Permian-Triassic Paleobotany and Paleoclimate of the Central Transantarctic Mountains

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0003620TaylorThis award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a project to study Permian and Triassic fossil plant material from the Transantarctic Mountains. The overall goal is to achieve a better understanding of Permo-Triassic flora and how this relates to general plant evolution and Permo-Triassic paleoenvironmental conditions. The terrestrial rocks of the central Transantarctic Mountains have been a source of outstanding fossil discoveries over the last 30+ years, including Permian and Triassic permineralized peat with cellular detail preserved, fossil forests silicified in growth position, and compression floras with plant cuticle preservation, as well as megafossils from the Cenozoic age Sirius Group, and the first Jurassic dinosaur from the continent. The rare juxtaposition of sites that include many different types of plant fossil preservation (permineralization, compressed/impressed remains, in situ forests, mummified wood), the exceptionally high quality of the preservation, and the richness of the sites make this area unique in the world. It is especially important in that, on a worldwide basis, relatively little is known about plants from the Permian and Triassic (280-210 million years).The proposed research will center on the biodiversity, structure, and paleoclimate of previously collected Permian and Triassic plant fossils from the Beardmore Glacier area in the central Transantarctic Mountains. Specifically the program of investigation will:1) Provide the opportunity to reconstruct several plants and place them within an evolutionary context, including the reproductive organs of several seed plant groups that have been suggested as precursors of flowering plants.2) Use Permian and Triassic plants as records of past climates that can be tested against hypothesized physical climate models. This will be accomplished by analyzing tree rings as well as by close examination of the structure and morphology of individual plants. Particular attention will be paid to plant features that allowed them to adapt to growth at high latitudes, including the extreme polar light regime.3) As a result of the above, it will be possible to more accurately understand these Permian and Triassic communities and their relationships to other ecosystems, i.e., other southern hemisphere (Gondwana) floras of the same age. This multifaceted approach will also provide information about plant/animal interactions, based on coprolites (fossil fecal pellets), and the relationships of fungi that functioned as either decomposers or mutualists.