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A Carboniferous flora from the Surprise Canyon Formation in the Grand Canyon, Arizona

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

William D. Tidwell ,
James R. Jennings  and
Stanley S. Beus
William D. Tidwell
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, 401 WIDB, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602, Stratigraphy
James R. Jennings
Affiliation:
Surficial Geology Section, Illinois State Geological Survey, Natural Resources Building, 615 East Peabody Drive, Champaign 61820
Stanley S. Beus
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff 86011
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Abstract

A megafossil flora, composed of 12 form taxa, has been collected from the Upper Mississippian–Lower Pennsylvanian Surprise Canyon Formation in the Grand Canyon, Arizona. It is the first known flora of this age to be recorded in Arizona, and includes Lepidodendron aculeatum Sternberg, L. mannabachense Presl, L. volkmannianum Sternberg, Lepidostrobus sp. cf. L. ornatus Brongniart, Lepidostrobophyllum sp., Knorria sp., Cyperites sp., Stigmaria ficoides (Sternberg), Calamites (Mesocalamites) cistiiformis Stur, Calamites sp., Pecopteris cf. P. aspera, and Wardia sp. (seed). The 22 species of palynomorphs previously reported from this formation suggest that the local flora was more diverse than the paucity of plant megafossil specimens indicates.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 66 , Issue 6 , November 1992 , pp. 1013 - 1021
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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