New Zealand Journal of Geology & Geophysics abstracts
A coniferous tree stump of late Early Jurassic age from the Ferrar
Basalt, Coombs Hills, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica
M. J. Garland1
J. M. Bannister2
D. E. Lee1*
J. D. L. White1
1Department of Geology
University of Otago
PO Box 56
Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
2Department of Botany
University of Otago
*Corresponding author: daphne.lee@stonebow.otago.ac.nz
Abstract An upright, partly rooted tree stump preserved
within a late Early Jurassic basalt flow of the Ferrar Group, Coombs
Hills, is described from southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. The wood
structure allows the tree to be identified as a conifer (possibly
Podocarpaceae) that from the stump diameter of 35–40 cm was
c. 24 m tall. The possibly transported tree may have survived the
lava flow because the stump was waterlogged or already mineralised.
Conifers of similar age (early Middle Jurassic) are known from fossil
forests at Curio Bay and Kawhia Harbour in New Zealand, and this
discovery extends the known distribution of forests living in
moderately warm, humid climates at very high southern latitudes during
the late Early Jurassic.
Keywords Jurassic; Coombs Hills;
Antarctica; paleobotany;
conifer; Podocarpaceae; Ferrar Province; Ferrar Dolerite; basalt;
pahoehoe lava
G06041; Online publication date 1 August 2007; Received 20; December
2006; accepted 11 June 2007
New Zealand Journal of Geology & Geophysics, 2007, Vol. 50:
263–269
0028–8306/07/5003–0263 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2007
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