Current issue
In press
All issues
About the Journal
Editorial Board
For Reviewers
2/2018 vol. 58
Stats
CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Get citation
Charred conifer remains from the Late Oligocene – Early Miocene of Northern Hesse (Germany)
DIETER UHL 1
,
 
ANDRÉ JASPER 1,2
 
 
 
More details
Hide details
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
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/acpa-2018-0012
 
 
Article (PDF)
References (70) Citations (4)
 
KEYWORDS
Cupressaceae
lignite
conifers
Palaeo-wildfire
Frielendorf Formation
Geoarchive Marburg
 
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.
 
REFERENCES (70)
1.
Abarzúa A.M., Vargas C., Jarpa L., Gutiérrez N.M., Hinojosa L.F. & Paula S. 2016. Evidence of Neogene wildfires in Central Chile: Charcoal records from the Navidad formation. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 459: 76–85.
Google Scholar
 
 
2.
Abu Hamad A.M.B., Jasper A. & Uhl D. 2012. The record of Triassic charcoal and other evidence for palaeo-wildfires: Signal for atmospheric oxygen levels, taphonomic biases or lack of fuel? Int. J. Coal Geol., 96–97: 60–71.
Google Scholar
 
 
3.
Bergbaulicher Verein Kassel (Ed.) 1928. Der Kasseler Braunkohlenbergbau (Festschrift zum 350jährigen Bestehen), Kassel 1928.
Google Scholar
 
 
4.
Bestland E.A. 1987. Volcanic stratigraphy of the Oligocene Colestin Formation in the Siskiyou Pass area of southern Oregon. Oregon Geol., 49(7): 79–86.
Google Scholar
 
 
5.
Bode H. 1928. Neue Beobachtungen zur Entstehung des Fusits. Mitt. Abt. Gesteins-, Erz, Kohle. u. Salzunters., Preuss. Geol. Landesanst. Berlin, 3: 12–22.
Google Scholar
 
 
6.
Bond W.J. 2015. Fires in the Cenozoic: a late flowering of flammable ecosystems. Front. Plant Sci., 5: 749.
Google Scholar
 
 
7.
Bond W.J. & Scott A.C. 2010. Fire and the spread of flowering plants in the Cretaceous. New Phytol., 188: 1137–1150.
Google Scholar
 
 
8.
Brown S.A.E., Scott A.C., Glasspool I.J. & Collinson M.E. 2012. Cretaceous wildfires and their impact on the Earth system. Cretaceous Research, 36: 162–190.
Google Scholar
 
 
9.
Cutter B.E., Cumbie B.G. & McGinnes E.A. 1980. SEM and shrinkage analyses of Southern Pine wood following pyrolysis. Wood Sci. Tech., 14: 115–130.
Google Scholar
 
 
10.
Davis O.K. & Ellis B. 2010. Early occurrence of sagebrush steppe, Miocene (12 Ma) on the Snake River Plain. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol., 160: 172–180.
Google Scholar
 
 
11.
Diessel C.F.K. 2010. The stratigraphic distribution of inertinite. Int. J. Coal Geol., 81: 251–268.
Google Scholar
 
 
12.
Dolezych M. & van der Burgh J. 2004. Xylotomische Untersuchungen an inkohlten Hölzern aus dem Braunkohlentagebau Berzdorf (Oberlausitz/ Deutschland). Feddes Repert., 115: 397–437.
Google Scholar
 
 
13.
Figueiral I., Mosbrugger V., Rowe N.P., Utescher T., Jones T.P. & von der Hocht F. 2002. Role of Charcoal Analysis for Interpreting Vegetation Change and Paleoclimate in the Miocene Rhine Embayment (Germany). Palaios, 17: 347–365.
Google Scholar
 
 
14.
Gee C.T. 2005. The genesis of mass carpological deposits (bedload carpodeposits) in the Tertiary of the Lower Rhine Basin, Germany. Palaios, 20: 463–478.
Google Scholar
 
 
15.
Gerards T., Damblon F., Wauthoz B. & Gerrienne P. 2007. Comparison of cross-field pitting in fresh, dried and charcoalified softwoods. Iawa J., 28: 49–60.
Google Scholar
 
 
16.
Glasspool I.J., Edwards D. & Axe L. 2004. Charcoal in the Silurian as evidence for the earliest wildfire. Geology, 32: 381–383.
Google Scholar
 
 
17.
Glasspool I.J. & Scott A.C. 2010. Phanerozoic concentrations of atmospheric oxygen reconstructed from sedimentary charcoal. Nat. Geosci., 3: 627–630.
Google Scholar
 
 
18.
Glasspool I.J., Scott A.C., Waltham D., Pronina N. & Shao L. 2015. The impact of fire on the Late Paleozoic Earth system. Front. Plant Sci., 6: 756.
Google Scholar
 
 
19.
Goswami P.K. & Deopa T. 2018. Lithofacies characters and depositional processes of a Middle Miocene. Lower Siwalikfluvial system of the Himalayan foreland basin, India. J. Asian Earth Sci., 162: 41–53.
Google Scholar
 
 
20.
Grebe H. 1953. Beziehungen zwischen Fusitlagen und Pollenführung in der Rheinischen Braunkohle. Pal. Z., 27: 12–15.
Google Scholar
 
 
21.
Grund H. 1928. Beiträge zum Studium fossiler Holzkohlenbildungen besonders in Braunkohlenlagerstätten. Jahrb. Preuss. Geol. Landesanst., 49: 1–32.
Google Scholar
 
 
22.
Gürdal G. & Bozcu M. 2011. Petrographic characteristics and depositional environment of Miocene Çan coals, Çanakkale-Turkmey. Int. J. Coal Geol., 85: 143–160.
Google Scholar
 
 
23.
Heinz I. 2004. Systematische Erfassung und Dokumentation der mikroanatomischen Merkmale der Nadelhölzer aus der Klasse der Pinatae. Unpublished PhD Thesis Technical University München, 209 p.; https://mediatum.ub.tum.de/doc....
Google Scholar
 
 
24.
Herring J.R. 1985. Charcoal fluxes into sediments of the North Pacific Ocean: the Cenozoic record of burning. In: The carbon cycle and atmospheric CO2: natural variations Archean to Present. Geophys. Monogr., 32: 419–442.
Google Scholar
 
 
25.
Hoetzel S., Dupont L., Schefuss E., Rommerskirchen F. & Wefer G. 2013. The role of fire in Miocene to Pliocene C4 grassland and ecosystem evolution. Nat. Geosci., 6: 1027–1030.
Google Scholar
 
 
26.
Holdgate G.R., Wallace M.W., O’Connor M., Korasidis V. & Lieven U. 2016. The origin of lithotype cycles from Oligo–Miocene brown coals from Australia and Germany. Int. J. Coal Geol., 166: 47–61.
Google Scholar
 
 
27.
Holdgate G.R., Wallace M.W., Sluiter I.R.K., Marcuccio D., Fromhold T.A., Wagstaff B.E. 2014. Was the Oligocene-Miocene a time of fire and rain? Insights from brown coals of the southeastern Australian Gippsland Basin. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclim., Palaeoecol., 41: 65–78.
Google Scholar
 
 
28.
Holdgate G.R., Cartwright I., Blackburn D.T., Wallace M.W., Gallagher S.J., Wagstaff B.E., Chung L.i. 2007. The Middle Miocene Yallourn coal seam – the last coal in Australia. Int. J. Coal Geol., 70. 95–115.
Google Scholar
 
 
29.
IAWA Committee. 2004. IAWA list of microscopic features for softwood identification. IAWA Journal, 25: 1–70.
Google Scholar
 
 
30.
Kirchheimer F. 1937. Grundzüge einer Pflanzenkunde der deutschen Braunkohle. 153 pp., Halle/Saale (Knapp).
Google Scholar
 
 
31.
Korasidis V.A., Wallace M.W., Wagstaff B.E., Holdgate G.R., Tosolini A.-M.P. & Jansen B. 2016. Cyclicfloral succession and fire in a Cenozoic wetland/peatland system. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 461: 237–252.
Google Scholar
 
 
32.
Korasidis V.A., Wallace M.W., Wagstaff B.E. & Holdgate G.R. 2017. Oligo-Miocene peatland ecosystems of the Gippsland Basin and modern analogues. Glob. Planet. Change, 149: 91–104.
Google Scholar
 
 
33.
Kowalski R. 2017. Miocene carpological floras of the Konin region (Central Poland). Acta Palaeobot., 57: 39–100.
Google Scholar
 
 
34.
Kowalski R. & Fagúndez J. 2017. Maiella miocaenica gen. et sp. nov., a New Heather Genus (Ericeae, Ericaceae) from the Central European Miocene. Int. J. Plant Sci., 178: 411–420.
Google Scholar
 
 
35.
Krüger P., Paudayal K., Wuttke M. & Uhl D. 2017. Ein Beitrag zur oberoligozänen Makroflora von Norken (Westerwald, Rheinland-Pfalz, W-Deutschland). Mainzer Naturw. Archiv, 54: 65–81.
Google Scholar
 
 
36.
Larson P.R. 1994. The vascular cambium: development and structure. Springer-Verlag, New York.
Google Scholar
 
 
37.
Li S., Hughes A.C., Su T., Anberée J.L., Oskolski A.A., Sun M., Ferguson D.K. & Zhou Z. 2017. Fire dynamics under monsoonal climate in Yunnan, SW China: past, present and future. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclim., Palaeoecol., 465: 168–176.
Google Scholar
 
 
38.
Mai D.H. 1989. Fossile Funde von Castanopsis (D. Don) Spach (Fagaceae) und ihre Bedeutung für die europäischen Lorbeerwalder. Flora, 182: 269–286.
Google Scholar
 
 
39.
Martin H.A. 1996. Wildfires in past ages. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 116: 3–18.
Google Scholar
 
 
40.
Masselter T. & Hofmann C.-C. 2005. Palynology and palynofacies of Miocene coal-bearing (clastic) sediments of the Hausruck area (Austria). Geobios, 38: 127–138.
Google Scholar
 
 
41.
Menzel P. 1920. Über hessische fossile Pflanzenreste. Jahrb. Preuss. Geol. Landesanst., 41: 340–391.
Google Scholar
 
 
42.
Mildenhall D.C. 1989. Summary of the age and paleoecology of the Miocene Manuherikia Group, Central Otago, New Zealand. J.R. Soc. New Zeal., 19: 19–29.
Google Scholar
 
 
43.
Mildenhall D.C., Kennedy E.M., Lee D.E., Kaulfuss U., Bannister J.M., Fox B. & Conran J.G. 2014. Palynology of the early Miocene Foulden Maar, Otago, New Zealand: Diversity following destruction. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol., 204: 27–42.
Google Scholar
 
 
44.
Osterkamp I.C., de Lara D.M., Gonçalves T.A.P., Kauffmann M., Périco E., Stülp S., Uhl D. & Jasper A. 2018. Changes of wood anatomical characters of selected species of Araucaria during artificial charring – implications for palaeontology. Acta Bot. Bras., 32: 198–211.
Google Scholar
 
 
45.
Peñalver E. & Gaudant J. 2010. Limnic food web and salinity of the Upper Miocene Bicorb palaeolake (eastern Spain). Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclim., Palaeoecol., 297: 683–696.
Google Scholar
 
 
46.
Phillips E.W.J. 1948. Identification of softwoods by their microscopic structure. Forest Prod. Res. Bull., 22: 1–56.
Google Scholar
 
 
47.
Pole M. 2003. New Zealand climate in the Neogene and implications for global atmospheric circulation. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclim., Palaeoecol., 193: 269–284.
Google Scholar
 
 
48.
Potonié R. 1929. Spuren von Wald- und Moorbränden in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. Jahrb. Preuss. Geol. Landesanst., 49: 1184–1203.
Google Scholar
 
 
49.
Retallack G.J. 2004. Late Miocene climate and life on land in Oregon within a context of Neogene global change. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclim., Palaeoecol., 214: 97–123.
Google Scholar
 
 
50.
Ritzkowski S., Grimm M.C. & Hottenrott M. 2011. Niederhessische Tertiärsenke. In: Deutsche Stratigraphische Kommission (Eds), Stratigraphie von Deutschland IX. Tertiär, Teil 1. – Schriftenr. Deut. Ges. Geowiss., 75: 303–343.
Google Scholar
 
 
51.
Roberts D.L., Scisio L., Herries A.I.R., Scott L., Bamford M.K., Musekiwa C. & Tsikos H. 2013. Miocenefluvial systems and palynofloras at the southwestern tip of Africa: Implications for regional and globalfluctuations in climate and ecosystems. Earth Sci. Rev., 124: 184–201.
Google Scholar
 
 
52.
Robson B., Collinson M., Riegel W., Wilde V., Scott A. & Pancost R. 2015. Early Paleogene wildfires in peat-forming environments at Schöningen, Germany. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclim., Palaeoecol., 437: 53–62.
Google Scholar
 
 
53.
Schindler E., Uhl D. & Amler M.R.W. 2014. GeoArchive Marburg moved to Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt. Boll. Soc. Paleont. Ital., 53: 135–136.
Google Scholar
 
 
54.
Schöning M. & Bandel K. 2004. A diverse assemblage of fossil hardwood from the Upper Tertiary (Miocene?) of the Arauco Peninsula, Chile. J. South Am. Earth Sci., 17: 59–71.
Google Scholar
 
 
55.
Schuckmann W. 1925. Zur Entstehung fossiler Holzkohle. Senckenbergiana, 7: 195–196.
Google Scholar
 
 
56.
Sciscio L., Tsikos H., Roberts D.L., Scott L., van breugel Y., Sinninghe Damste J.S., Schouten S. & Grocke D.R. 2016. Miocene climate and vegetation changes in the Cape Peninsula, South Africa: Evidence from biogeochemistry and palynology. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclim., Palaeoecol., 445: 124–137.
Google Scholar
 
 
57.
Scott A.C. 2000. The pre-Quaternary history of fire. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclim., Palaeoecol., 164: 297–345.
Google Scholar
 
 
58.
Scott A.C. 2010. Charcoal recognition, taphonomy and uses in palaeoenvironmental analysis. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclim., Palaeoecol., 291: 11–39.
Google Scholar
 
 
59.
Scott A.C., Bowman D.M.J.S., Bond W.J., Pyne S.J. & Alexander M.E. 2014. Fire on Earth: and introduction. Wiley Blackwell, 413 pp.
Google Scholar
 
 
60.
Sluiter I.R.K., Blackburn D.T. & Holdgate G.R. 2016. Fire and Late Oligocene to Mid-Miocene peat mega-swamps of south-eastern Australia: a floristic and palaeoclimatic interpretation. Austr. J. Bot., 64: 609–625.
Google Scholar
 
 
61.
Smyth H.R., Crowley Q.G., Hall R., Kinny P.D., Hamilton P.J. & Schmidt D.N. 2011. A Toba-scale eruption in the Early Miocene: The Semilir eruption, East Java, Indonesia. Lithos, 126: 198–211.
Google Scholar
 
 
62.
Sohn Y.K., Ki J.S., Jung S., Kim M.-C., Cho H. & Son M. 2013. Synvolcanic and syntectonic sedimentation of the mixed volcaniclastic–epiclastic succession in the Miocene Janggi Basin, SE Korea. Sed. Geol., 288: 40–59.
Google Scholar
 
 
63.
Steckhan W. 1952. Der Braunkohlenbergbau in Nordhessen. Hess. Lagerstättenarchiv, 1: 212 pp. Hess. Landesanstalt für Bodenforschung, ­Wiesbaden.
Google Scholar
 
 
64.
Uhl D., Dolezych M. & Böhme M. 2014. Taxodioxylon-like charcoal from the Late Miocene of Western Bulgaria. Acta Palaeobot., 54: 101–111.
Google Scholar
 
 
65.
Uhl D., Schindler T. & Wuttke M. 2011. Paläoökologische Untersuchungen im Oberoligozän von Norken (Westerwald, Rheinland-Pfalz, W-Deutschland) – Erste Ergebnisse. Mainzer naturwiss. Archiv, 48: 115–127.
Google Scholar
 
 
66.
Van der Burgh J. 1973. Hölzer der niederrheinischen Braunkohlenformation. 2. Hölzer der Braunkohlengruben „Maria Theresia“ zu Herzogenrath, „Zukunft West“ zu Eschweiler und „Victor“ (Zülpich Mitte) zu Zülpich. Nebst einer systematisch-anatomischen Bearbeitung der Gattung Pinus L. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol., 15: 73–275.
Google Scholar
 
 
67.
Visscher G.E. & Jagels R. 2003. Separation of Metasequoia and Glyptostrobus (Cupressaceae) based on wood anatomy. IAWA J., 24: 439–450.
Google Scholar
 
 
68.
Wedmann S., Uhl D., Lehmann T., Garrouste R., Nel A., Gomez B., Smith K.T.K. & Schaal S.F.K. 2018. The Konservat-Lagerstätte Menat (Paleocene; France) – an overview and new insights. Geol. Acta, 16: 189–213.
Google Scholar
 
 
69.
Williams C.J., Mendell E.K., Murphy J., Court W.M., Johnson A.H. & Richter S.L. 2008. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of a Middle Miocene forest from the western Canadian Arctic. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclim., Palaeoecol., 261: 160–176.
Google Scholar
 
 
70.
Winkelmolen A.M. 1972. Shape sorting in Lower Oligocene, Northern Belgium, Sed. Geol., 7: 183–227.
Google Scholar
 
 
 
CITATIONS (4):
1.
Evidence for the repeated occurrence of wildfires in an upper Pliocene lignite deposit from Yunnan, SW China
Bangjun Liu, Rafael Spiekermann, Cunliang Zhao, Wilhelm Püttmann, Yuzhuang Sun, André Jasper, Dieter Uhl
International Journal of Coal Geology
 
CrossRef
 
 
2.
Wildfires during the Paleogene (late Eocene–late Oligocene) of the Neuwied Basin (W-Germany)
Dieter Uhl, Rafael Spiekermann, Michael Wuttke, Markus Poschmann, André Jasper
Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology
 
CrossRef
 
 
3.
Paleoclimate-induced wildfires in a paleomire in the Ordos Basin, Northern China during the Middle Jurassic greenhouse period
Cunliang Zhao, Ke Zhang, Lin Xiao, Dieter Uhl, Zhixiang Shi, Wenwu Zhao, Qiaojing Zhao, Yuzhuang Sun, Bangjun Liu
Chemical Geology
 
CrossRef
 
 
4.
Evidence of palaeo-wildfire during the Early Cretaceous: macro-charcoal from the Chijinpu Formation (early Aptian) of northwestern China
Lei Han, Guang-Tao Wu, Bai-Nian Sun
Historical Biology
 
CrossRef
 
 
Share
Send by email
RELATED ARTICLE
The Nossa Senhora da Luz flora from the Early Cretaceous (early Aptian-late Albian) of Juncal in the western Portuguese Basin
Vegetation and climate dynamics in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (NW Pakistan), inferred from the pollen record of the Kabal Valley in Swat District during the last 3300 years
A new Hauterivian palynoflora from the Vale Cortiço site (central Portugal), and its palaeoecological implications for western Iberia.
Indexes
 
Keywords index
Topics index
Authors index
eISSN:2082-0259
ISSN:0001-6594
Journals System - logo
© 2006-2024 Journal hosting platform by Bentus
Scroll to top