Descriptive taxonomy, biostratigraphic correlation and paleoenvironmental reconstruction of an Upper Carboniferous macrofloral assemblage, Bay St. George Basin, southwestern Newfoundland.

摘要

A diverse, well preserved macrofloral assemblage (herein termed the Blanche Brook Assemblage), which is characterized by large tree petrifactions of cordaitean affinity and an array of adpressed foliage that includes lycopsids, sphenopsids, ferns, pteridosperms and cordaiteans, has been recovered from coal-bearing strata of the Upper Carboniferous Barachois Group of the Bay St. George Basin, southwestern Newfoundland. The locality constitutes part of the northernmost onshore extent of the Maritimes Basin of eastern Canada, which developed on the southern margin of paleoequatorial Laurentia and is included in the Europe Paleoarea of the Euramerian Paleokingdom. Although the fossil site was initially investigated in the late 1800's, the present study comprises the first comprehensive taxonomic description and biostratigraphic correlation of the macrofloral assemblage, and provides an interpretation of the depositional environment and paleoecological conditions under which the flora flourished. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)