Palaeoenvironmental evaluation of Cainozoic plant assemblages from the Bohemian Massif (Czech Republic) and adjacent Germany

The Integrated Plant Record (IPR) analysis: Methodological advances and new insights into the evolution of European Palaeogene/Neogene vegetation

“…Walther and Kvaček (2007) characterised the flora of Seifhennersdorf as diversified MMF. This was supported by the IPR vegetation analysis, which predicted transitional (ecotone) vegetation between MMF and BLDF with palaeoclimatic estimates derived by CLAMP and CA .4°C, CMT 0.7/5-5.2°C, MAP not applicable/700 mm (Teodoridis and Kvaček, 2015)]. The modern proxy sets derived by applying Drudge 1 and 2 (Table 2, Appendices 9 and 10) are situated in the Lower Yangtze Province (China 56, 57, 60; MMF-Southern Jiangsu, MMF-Tianmu-Shan and MMF-Southern Anhui) and in the Upper Yangtze Province (China 67, BLDF-Eastern Guizhou) (Wang, 1961).…”

“…This agrees with the empirically derived results. Based on applying the Climate Leaf Multivariate Program (CLAMP; Spicer, 2007) and Coexistence Approach (CA; Mosbrugger and Utescher, 1997), Staré Sedlo can be characterised by the following palaeoclimatical estimates: mean annual temperature (MAT) 16.2/15.7-23.9°C, warmest month mean temperature (WMT) 25.9/ 25.6-28.1°C, coldest month mean temperature (CMT) 6.3/5-12.6°C, and mean annual precipitation (MAP) n.a./1122-1613 mm (Teodoridis and Kvaček, 2015). This palaeoproxy climate dataset is close to that provided by Wang (1961) for SE China in the region occupied by BLEF vegetation, e.g., Guilin (Guangxi) MAT 19.3°C, WMT 28.5°C, CMT 7.8°C, and MAP 1947.2 mm.…”

“…The flora of Wackersdorf (Knobloch and Kvaček, 1976;Gregor, 1978, Günther andGregor, 1993) represents a typical Younger Mastixioid flora characterised by a mixture of thermophilous zonal evergreen elements, e.g., Distylium, Trigonobalanopsis, Diplopanax, Mastixia, Lauraceae, and azonal elements, e.g., Glyptostrobus, Nyssa, Alnus, Acer, Fraxinus, Nymphea, and Spirematospermum. The zonal vegetation was interpreted as an ecotone between BLEF and MMF (Knobloch and Kvaček, 1976 Teodoridis and Kvaček (2015) published palaeoclimatic proxies for Wackersdorf derived from the CLAMP/CA as followed: MAT 18/15.7-16.6°C, WMT 26/24.9-26.0°C, CMT 12.1/5.6-10.9/°C, and MAP 1096-1187 mm.…”

Fossil plant stomata indicate decreasing atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> prior to the Eocene–Oligocene boundary

“…Furthermore, palaeo-vegetation analysis of the Weißelster and North Bohemian basins reveals that gradual restructuring of dominantly evergreen forests by immigration of deciduous species such as Platanus neptuni, Trigonobalanopsis rhamnoides and Taxodium dubium took place in the late Bartonian to early Priabonian interval around ca. 38 Ma (Kvaček, 2010;Teodoridis and Kvaček, 2015). The temporal coincidence of pCO 2 decline and major vegetation transition -from angiosperm-dominated notophyllous evergreen forests to mixed mesophytic forests -suggests a potential causal role of pCO 2 decline in the changing ecological composition of forests.…”

Orbital forcing and abrupt events in a continental weathering proxy from central Europe (Most Basin, Czech Republic, 17.7–15.9 Ma) recorded beginning of the Miocene Climatic Optimum

“…The eccentricity is one of the dominant motives also in the Most Basin sediment geochemistry, with superimposed influence of precession as discussed above, while obliquity is transiently dominant when the eccentricity decreases (Matys Grygar et al, , 2017aGrygar et al, , 2017b, similarly as in other Miocene sediment sequences (e.g., Zeeden et al, 2013). Under relatively warm conditions of the late Burdigalian in the studied area (frost-free coldest months, mean annual temperature ~17 °C, Teodoridis and Kvaček 2015), the chemical weathering intensity was probably controlled by humidity (mean annual precipitation was 1000-1500 mm, Utescher et al, 2012;Teodoridis and Kvaček 2015). Consistently with the model of cooler global climate (heavier δ 18 O) under low eccentricity (De Vleeschouwer et al, 2017), we may also expect lower global sea level including water bodies relevant for the Most Basin, i.e., North Sea and Paratethys area, and lower seasonal thermal gradients between ocean surface and continents, both decreasing import of humidity to the study area, and correspondingly lower intensity of chemical weathering in the lake catchment.…”