New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics abstracts

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Macrofossil floras of the Latady Basin, Antarctic Peninsula

David J. Cantrill

Swedish Museum of Natural History
Department of Palaeobotany
Box 50007
Stockholm 104 05, Sweden
david.cantrill@nrm.se

Morag A. Hunter

British Antarctic Survey
Geoscience Division
Natural Environment Research Council
Madingley Road
Cambridge CB3 0ET, United Kingdom
mahu@bas.ac.uk

Abstract  New collections of plant material from the Merrick and Sweeney Mountains provide further evidence of Jurassic floral diversity in the Antarctic Peninsula. Eighteen taxa are recognised, including sphenophytes (Equisetum), ferns (Cladophlebis, Sphenopteris, Coniopteris), Bennettitales (Otozamites, Zamites, Ptilophyllum, Dicytozamites, Williamsonia), conifers (Pagiophyllum, Brachyphyllum, Elatocladus), and other seed plants (Taeniopteris, Archangelskya, Pachypteris). Many of these species occur in floras from the Botany Bay Group (Early–Middle Jurassic), and other Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous sites across the Antarctic Peninsula. The plant material from the Latady Basin occurs in two main associations with distinct floristic compositions that reflect local environmental and taphonomic conditions. The richest localities occur in the deltaic settings, where paleosoil and leaf litter layers are preserved. In contrast, relatively little plant material is found in the wholly marine units such as those from the Hauberg Mountains.

Keywords  Antarctica; Jurassic; macroflora; Latady Basin

G04016; Received 24 April 2004; accepted 28 January 2005; Online publication date 22 August 2005
New Zealand Journal of Geology & Geophysics, 2005, Vol. 48: 537–553
0028–8306/05/4803–0537© The Royal Society of New Zealand 2005

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