ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Woody charcoal with traces of pre-charring
decay from the Late Oligocene (Chattian)
of Norken (Westerwald, Rhineland-Palatinate,
W Germany)
| 1 | Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main,
Germany |
| 2 | Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ambiente e Desenvolvimento, Universidade do Vale do Taquari – UNIVATES
(PPGAD/UNIVATES), Lajeado, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil |
Submission date: 2019-10-02
Online publication date: 2020-06-29
Publication date: 2020-06-29
Acta Palaeobotanica 2020; 60(1): 43–50
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
A variety of traces of pre-charring decay are described from coniferous charcoals from the Norken
locality, stratigraphically positioned within the Breitscheid Formation (Late Oligocene, Chattian) of the Westerwald
area (Rhineland-Palatinate; W Germany). The traces include three-dimensionally preserved as well as
collapsed fungal hyphae, collapsed filamentous structures (maybe related to ascomycetes), so-called shot-like
holes of different diameters in cell walls of tracheids, as well as crater-like structures on the surface of tracheid
walls. The latter occur on tracheids with bordered pits, in the direct vicinity of charred phloem (so far only rarely
reported from pre-Quaternary charcoal). These observations, together with evidence that some of the charcoal
fragments originated from wood that dried out prior to charring, point to a surface fire as the most likely source
of the charcoal, although it cannot totally be ruled out that (partly) dead but still standing trees were affected
during a crown fire. The data from the Late Oligocene of Norken provide further evidence that pre-Quaternary
charcoal can be used as an additional, so far largely underutilized source for additional information about plant–
microorganism interactions in deep time.
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