Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T03:34:36.372Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Conspectus of Phytotaphonomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2017

Robert A. Gastaldo
Robert A. Gastaldo*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Petrie Hall 210, Auburn University, AL. 36849-3501
Get access

Extract

The fossil record of plants principally results from individuals, variously sampled from one or more communities, that generally are associated with a depositional site. The processes responsible for the transfer of plant parts from the biosphere to the lithosphere may be biotic (e.g. physiological, animal herbivory, etc.) or abiotic (e.g. traumatic loss by wind and/or water; Krassilov, 1975) in nature. The factors ultimately responsible for the preservation of these plant parts are sedimentological and geochemical. The goals of the subdiscipline of Taphonomy, the study of processes of preservation and how they affect information in the fossil record (Behrensmeyer and Kidwell, 1985), are to understand fossilization through necrology, biostratinomy, and diagenesis (Figure 1). The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of taphonomic factors responsible for the generation and preservation of plant macrodetritus. It is not meant to be an exhaustive dissertation or definitive discussion on phytotaphonomy.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Paleontological Society Special Publications , Volume 3: Methods and Applications of Plant Paleoecology , 1988 , pp. 14 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, G. P., Laurier, D., and Thouvein, J., 1979. E'tude sedimentologique du delta de la Mahakam. Total, Compagnie Francaises des Petroles, Paris, Notes et Me'moires, 15:1–156.Google Scholar
Anderson, J. A. R., 1964. Observations on climatic damage in peat swamp forests in Sarawak. Empire Forestry Review, 43(2): 145–158.Google Scholar
Barghoorn, E. S., 1952. Degradation of plant remains in organic sediments. Sedimentary Petrology 22(1):34–41.Google Scholar
Behrensmeyer, A. K., and Kidwell, S. M., 1985. Taphonomy's contribution to paleobiology. Paleobiology, 11(1): 105–119.Google Scholar
Birks, H. H., 1973. Modern macrofossil assemblages in lake sediments in Minnesota, In Birks, H. J. and West, R. G. (eds.) Quaternary Plant Ecology. Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 173–190.Google Scholar
Briggs, S. V., and Maher, M. T., 1983. Litter fall and leaf decomposition in a River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) swamp. Australian Journal of Botany 31:307–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brzyski, B., Gradzinski, R., and Krzanowska, R., 1976. Upright calamite stems from Brynow and their burial conditions: Pol. Tow. Geol. Rocz. 46(1–2): 159–182. (In polish, English Summary).Google Scholar
Burnham, R. J., 1985. Deposition and preservation of plants in a modern paratropical basin. [abstract] American Journal of Botany 72(6):890.Google Scholar
Burnham, R. J., and Spicer, R. A., 1986. Forest litter preserved by volcanic activity at El Chichon, Mexico: A potentially accurate record of the pre-eruption vegetation. Palaios 1(2):158–161.Google Scholar
Coffin, H. G., 1983. Erect floating stumps in Spirit Lake Washington. Geology, 11:298–299.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connor, W. H., and Day, J. W., 1976. Productivity and composition of a bald cy-press - water tupelo site and a bottomland hardwood site in a Louisiana swamp. American Journal of Botany 63:1354–1364.Google Scholar
Craighead, F. C. 1964. Land, mangroves and hurricanes: Bulletin Fairchild Tropical Gardens 19:1–28.Google Scholar
Craighead, F. C., and Gilbert, V. C., 1962. The effects of Hurricane Donna on the vegetation of southern Florida. The Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Science 21(1):1–28.Google Scholar
Crane, P. R., and Stockey, R. A., 1985. Growth and reproductive biology of Joffrea speirsii gen. et sp. nov., a Cerdidiphyllum-like plant from the Late Paleocene of Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany, 63:340–364.Google Scholar
Dame, R. F., 1982. The flux of floating macrodetritus in the North Inlet estuarine ecosystem. Estuarine, Costal and Shelf Science 15:337–344.Google Scholar
Dittus, W. P. J., 1985. The influence of cyclones on the dry evergreen forest of Sri Lanka. Biotropica 17(1):1–14.Google Scholar
Durand, B., Bessereau, G., Ungerer, P. H., and Oudin, J. L., 1986. Mechanisms of hydrocarbon migration in Mahakam Delta, Kalimantan, Indonesia. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, [abst.] 70:584.Google Scholar
Ferguson, D. K., 1985. The origin of leaf—assemblages - new light on an old problem. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 46:117–188.Google Scholar
Fritz, W. J., 1980. Stumps transported and deposited upright by Mt. St. Helens mudflows. Geology 8:568–588.Google Scholar
Fritz, W. J., 1986. Plant taphonomy in areas of explosive volcanism, In Broadhead, T. W. (ed.), Fossil Land Plants: Notes for a Short Course (sponsored by The Paleontological Society). University of Tennessee, Department of Geological Sciences, Studies in Geology 15:27–44.Google Scholar
Fritz, W. J., and Harrison, S., 1985. Transported trees from the 1982 Mount St. Helens sediment flows: their use as paleo-current indicators. Sedimentary Geology 42(1/2):49–64.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R. A., 1985. Plant accumulating deltaic depositional environments, Mobile Delta, Alabama. Alabama Geological Survey Reprint Series 66, 35p.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R. A., 1986a. Implications on the paleoecology of autochthonous Carboniferous lycopods in clastic sedimentary environments: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology and Palaeoecology 53(2/4):191–212.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R. A., 1986b. An explanation for lycopod configuration, ‘Fossil Grove’ Victoria Park, Glasgow: Scottish Journal of Geology 22(1):77–83.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R. A., 1986c. Selected aspects of plant taphonomic processes in coastal deltaic regimes, In Broadhead, T. W. (ed.), Fossil Land Plants: Notes for a Short Course (sponsored by The Paleontological Society). University of Tennessee, Department of Geological Sciences, Studies in Geology 15:27–44.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R. A., 1987. Confirmation of Carboniferous clastic swamp communities: Nature.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R. A., Douglass, D. P., and McCarroll, S. M., in Press. Origin characteristics and provenance of plant macrodetritus in a Holocene crevasse splay, Mobile delta, Alabama. Palaios. 2(3):Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R. A., Bearce, S. C., Degges, C. W., Hunt, R. J., Peebles, M. W., and Violette, D. L., in Press. Biostratinomy of a Holocene oxbow lake: A back-swamp to mid-channel transect. Review of Palaeobotany & Palynology.Google Scholar
Gunn, C. R., 1968. Stranded seeds and fruits from the southeastern shore of Florida: Garden Journal 18:43–54.Google Scholar
Gunn, C. R., 1972. Stranded tropical seeds and fruits collected from Carolina beaches. Castanea 37(3):195–200.Google Scholar
Gunn, C. R., and Davis, J. V., 1971. Ocean journeys by mangrove seedlings: Shore and Beach 39(2):19–22.Google Scholar
Hall, S. A. and Lintz, C., 1983. Buried trees, water table fluctuations, and 3000 years of changing climate in west-central Oklahoma. Quaternary Research 22(1):129–133.Google Scholar
Horie, S., Kanarii, S., and Nakao, K., 1976. Buried forest in Lake Yogo-Ko and its significance for the study of past bio-environments.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. P., 1984. Development of Permian fluvial coal measures, Goonyella, Australia, in Rahmani, R. A. and Flores, R. M., eds. Sedimentology of Coal and Coal-bearing Sequences, Special Publication International Association of Sedimentologists, 7:149–162.Google Scholar
Kaushish, N. K., and Hynes, H. B. N., 1971. The fate of dead leaves that fall into streams. Archive Hydrobiologia 68:465–515.Google Scholar
Krassilov, V. A., 1975. Palaeoecology of Terrestrial Plants: Basic Principles and Techniques. Wiley Publishers, N.Y. 275p.Google Scholar
La Caro, F., and Rudd, R. L., 1985. Litter disappearance rates in Puerto Rican montane rain forest. Biotropica 17(4):269–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leo, R. F., and Barghoorn, E. S., 1976. Silicification of wood. Botanical Museum Leaflet 25(1):1–47.Google Scholar
Lopez-Portillo, J., and Ezcurra, E., 1985. Litter fall of Avicennia germinans in a one year cycle in a mudflat at Laguna de Mecoaca'n, Tabasco, Mexico. Biotropica 17(3):186–190.Google Scholar
MacDonald, D. I. M., and Jefferson, T. H., 1985. Orientation studies of water-logged wood: a paleocurrent indicator? Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 55(2):235–239.Google Scholar
McQueen, D. R., 1969. Macroscopic plant remains in Recent lake sediments. Tuatara 17:13–19.Google Scholar
Retallack, G. J., 1983. Late Eocene and Oligocene paleosols from Badlands National Park, South Dakota. Geological Society of America Special Paper, 193:1–82.Google Scholar
Rex, G. M., 1983. The compression state of preservation of Carboniferous lepidodendrid leaves. Review Palaeobotany and Palynology 39:65–85.Google Scholar
Rex, G. M., 1985. A laboratory flume investigation of the formation of fossil stem fills. Sedimentology 32:245–255.Google Scholar
Rex, G. M., and Chaloner, W. G., 1983. The experimental formation of plant compression fossils. Palaeontology 26:231–252.Google Scholar
Ridley, H. N., 1930. The Dispersal of Plants Throughout the World. L. Reeve and Company, Ashford, 744 p.Google Scholar
Risk, M. J., and Rhodes, E. G., 1985. From mangroves to petroleum precursors: an example from tropical northeast Australia. Bulletin American Association of Petroleum Geologists 69(8): 1230–1240.Google Scholar
Roth, J. L., and Dilcher, D. L., 1978. Some considerations in leaf size and leaf margin analysis of fossil leaves. Cour. Forschungsinst. Senckenberg, 30:165–171.Google Scholar
Scheihing, M. H., 1980. Reduction of wind velocity by the forest canopy and the rarity of non-arborescent plants in the Upper Carboniferous fossil record. Argumenta Palaeobotanica 6:133–138.Google Scholar
Scheihing, M. H., and Pfefferkorn, H. W., 1984. The taphonomy of land plants in the Orinoco delta: A model for the incorporation of plant parts in clastic sediments of the Upper Carboniferous age of Euramerica. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 41(3/4):205–240.Google Scholar
Schopf, J. M., 1975. Modes of fossil preservation. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 20:27–53.Google Scholar
Siever, R., 1957. The silica budget in the sedimentary cycle. American Mineralogist 42(11–12):821–841.Google Scholar
Spicer, R. A., 1975. The sorting of plant remains in a recent depositional environment. , Imperial College, London, 309 pp.Google Scholar
Spicer, R. A., 1977. Predepositional formation of leaf impressions. Palaeontology 20(4):907–912.Google Scholar
Spicer, R. A., 1980. The importance of depositional sorting to the biostratigraphy of plant megafossils. In Dilcher, D. L. and Taylor, T. N. (eds.), Biostratigraphy of Fossil Plants: Successional and Paleoecological Analyses. Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Stroudsburg, Pa., pp. 171–183.Google Scholar
Spicer, R. A., 1981. The sorting and deposition of allochthonous plant material in a modern environment at Silwood Lake, Silwood Park, Berkshire, England. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1143, 68p.Google Scholar
Spicer, R. A., and Greer, A. G., 1986. Plant taphonomy in fluvial and lacustrine systems, In Broadhead, T. W. (ed.), Fossil Land Plants: Notes for a Short Course (sponsored by The Paleontological Society). University of Tennessee, Department of Geological Sciences, Studies in Geology 15:10–26.Google Scholar
Stach, E., 1982. Stach's textbook of coal petrology. 3rd ed. Berlin. 535 p.Google Scholar
Stevenson, J. J., 1912. The formation of coal. III. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 51:243–553.Google Scholar
Tidwell, W. D., Simper, A. D., and Thayn, G. F., 1977. Additional information concerning the controversial plant Sanmiguellia. Palaeontographica Abt. B, 163:143–151.Google Scholar
Van Der Burgh, J., 1983/1984. Some palms in the Miocene of the Lower Rhenish Plain. Review of Palaeobotany & Palynology 40(1983/1984):359–374.Google Scholar
Webb, L. J., 1958. Cyclones as an ecological factor in tropical lowland rain forests, North Queensland. Australian Journal of Botany. 6:220–228.Google Scholar
Whitmore, T. C., 1974. Change with time and the role of cyclones in tropical rain forest on Kolombangara, Solomon Islands. Commonwealth Forestry Institute Paper 46.Google Scholar
Wilson, M. V. H., 1980. Eocene lake environments: depth and distance-from-shore variation in fish, insect, and plant assemblages. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 32:21–44.Google Scholar