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An Upper Permian permineralized plant assemblage in volcaniclastic tuff from the Xuanwei Formation, Guizhou Province, southern China, and its palaeofloristic significance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2004

JASON HILTON
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
WANG SHI-JUN
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Systematics and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiangshan, Beijing, 100093, PR China
JEAN GALTIER
Affiliation:
UMR Botanique et Bioinformatique, CIRAD, TA40/PS2, Boulevarde de la Lironde, 34398 Montpellier, Cedex 05, France
IAN GLASSPOOL
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL, 60605-2496, USA
LIL STEVENS
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Zoology, National Museums of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF, UK

Abstract

A new permineralized fossil plant assemblage is described from volcaniclastic tuff collected in the Upper Permian (Wuchiapigian to Changhsingian) Xuanwei Formation at Shanjiaoshu mine, Guizhou Province, China. The assemblage is fragmentary but contains a small sphenopsid strobilus, a partial strobilus of a lepidodendralean lycopsid, pinnae of the filicalean fern Anachoropteris and a filicalean non-laminate fertile pinna rachis, the marattialean ferns Eoangiopteris, Scolecopteris and Psaronius, hooked stems of probable gigantopterid affinity, and two kinds of cardiocarpalean ovules. This represents the first indisputable evidence of Anachoropteris from the Permian of China, and contrasts with previous evidence from Europe and North America that indicates this genus became extinct during earliest Permian times. The assemblage highlights the persistence of plants from wetland communities and mire ecosystems into the Upper Permian of southern China, and adds further support to the presence of the Ameriosinian phytogeographical realm. This represents the first record of a plant assemblage preserved in volcaniclastic sediments from the Upper Permian of southern China, and in combination with other recently discovered plant assemblages in similar deposits in southern China, suggests volcanism to be an important factor in facilitating permineralized plant preservation in this realm. Although the source of the volcanism that produced the tuff is unknown, its age and location are consistent with the Emishan Large Igneous Province (LIP) of southwest China.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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