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Program for PST Session 3: Student Research Showcase Sponsored by AASP-TPS

Updated: Sep 16, 2020

Time: Tuesday, 22 September 2020 13:00 London / 14:00 Amsterdam / 20:00 Beijing / 22:00 Sydney / 8:00 New York



1. 5-min Introduction to Student Session and LR Wilson Competition, sponsored by AASP-TPS


2. Talks (15 minutes for each talk)


(1) Standard palynology vs in situ study of microfossils: what is best? An answer with light and electron microscopy

by Eva Sirantoine (The University of Western Australia)

Exceptionally-preserved 1 Ga old organic-walled microfossils are analysed from palynological slides and from thin sections with light and electron microscopy. This comparative study of processing methods aims at analysing the potential loss of information during palynological processing, and comparing the costs/benefits of each method when studying Precambrian sites of exceptional preservation.


(2) Proximal-distal palaeofloral patterns in late Permian Queensland (Australia)

by Alexander Wheeler (The University of Queensland)

The use of palynology as a proxy to understand spatio-temporal variation in the floras of the late Permian coal measures of Australia is made challenging due to our relatively poor understanding of the botanical affinities of their associated parent plants and their environmental tolerances. New techniques are required to better understand the composition and distribution of the floras in complex ...


------ 5-min Questions / Biobreak ------


(3) The use of spore-pollen assemblages to reconstruct vegetation changes in the Late Permian Zechstein deposits of northeast England

by Martha Gibson (University of Sheffield)

Vegetation reconstructions for the Late Permian of Europe have previously been hampered due to the lack of suitable exposures. However, the limited evidence suggests a conifer-dominated vegetation that gradually declined as environmental conditions deteriorated approaching the Permian-Triassic boundary.

The Zechstein Sea was a semi-isolated inland sea that dates from the late Wuchiapingian-early Changhsingian (~258 Ma) to the Permian-Triassic boundary (~252 Ma). It underwent 5-7 evaporation-replenishment cycles leaving behind a sequence of stacked carbonates and evaporites. The macrofossil record shows that a conifer-dominated gymnospermous flora inhabited the seas hinterlands.

New boreholes have enabled the first extensive palynological sampling through the entire Late Permian Zechstein sequence of northeast England. Palynomorph assemblages have been recovered from throughout the sequence from all five of the evaporation-replenishment cycles (EZ1-EZ5). These assemblages are dominated by pollen grains, with rare trilete spores, and even rarer marine forms such as acritarchs and foraminifera test linings. The assemblage of pollen grains is of low diversity (35 species) and dominated by taeniate and non-taeniate bisaccates. The assemblage varies to only a limited extent both within and between cycles EZ1-EZ5, although some minor variations and trends are documented that reflect taphonomic effects.

Based on the composition of the dispersed spore-pollen assemblages, and previous work on the Zechstein megaflora, the hinterland vegetation is interpreted as being dominated by conifers that inhabited a semi-arid to arid landscape. The new pollen data indicate that the vegetation was little changed, both within cycles and between cycles, and persisted until the demise of the Zechstein Sea in the latest Permian-earliest Triassic, perhaps in fragmented upland refugia. At this time desert sedimentation commenced, which yields no evidence for terrestrial vegetation until the early Triassic (Induan) when evidence for a radically different flora appears. These observations suggest that vegetation loss at the Permian-Triassic boundary was rapid and catastrophic rather than representing the culmination of a slow decline.


(4) Challenges of modern paleopalynotaxonomy: treasure hunt of a PhD

Julia Gravendyck (Freie Universität Berlin)

Taxonomy is the backbone of every subsequent palynological analysis and many palynologists have shaped a ‘golden age of palynology’ with their taxonomical works. We present results of a treasure hunt for lost type material and propose a solution for a fundamental nomenclatural issue that has arisen in the course of this work, which affects paleobotanical nomenclature and taxonomy at large.


------ 5-min Questions / Biobreak ------


(5) Quantitative morphological analysis of closely related taxa: a tool for improving biostratigraphic resolution

by Damián Cárdenas Loboguerrero (Missouri University of Science and Technology)

Accurate taxonomic classification of morphospecies is critical for both the definition and correlation of reliable biostratigraphic data. Although morphology plays a key role in taxonomy, assessment of fossil pollen morphological characters is usually semi-quantitative. Traditional morphometrics uses multivariate statistics to analyze sets of measured traits including linear distances, angles ...


(6) Southern High latitude Vegetation and Climate Change at the Eocene Oligocene Transition: New Palynological Data from ODP Site 1172, East Tasman Plateau

by Michael Amoo (Northumbria University)

Full list of contributors and affiliations

Michael Amoo1*, Ulrich Salzmann1, Peter K. Bijl2, Alasdair Thompson1

1 Cold and Palaeoenvironment Group, Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle NE1 8ST, UK.

2 Department of Earth Sciences, Marine Palynology and Paleoceanography, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584CS Utrecht, The Netherlands.

* Presenting Author, michael.amoo@northumbria.ac.uk

Full abstract

Considered as one of the most significant climate reorganisations of the Cenozoic period, the Eocene-Oligocene (E/O) Transition (ca. 33.9-33.5 Ma) is characterised by global cooling coupled with glacial advance on Antarctica. The main driver for this major climate change however is subject to controversy with the two main arguments being tectonic opening of the Tasman gateway and declining atmospheric CO2. Here, we present new well-dated, high resolution palynological (sporomorph) data from the East Tasman Plateau (ODP Site 1172) to reconstruct climate and vegetation dynamics from the late Eocene through to the early Oligocene. Results from our sporomorph data point to three vegetation communities occupying Tasmania under a relatively high precipitation regime, but different temperature conditions. The sporomorph record support the notion that prior to the deepening of the Tasman gateway, the East Tasman plateau was during the Eocene under the influence of the cool north-flowing proto-Ross Gyre and this may have influenced its terrestrial climate and vegetation (i.e. high gymnosperm, increase in cool temperate taxa such Lagarostrobos and a decline in Cyatheaceae and Casuarinaceae). However, before the onset of the E/O Transition, ca. 35 Ma ago, the deepening of the Tasman Gateway likely caused Site 1172 to come under the influence of the warm easterly flowing proto-Leeuwin currents indicated by a decline in Gymnospermous pollen, dominant angiosperms, increase in Cyatheaceae and presence of mangrove elements which suggest that conditions may have been warmer. A close and strong linkage also exist between the warm month mean temperature (WMMT) derived from the sporomorph data and TEX86 -based sea-surface temperature from the late Eocene- early Oligocene of Eastern Tasmania.


------ 5-min Questions / Biobreak ------


(7) Palynology and human interaction in the rainforest

by Timilehin Ayelagbe (University of Ibadan)

This paper attempts to shed light on aspects of human-rainforest interaction within the Okomu National park, Nigeria. The result shows changes in climatic condition of the area saying back to the 12th century AD. The result showcases human adaption and preference to either the rainforest or more open vegetation at different times.


------ 3-min Questions / Biobreak ------


3. 5-min wrap-up and invitation to next month's session

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