appearances of pollen taxa during the late Campanian and Maastrichtian probably represented mainly extinctions rather than emigrations; end- Cretaceous angiosperm extinctions in the North American Arctic began well before the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary event. The last appearances in the late Maastrichtian took place in bursts; they appear to represent stepwise rather than gradual events, which may indicate the existence of pulses of climatic change particularly in late Maastrichtian time.

Distribution, paleoecology, paleoclimatology, and botanical affinity of the Eocene pollen genus Diporoconia n. gen.

Abstract Diporoconia n. gen. is proposed for diporate subisopolar smooth to perforate pollen grains having annuli or tumescence. Diporoconia iszkaszentgyoergyi (Kedves) n. comb. (the type species), D. nnewiensis (Jan du Chene et al.) n. comb., and D. spp. 1 and 2 are included in the genus. Distinctive characters of the pollen are the large pores that are at the ends of the grain but appear offset toward one face (interpreted to be the proximal face) and the greater convexity of the distal face than the proximal face, both features that indicate curving or arching of the equatorial axis that extends from pore to pore. Diporoconia is known from Hungary, France, England, Nigeria, Alabama, California, and Alaska. It is probably confined to the Eocene. Plants producing Diporoconia pollen probably lived in coastal environments in which the soil water was brackish or even marine. Statistical analyses of British assemblages containing this pollen indicate that it may have been produced by herbs or low shrubs. The...

Physical stratigraphy, paleontology, and magnetostratigraphy of the USGS-Santee Coastal Reserve core (CHN-803), Charleston County, South Carolina

4 Introduction 4 Acknowledgments 6 Unit conversions 6 Methods 6 Physical stratigraphy and lithology 6 Paleontology 6 Calcareous nannofossils 6 Palynology 6 Foraminifera 7 Strontium-isotope measurements 7 Paleomagnetic measurements 7 Results and stratigraphic discussions 7 Stratigraphy 7 Paleontology 11 Strontium-isotope results 14 Paleomagnetic results 14 Donoho Creek Formation (Black Creek Group) 14 Physical stratigraphy and lithology 14 Paleontology 15 Magnetostratigraphy 15 Peedee Formation 15 Physical stratigraphy and lithology 15 Paleontology 17 Strontium-isotope stratigraphy 21 Magnetostratigraphy 21 Rhems Formation (Black Mingo Group) sensu stricto 21 Physical stratigraphy and lithology 21 Paleontology 23 Magnetostratigraphy 23 Upper part of the Rhems Formation (Black Mingo Group) sensu Bybell and others (1998) 23 Physical stratigraphy and lithology 23 Paleontology 24 Magnetostratigraphy 26 Lower Bridge Member of the Williamsburg Formation (Black Mingo Group) 26 Physical stratigraphy and lithology 26 Lower beds 26 Upper beds 27 Paleontology 27 Magnetostratigraphy 27 Chicora Member of the Williamsburg Formation (Black Mingo Group) 27 Physical stratigraphy and lithology 27 Paleontology 28 Magnetostratigraphy 28 Mollusk-bryozoan limestone 28 Physical stratigraphy and lithology 28 Paleontology 29 Magnetostratigraphy 29 Wando Formation 29 Physical stratigraphy and lithology 29 Paleontology 30

Preservation of cycad and Ginkgo pollen

Abstract Pollen grains of Ginkgo, Cycas , and Encephalartos were chemically treated together with pollen of Quercus, Alnus , and Pinus , the latter three genera being used as standards. The experiments showed that: (1) boiling the pollen for 8–10 hours in 10% KOH had little if any effect on any of the grains; (2) lengthy acetolysis treatment produced some degradation or corrosion, particularly in Ginkgo and Cycas , but the grains of even these genera remained easily recognizable; (3) oxidation with KMnO 4 followed by H 2 O 2 showed that pollen of Ginkgo, Cycas , and Encephalartos remains better preserved than that of Quercus and Alnus , and although Ginkgo and Encephalartos probably are slightly less resistant to oxidation than Pinus , no great differences exists between these monosulcate types and Pinus . Thus the experiments show that, at least for sediments low in bacteria, cycad and Ginkgo pollen should be well represented in the fossil record as far as their preservational capabilities are concerned.