A Late Cretaceous Coniferous Woodland From the San Juan Basin, New Mexico

Davies-Vollum, K. Siân; Boucher, Lisa D.; Hudson, Patrick J.; Proskurowski, A. Yael

doi:10.2110/palo.2010.p10-090r

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…On such a basis, MacCulloch's Tree, a little over 1.5 m in diameter ( c. 5 m circumference), may have attained an original height of c. 40 m ( cf . Williams et al 2003; Davies-Vollum et al 2011); dimensions consistent with an age range of at least 50–70 years. Similarly, the Carsaig Tree ( c. 2.5 m diameter and c. 8 m circumference) conceivably had an original height of 50–55 m, and was at least 100–110 years old.…”

Section: Palaeobotany and Palaeoenvironmentsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Fossil trees, tree moulds and tree casts in the Palaeocene Mull Lava Field, NW Scotland: context, formation and implications for lava emplacement

Bell

Williamson

2016

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Socie

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Megafossils and macrofossils of terrestrial plants (trees, leaves, fruiting bodies, etc.) are found in sedimentary and pyroclastic units interbedded with lavas in many ancient lava fields worldwide, attesting to subaerial environments of eruption and the establishment of viable plant communities during periods of volcanic quiescence. Preservation within lava is relatively rare and generally confined to the more robust woody tissues of trees, which are then revealed in the form of charcoal, mineralised tissue or as trace fossil moulds (tree moulds) and casts of igneous rock (tree casts, s.s.).In this contribution, we document several such fossil trees (s.l.), and the lavas with which they are associated, from the Palaeocene Mull Lava Field (MLF) on the Isle of Mull, NW Scotland. We present the first detailed geological account of a unique site within the Mull Plateau Lava Formation (MPLF) at Quinish in the north of the island and provide an appraisal of the famous upright fossil tree – MacCulloch's Tree – remotely located on the Ardmeanach Peninsula on the west coast of the island, and another large upright tree (the Carsaig Tree) near Malcolm's Point in the district of Brolass, SW Mull; both occurring within the earlier Staffa Lava Formation (SLF). The taphonomy of these megafossils, along with palynological and lithofacies assessments of associated strata, allows speculation of likely taxonomic affinity and the duration of hiatuses supporting the establishment of forest/woodland communities. The Ardmeanach and Carsaig specimens, because of their size and preservation as upright (? in situ) casts enveloped by spectacularly columnar-jointed basaltic lava, appear to be unique. The aspect of these trees, the thickness of the enveloping lavas and the arrangement of cooling joints adjacent to the trees, implies rapid emplacement, ponding and slow, static cooling of voluminous and highly fluid basaltic magma. The specimens from Quinish include two prostrate casts and several prostrate moulds that collectively have a preferred orientation, aligning approximately perpendicular to that of the regional Mull Dyke Swarm, the putative fissure source of the lavas, suggesting local palaeo-flow was directed towards the WSW. The Quinish Lava is an excellent example of a classic pāhoehoe (compound-braided) type, preserving some of the best examples of surface and internal features so far noted from the Hebridean Igneous Province (HIP) lava fields.These Mull megafossils are some of the oldest recorded examples, remarkably well preserved, and form a significant feature of the island's geotourism industry.

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Section: Palaeobotany and Palaeoenvironmentsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Fossil trees, tree moulds and tree casts in the Palaeocene Mull Lava Field, NW Scotland: context, formation and implications for lava emplacement

Bell

Williamson

2016

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Socie

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“…Statistical characteristics of the growth rings have been used to determine the average annual radial growth and aspects of the paleoenvironment when the tree was growing, especially the mean ring width (e.g. Creber, 1977;Creber and Chaloner, 1985;Ammons, 1987;Morgans, 1999;Morgans and Hesselbo, 1999;Brison et al, 2001;Falcon-Lang et al, 2004;Taylor and Ryberg, 2007;Brea et al, 2015) and mean sensitivity, a measure of the relationship between tree growth and climate (Ammons, 1987;Morgans, 1999;Morgans and Hesselbo, 1999;Falcon-Lang, 2003;Falcon-Lang et al, 2004;Taylor and Ryberg, 2007;Davies-Vollum et al, 2011;Brea et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dendrochronology and middle Miocene petrified oak: Modern counterparts and interpretation

Wright

Baisan

Streck

et al. 2016

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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This study reports the first successful statistical "crossdating" among many ring width time series from petrified wood, thus providing a replicable continuous annual resolution window into tree growth and environmental influences during the middle Miocene. The petrified samples, of the genus Quercus, originated at the Stinking Water (SW) locality in Oregon, a Miocene-aged exposure associated with the Columbia River Basalts. 40 AR/ 39 AR dating on pillow basalt from the locality yielded a weighted Plateau Age of 13.79 ±0.09 Ma placing the death of the trees at the end of the Langhian Stage of the Middle Miocene (15.97±0.05 to 13.65±0.05 Ma), during the middle Miocene Climate Transition (MMCT). Ring width time series from 26 radii, 17 different trees, show significant intercorrelation. A Modified Coexistence Approach was applied to determine the likely climate range when the SW trees were growing. The modified approach included regression of site-mean ring width time series statistic values on estimated soil moisture for the site locations, using site-mean data from 126 modern Quercus sites from across the United States. Identification of highly significant linearities indicated strong relationships

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“…Each point represents the largest minimum diameter estimate for each angiosperm wood type at each site. Note strong latitudinal gradient in size and frequency of occurrences (Bailey 1924;Spackman 1948;Page 1967Page , 1968Page , 1970Page , 1979Page , 1980Cahoon 1972;Serlin 1982;Cevallos-Ferriz 1983thayn et al 1983;tidwell & thayn 1985;Wheeler et al 1987Wheeler et al , 1994Wheeler et al , 1995Wolfe & Upchurch 1987;Herendeen 1991;Wheeler & Lehman 2000Lehman & Wheeler 2001;Hudson 2006;Estrada-Ruiz et al 2007Sweeney et al 2009;Davies-Vollum et al 2011;Falcon-Lang et al 2012;Peralta-Medina & Falcon-Lang 2012;Parrott et al 2013;Smith et al 2013)…”

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confidence: 99%

Angiosperm wood from the Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian) of British Columbia, Canada

Jud

Wheeler

Rothwell

et al. 2017

IAWA J

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Fossil angiosperm wood was collected from shallow marine deposits in the Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian) Comox Formation on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The largest specimen is a log at least 2 m long and 38 cm in diameter. Thin sections from a sample of this log reveal diffuseporous wood with indistinct growth rings and anatomy similar toParaphyllanthoxylon. Occasional idioblasts with dark contents in the rays distinguish this wood from previously knownParaphyllanthoxylonspecies and suggest affinity with Lauraceae. The log also includes galleries filled with dry-wood termite coprolites. This trunk reveals the presence of tree-sized angiosperms in what is now British Columbia, and the association of dry-wood termites with angiosperm woods by the Coniacian (89 Ma). To understand the significance of this discovery, we reviewed the record of Cretaceous woods from North America. Our analysis of the distribution of fossil wood occurrences from Cretaceous deposits supports the conclusion that there was a strong latitudinal gradient in both the size and distribution of angiosperm trees during the Late Cretaceous, with no reports of Cretaceous angiosperm trees north of 50°N paleo-latitude in North America. The rarity of angiosperm wood in the Cretaceous has long been used to support the idea that flowering plants were generally of low-stature for much of the Cretaceous; however, large-stature trees withParaphyllanthoxylon-like wood anatomy were widespread at lower–middle paleo-latitudes at least in North America during the Late Cretaceous. Thus, the presence of a largeParaphyllanthoxylonlog in the Comox Formation suggests that Vancouver Island has moved significantly northward since the Coniacian as indicated by other geological and paleobotanical studies.

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A Late Cretaceous Coniferous Woodland From the San Juan Basin, New Mexico

Cited by 9 publications

References 87 publications

Fossil trees, tree moulds and tree casts in the Palaeocene Mull Lava Field, NW Scotland: context, formation and implications for lava emplacement

Fossil trees, tree moulds and tree casts in the Palaeocene Mull Lava Field, NW Scotland: context, formation and implications for lava emplacement

Dendrochronology and middle Miocene petrified oak: Modern counterparts and interpretation

Angiosperm wood from the Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian) of British Columbia, Canada

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