Vasilis Teodoridis

INTEGRATED PLANT RECORD (IPR) VEGETATION ANALYSIS APPLIED TO MODERN VEGETATION IN SOUTH CHINA AND JAPAN

ABSTRACT Integrated Plant Record (IPR) vegetation analysis is a semi-quantitative tool developed as a proxy to assess zonal vegetation classification. It is based on fossil plant taxa categorized into zonal taxonomic-physiognomic components reflecting key autecological characteristics. The proportions of these components in the fossil assemblages define the main vegetation types. Modern vegetation studies in areas of South China (Mount Emei, Mount Longqi, Meili Snow Mountains) and in Japan (Shirakami Sanchi, Mount Fuji, Nara, Yokohama, Yakushima Island) are performed here to test this fossil-based technique and achieve fine-tuning and corroboration. Thirty-five units of different vegetation types generally defined as broad-leaved evergreen forests, mixed mesophytic forests, broad-leaved deciduous forests, and subhumid sclerophyllous forests were investigated. IPR vegetation analysis results obtained from this modern vegetation largely support the originally defined proportions of the important zonal woody angiosperm groups, i.e., broad-leaved deciduous, broad-leaved evergreen, sclerophyllous, and legume-type components, and cluster analysis also confirms these results. Nonetheless, the data suggest that the new definition of ecotones and adaption of the threshold value of the broad-leaved evergreen component for the definition of broad-leaved evergreen forests are necessary. The results of this study of modern vegetation reveal a distinct underrepresentation of zonal herbs in the fossil record, regardless of whether dealing with leaf, pollen, or fruit assemblages. The vegetation scheme based on IPR vegetation analysis is therefore extended to properly reflect the zonal herb diversity present in modern vegetation. The results also confirm a higher diversity of zonal herbs in modern broad-leaved deciduous versus broad-leaved evergreen forests, as observed in the Neogene European record.

Palaeoenvironmental analysis of the Messinian macrofossil floras of Tossignano and Monte Tondo (Vena del Gesso basin, Romagna Apennines, northern Italy)

Fossil leaves of Messinian age (ca. 5.7 Ma) from two sites of the Vena del Gesso Fm. (Monte Tondo and Tossignano, Ravenna and Bologna provinces, Italy) were studied morphologically to assess the taxonomic composition of the assemblages and carry out a palaeoenvironmental analysis. The flora of Tossignano so far comprises 41 vascular plant taxa with 8 conifers and 33 angiosperms (30 dicots and 3 monocots). In the plant material from Monte Tondo 74 vascular plant taxa were recognized, with 11 conifers and 63 angiosperms (59 dicots, 3 monocots, 1 plant incertae sedis). Several fossil species well known in the Miocene of central Europe and Italy were detected. The most frequent being Taxodium dubium, Pinus cf. rigios, Daphnogene polymorpha, Laurophyllum sp. 1 and 2, Platanus leucophylla, Quercus pseudocastanea, Quercus roburoides, Fagus gussonii, cf. Ailanthus pythii, Leguminosae gen. et sp. indet. 1. The general palaeovegetation pattern of the Monte Tondo and Tossignano plant assemblages correspond to the vegetation transect of the Evaporitic Messinian with swamp, riparian vegetation, and zonal “subtropical humid forest”. The results of IPR vegetation analysis for the “subtropical humid forest” zone indicate a transitional (ecotone) vegetation type between “Broad-leaved Evergreen Forest” and “Mixed Mesophytic Forest”. The Coexistence Approach estimates that both floras existed under comparable climatic conditions, with MAT 14–16.2 °C for Tossignano and 16–16.5 °C for Monte Tondo. This is warmer than the estimates derived from the Leaf Margin Analysis (MAT 13.8 °C and 14.3 °C) and Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program (MAT 13.2 °C and 12.0 °C), and present day conditions in the Mediterranean Zone (MAT around 13.5 °C). ■ flora, vegetation, palaeoclimate, Messinian, Italy. Received June 17, 2015 Issued December, 2015 housed, collected over the years at two different sites, Tossignano (municipality of Borgo Tossignano, Bologna province) and Monte Tondo (municipality of Riolo Terme, Ravenna province), only a few kilometres apart and both with exposed the Vena del Gesso Fm. The name “Vena del Gesso” is also a popular name for a continuously outcropping gypsum belt extending in a northwest-southeast direction for some 15 km in the western Romagna Apennines and which offers spectacular outcrops of selenitic Messinian gypsum (Roveri et al. 2006). The story of the two collections is substantially different: the core of the Tossignano palaeoflora is the fossil collection that P. Viaggi donated to MSF in 1983 (Viaggi 1989). This collection, consisting of some hundreds of fossils (especially fishes and leaves), was recovered by the donor between the years 1976–1982 from an outcrop in the SPES gypsum quarry (Text-fig. 1). This quarry, located on the right side of a small canyon created by the Sgarba creek, remained in operation from 1969 to 1986. Other specimens were added to the initial collection during subsequent years, always recovered from the same location, thanks to various volunteers of MSF, including in particular M. Diversi. The recovery of the Monte Tondo palaeoflora occurred much more recently (during 2012–2014) as a result of the multidisciplinary project initiated by the Speleological Federation of Emilia Romagna. This was concentrated on the gypsum area immediately to the south of the town of Borgo Rivola, which had been subjected to intense mining activity since 1958 (Text-fig. 1). Through this project some MSF volunteers (i.e., one of the authors, M.S., ably assisted by T. Benericetti) had the opportunity to sample a site in which decades of digging had made difficult to access. This field work produced several hundreds of fossil leaf samples, in addition to fossil remains of fishes and insects. The palaeoflora from Tossignano, although already known since the second half of the 19th century (Scarabelli 1864), was also later quoted in a few other general palaeobotanical papers (e.g., Knobloch and Gregor 1997, Kovar-Eder et al. 2006, Bertini and Martinetto 2008, 2011). The palaeoflora of Monte Tondo was first described in a preliminary study by Sami and Teodoridis (2013). Geological setting The Romagna Apennines, extending from the Sillaro valley on the west to the Marecchia valley on the east, are part of the northeast-verging Northern Apennine arc and are characterized by an exposed belt of siliciclastic deposits of early Miocene to Pleistocene age, overlying buried Mesozoic to Cenozoic carbonates. The uppermost structural unit cropping out along the Po Plain side of the Romagna Apennines consists of the Langhian to Tortonian Marnoso-arenacea Formation turbiditic complex (Ricci Lucchi 1975, 1981) while the Apennine foothills are a gentle northeast dipping monocline of Messinian to Pleistocene deposits resting above the Marnoso-arenacea Fm. The Tortonian–Messinian succession of the Apennine orogenic wedge records the fragmentation and closure of the Marnoso-arenacea foredeep basin during the extended thrustfront propagation and concurrent depocenter migration toward the foreland (Ricci Lucchi 1986). This process implied the formation of small thrust-top basins; some of them were characterized during the Messinian by the deposition of shallow-water, primary evaporites (mainly selenitic gypsum), coeval with the Lower Evaporites of Mediterranean marginal basins (Krijgsman et al. 1999a, b). However, these basins are rarely preserved because of subsequent tectonic deformation thus the Vena del Gesso basin is a valuable exception.

Lower Miocene plant assemblage with coastal-marsh herbaceous monocots from the Vienna Basin (Slovakia)

Abstract A new plant assemblage of Cerová-Lieskové from Lower Miocene (Karpatian) deposits in the Vienna Basin (western Slovakia) is preserved in a relatively deep, upper-slope marine environment. Depositional conditions with high sedimentation rates allowed exceptional preservation of plant remains. The plant assemblage consists of (1) conifers represented by foliage of Pinus hepios and Tetraclinis salicornioides, a seed cone of Pinus cf. ornata, and by pollen of the Cupressaceae, Pinaceae, Pinus sp. and Cathaya sp., and (2) angiosperms represented by Cinnamomum polymorphum, Platanus neptuni, Potamogeton sp. and lauroid foliage, by pollen of Liquidambar sp., Engelhardia sp. and Craigia sp., and in particular by infructescences (so far interpreted as belonging to cereal ears). We validate genus and species assignments of the infructescences: they belong to Palaeotriticum Sitár, including P. mockii Sitár and P. carpaticum Sitár, and probably represent herbaceous monocots that inhabited coastal marshes, similar to the living grass Spartina. Similar infructescences occur in the Lower and Middle Miocene deposits of the Carpathian Foredeep (Slup in Moravia), Tunjice Hills (Žale in Slovenia), and probably also in the Swiss Molasse (Lausanne). This plant assemblage demonstrates that the paleovegetation was represented by evergreen woodland with pines and grasses in undergrowth, similar to vegetation inhabiting coastal brackish marshes today. It also indicates subtropical climatic conditions in the Vienna Basin (central Paratethys), similar to those implied by other coeval plant assemblages from Central Europe

Feather palm foliage from the Messinian of Italy (Capo di Fiume, Palena and Pollenzo near Alba) within the framework of northern Mediterranean late Miocene flora

New records of plant macrofossils of palms and other groups are evaluated within the framework of the Messinian environment at the newly studied site of Capo di Fiume, Palena, central Italy. Similar palm foliage has been also recovered from the Messinian deposits of Pollenzo near Alba, northern Italy. The palm leaves were assigned to Phoenicites sp. based only on the leaf morphology. The floristic composition of the Palena plant assemblage shows a relatively high abundance of woody elements typical of a subhumid environment (Tetraclinis, Cupressus, Leguminosae), but also includes common mesic elements (Pinus, Magnolia, Ilex, Berberis, cf. Trigonobalanopsis, Paliurus, Myrica, Engelhardia), which are known from other Messinian floras of Italy, France and Greece. The affinities of several angiosperm macrofossils including enigmatic inflorescences resembling palms and Butomus, foliage of Dicotylophyllum sp. div. and disseminules of Carpolites sp. div. remain unresolved. The reconstructed vegetation type is interpreted as coastal non-swampy, wet soil (riparian) vegetation with a high abundance of woody elements growing under warm and semi-arid/sub-humid climatic conditions. ■ feather palms, conifers, angiosperms, vegetation, Messinian, Italy. Received April 24, 2015 Issued December, 2015