Bugdaeva & Markevich. The Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous and Paleocene swamp plant communities of Transbaikalia and the Russian Far East. In: The East Asian Flora: and its role in the formation of the world’s vegetation

The Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous and Paleocene swamp plant communities of Transbaikalia and the Russian Far East

Eugenia V. BUGDAEVA & Valentina S. MARKEVICH
Institute of Biology & Soil Science FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia

On the territory of Transbaikalia, Amur River region, and Primorye region three stages of development of swamp vegetation, where the abundant plant material accumulated, can be distinguished: the Tithonian-Valanginian, the Barremian- Albian, and the Paleocene. The main Tithonian-Valanginian coal-forming plants were cyatheaceous ferns, conifers, and extinct ginkgoaleans (Pseudotorellia, Eretmophyllum, and Sphenobaiera). The coal formation at the second stage was the most significant being manifested over vast areas of Siberia and the Far East. During the Barremian-Albian,the main coal-forming plants varied in composition depending on environments: in sea-side marshy plains they were represented by gleicheniaceous and cyatheaceous ferns, as well as taxodialeans, in intracontinental basins - cyatheaceous ferns, conifers (Miroviaceae, Cheirolepidiaceae, Araucariaceae, and Pinaceae) and ginkgoaleans (Baierella, Sphenobaiera, Pseudotorellia). The coal accumulation of the third stage took place in Zeya-Bureya Basin (Amur River region). The mire plant communities were dominated by taxodialeans and polypodiaceous ferns. The composition of the Jurassic and Cretaceous mire communities shows their conservatism, probably due to similar palaeoenvironments. Conifers and ginkgoaleans were critically importantelements of swamp plant communities. Nevertheless, at the Mesozoic-Cenozoic boundary their composition changed drastically. Miroviaceae, Cheirolepidiaceae, and ginkgoaleans disappeared. Taxodialeans replaced them in swamp plant communities. Our research was supported by Russian Academy of Sciences (grant no. 12-I-P28-01), Far East Branch of RAS (grant no. 12-III-À-06-075, 12-III-À-06-070).