Peat Accumulation and Early Carboniferous Environments of the Kizel Coal Basin,the Urals,Russia

The lithological and geochemical composition and conditions of formation of the coal-bearing deposits of the Kizel Coal Basin in the Perm region of the Urals(central Russia)are described using the two most representative sections,Gubakha-Stary Most and Krestovaya Mountain,based on a detailed“layer-by-layer”technique.Brief characteristics of the Lower Carboniferous paleosols from fossil paleosol(FPS-)profiles of the studied region are given.Special attention is paid to the parent vegetation of the coal-forming processes,based on an analysis of both plant macrofossils and palynoflora.The peat accumulation in conditions of permanent incoming of clastic material from the Paleo-Urals to the Kizel Basin was probably effective only in more or less stable environments,when the accumulated organic matter produced by plant mortmass was not dissolved by clastic particles.Thus,the conditions of coal-forming are reconstructed as a forest swamp,where the main dominants are represented by lycopodiopsids of the order Lepidodendrales,predominantly Lepidodendron veltheimii.These plants in particular were the source of the initial organic matter for the peat(and later coal)of the Kizel Coal Basin.

Fertile Woodwardia from the middle Eocene of South China and its implications for palaeogeography and palaeoclimate

The genus Woodwardia,which together with the genera Anchistea and Lorinseria comprise the subfamily Woodwardioideae of Blechnaceae,has a disjunct distribution across Central and North America,Europe and the temperate to tropical areas of Asia.Fossil records of Woodwardia occur throughout the Paleogene and Neogene of North America,Europe and Asia.However,well-preserved fertile pinna fossils of this genus have not yet been reported in South China.In this paper,a new species,W.changchangensis Naugolnykh et Song,sp.nov.is described from the middle Eocene of the Changchang Basin,Hainan Island,South China.Macromorphological and micromorphological features of the fertile pinna show a straight pinna rachis,alternate,subtriangular pinnules,acute pinnule apices,almost entire or slightly undulate pinnule margins,long-ovoid sori,stalked sporangia and spores with wing-like folds on the surface,which are characterised in detail.Overall,the present fossil is most similar to the extant species Woodwardia japonica,which mostly grows in warm and moist environments.The discovery of this new species from the Changchang Basin of Hainan Island indicates that this genus has been distributed in the low-latitude tropical regions of South China from as early as the middle Eocene.Based on this find,and previous studies of other ferns from the same site,we infer that the climate of the Palaeo-Hainan landscape during deposition of the Changchang Formation was warm and humid,similar to conditions prevailing today across this region.

Lower Kungurian shallow-water lagoon biota of Middle Cis-Urals,Russia:towards paleoecological reconstruction

The paper deals with the Lower Kungurian( Philippovian Horizon; Lower Permian) biota of the Middle Cis-Urals,Russia.The biota is characterized on the basis of four representative localities( Philippovskoe Bus-stop,Philippovskian Quarry,Kamai and Kiselevo-Suksun Highway),which are situated in the stratotype area of the Kungurian stage.All the localities can be regarded as Lagersttten,but of authentically low biodiversity,since they represent oligotrophic lagoons of abnormal fluctuating salinity.General reconstruction of the Philippovian near-shore shallow-water ecosystem is given.Two new species of algae Algites philippoviensis sp.nov.,A.shurtanensis sp.nov.,and a new species of the limulids Paleolimulus kunguricus sp.nov.are described for the first time.