See more from this Division: Topical Sessions
See more from this Session: After the Last Ammonite and before the First Horse: Patterns of Ecological and Climatic Change during the Paleocene
Abstract:
While previous palynological work in the Ferris and Hanna coalfields reported that all six of the Paleocene pollen zones occur in superposition, more recent samples from an exposure known as The Breaks have yielded Zone P5 palynomorphs stratigraphically below Zone P2. This finding has drawn criticism about the validity of the pollen zonation. However, several lines of evidence suggest that the "out-of-order" pollen sequence is confined to The Breaks and is the result of post-depositional processes. Such evidence comes from on-going efforts to refine Paleocene time scales on a regional level as well as comparisons of local stratigraphy and micro- and megafloral localities in The Breaks. Taken together, these lines of evidence strongly suggest that the palynostratigraphic zonation scheme is sound, but that the stratigraphic section in The Breaks is in need of revision.
See more from this Division: Topical Sessions
See more from this Session: After the Last Ammonite and before the First Horse: Patterns of Ecological and Climatic Change during the Paleocene