Charred conifer remains from the Late Oligocene – Early Miocene of Northern Hesse (Germany)
1
Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Frankfurt, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main
2
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ambiente e Desenvolvimento, Universidade do Vale do Taquari – UNIVATES (PPGAD/UNIVATES), Lajeado, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Online publication date: 2018-12-24
Publication date: 2018-12-24
Acta Palaeobotanica 2018; 58(2): 175-184
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Fire is an important constituent of many modern and fossil ecosystems. During the last decades a large number of studies have dealt with fires in pre-Cenozoic ecosystems. Evidence for the occurrence of Palaeogene and Neogene wildfires (e.g. in the form of pyrogenic inertinites in lignite deposits) is geographically and stratigraphically widespread. However, as compared to earlier periods (i.e. the Permian and Cretaceous), fewer studies have focussed so far on plants burnt (or charred) in wildfires from these periods, even though these periods are of considerable interest for our understanding of the evolution of modern ecosystems. Here we report the occurrence of charred wood remains belonging to different conifer taxa from the base seam of the former Frielendorf opencast lignite mine in Northern Hesse (Germany). These findings are evidence that these conifers, and the types of vegetation they were growing in, were affected by wildfires occurring during the Late Oligocene – Early Miocene in this region.
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