Two complete vertical sections were studied from the uppermost Cretaceous "D" coal seam near Greymouth, New Zealand. The thickest and most concentrated vitrain bands occur in the paleomire centre and bands are thinner and less abundant at the paleomire margin. Botanical analysis of the vitrain bands indicates they formed entirely from the secondary xylem (wood) of gymnosperms. Palynomorphs indicate that there is no consistent correlation between conifer pollen abundance and the degree of vitrain banding. However, maximum preservation of vitrain bands coincides with an inferred transition from a rheotrophic mire (as indicated by Phyllocladidites mawsonii pollen) to an acidic and possibly ombrotrophic system (as indicated by the abundance of Gleicheniaceae spores). This suggests that the presence/absence of gymnosperm secondary xylem as vitrain bands is controlled at least in part by mire chemistry.
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