Jurassic Floras of the Carapace Nunatak Area: Evolution and Paleoclimatic Significance

9614847泰勒泰勒 该奖项支持一个项目，在维多利亚地南部的卡拉佩斯冰原岛峰系统地收集和分析侏罗纪化石植物群，并在赖特山谷头附近的无形山完成类似年龄沉积物的普查。 这些植物群代表了南极洲大陆部分已知的最广泛的侏罗纪化石植物沉积。 从生物地层学和植物区系学的角度来看，它们都鲜为人知，因此不仅对我们了解南极洲的植物变化很重要，而且对与其他冈瓦纳大陆的相关性也很重要。 除了压痕和压缩，该网站还包含矿化标本。 在这种罕见的保存类型中，细胞和组织系统是完整的，因此可以评估这些侏罗纪植物的解剖学和形态学细节。 在卡拉佩斯的过矿化植物群元素的保存是相同的二叠纪和三叠纪的年龄，已在过去十年的研究。 因此，从二叠纪到南极上侏罗纪的一系列结构保存完好的植物化石可供研究。 在这种情况下，将有可能检查的种子植物生长，发育和演化的高古纬度在古生代后期阶段，并延伸到侏罗纪的细节。 早期在卡拉佩斯冰原岛峰的考察中收集到的少数标本表明这里有一个富含针叶树和种子蕨类植物的植物群。 针叶树成分将是重要的主要针叶树家庭内的基本特征状态进行评估，而种子蕨类植物将是有用的，这些中生代裸子植物的地质年轻的开花植物的特征和关系进行评估。 该遗址还包含一些木质标本（小树枝，木材碎片），其中树木年轮将被分析，并与其他高纬度遗址的树木年轮进行比较，包括更古老的（二叠纪和三叠纪）和更年轻的（白垩纪，第三纪）。 由于硅化作用和不连续沉积层的不均匀性，预计现场工作主要包括通过直升机前往现场进行一日游，随后立即在麦默多站的克拉里实验室对材料进行切片，以减少非生产性材料的收集。

OPP 9614847 Taylor and Taylor Abstract This award supports a project to systematically collect and analyze the Jurassic fossil floras from three levels at Carapace Nunatak, in southern Victoria Land, and to complete reconnaissance for similar aged deposits at Shapeless Mountain near the head of Wright Valley. These floras represent the most extensive deposits of Jurassic fossil plants that are known from the continental portion of Antarctica. They are poorly known, both from a biostratigraphic and floristic standpoint, and as such are important not only to our understanding of floral changes in Antarctica, but also to correlations with other Gondwana continents. In addition to impressions and compressions, the site also contains permineralized specimens. In this rare preservation type, cells and tissue systems are intact so that details about the anatomy and morphology of these Jurassic plants can be evaluated. The preservation of the permineralized floral elements at Carapace is identical to those of Permian and Triassic age that have been studied in over the past ten years. As a result a continuum of structurally preserved plant fossils extending from the Permian into the Upper Jurassic of Antarctica are available for examination. In this context it will be possible to examine details of seed plant growth, development and evolution at high paleolatitudes during the latter stages of the Paleozoic and extending into the Jurassic. The few specimens collected during an earlier reconnaissance at Carapace Nunatak suggest a flora rich in conifers and seed ferns. The conifer components will be important in evaluating basal character states within the major conifer families, while the seed ferns will be useful in evaluating the characters and relationships of these Mesozoic gymnosperms to the geologically younger flowering plants. The site also contains some woody specimens (small twigs, fragments of wood), in which the tree rings will be analyzed and com pared with those from other high latitude sites, both older (Permian and Triassic) and younger (Cretaceous, Tertiary). Because of the patchy nature of the silicification and the discontinuous sedimentary beds, field work is anticipated to involve primarily day trips via helicopter to the sites immediately followed by sectioning of material in the Crary Laboratory at McMurdo Station in order to reduce the collecting of unproductive material.