Abstract
Fossil plants recovered from the Late Miocene (Messinian) Hreðavatn-Stafholt Formation grew in a landscape dominated by lakes of different sizes that were connected by small rivers and swampland. Well-drained areas bordering these wetlands were covered by mixed broadleaved deciduous and conifer forests dominated by Pinaceae, Rosaceae, and Acer. Relict taxa occurred both in wetlands (aff. Calycanthaceae) and hardwood forests (Cyclocarya, Fagus, Tetracentron). The flora and vegetation of the 7–6 Ma formation witnessed a cool temperate climate and the fairly high diversity of trees and shrubs was largely caused by relict taxa that persisted into the late Late Miocene and in some cases until the Early Pliocene. Although quite few taxa are new records for the Miocene flora of Iceland, one species of Populus resembling a poplar from the Middle Miocene of Siberia and from the Oligocene of Alaska may have first arrived to Iceland between 8 and 7 Ma. A general trend of impoverishment as seen in the Icelandic floras is also seen in floras of Arctic North America and mid-latitude Europe.
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Appendix 8.1
Appendix 8.1
Floristic composition of the 7–6 Ma sedimentary formation of Iceland compared to contemporaneous northern hemispheric fossil assemblages at mid and high latitudes.
Hreðavatn-Stafholt flora, Iceland [64°46´N, 21°34´E] 7-6 Ma This study | |
|---|---|
2 | Equisetum sp. |
1 | Huperzia sp. |
1 | Polypodiaceae gen.et spec. indet. 6 |
1 | Trilete spore, fam., gen. et spec. indet. 1 |
1-3 | Abies steenstrupiana |
2,3 | Larix sp. |
1-3 | Picea sect. Picea |
1-3 | Pinus sp. 1 |
2,3 | Pseudotsuga sp. |
2,3 | Tsuga sp. |
1-3 | Acer askelssonii |
1-3 | Alnus cecropiifolia |
3 | Angiosperm fam. gen. et spec. indet. B |
1-3 | Betual cristata |
1 | aff. Calycanthaceae |
1 | Caryophyllaceae gen. et spec. indet. 3 |
2 | Ceratophyllum sp. |
3 | cf. Crataegus sp. |
1,3 | cf. Cyclocarya sp. |
2 | Cyperaceae gen. et spec. indet. B |
3 | Fagus gussonii |
3 | aff. Euphrasia vel Melampyrum sp. |
1 | Persicaria sp. 1 |
3 | Phragmites sp. |
3 | Populus sp. B |
1,3 | Rhododendron aff. ponticum |
3 | Rosaceae gen. et spec. indet. A |
2,3 | Salix gruberi |
2,3 | Salix sp. A |
3 | aff. Sorbus sp. (S. aria type) |
1-3 | Tetracentron atlanticum |
Capels and Cheylade, Central France [44°56´N, 2°40´E; 45°12´ N, 2°42´ E] 7-6 Ma Laurent & Marty, 1927; Gibert et al., 1977 | |
|---|---|
3 | Goniopteris pulchella |
3 | Pteris aquilina |
3 | Abies cf. pectinata |
3 | Acer cf. campestre |
3 | Acer pseudoplatanus |
3 | Alnus glutinosa |
3 | Bambusa vel Arundinaria sp. |
3 | Berchemia volubilis |
3 | Castanea sativa |
3 | Cornus sanguinea |
3 | Crataegus oxyacantha |
3 | Diospyros cf. virginiana |
3 | Fagus sylvatica var. pliocenica |
3 | Fraxinus arvernensis |
3 | Helianthemum vulgare |
3 | Ilex aquifolium |
3 | Juglans regia |
3 | Juncus sp. |
3 | Menispermum europaeum |
3 | Platanus aceroides |
3 | Populus balsamoides |
3 | Populus tremula |
3 | Ranunculus cf. acris |
3 | Ranunculus cf. auricomus |
3 | Robinia arvernensis |
3 | Rubus niacensis |
3 | Salix alba |
3 | Sassafras ferrettianum |
3 | Scirpus sp. |
3 | Stachys laurenti |
3 | Ulmus effusa |
3 | Viburnum tinus |
3 | Viola cf. odorata |
Vegora flora, northern Greece [40°40´N, 21°42´E] 6 Ma Kvaček et al., 2002 | |
|---|---|
3 | Osmunda parschlugiana |
3 | Ginkgo adiantoides |
2 | Cedrus vivariensis |
3 | Cupressus rhenana |
2,3 | Glyptostrobus europaeus |
2 | Keteleeria hoehnei |
3 | Pinaceae gen. indet. |
2 | Pinus hampeana |
2 | Pinus salinarum |
2 | Pinus sp. |
3 | Pinus sp. 1 |
3 | Pinus sp. 2 |
2 | Pinus vegorae |
3 | Sequoia abietina |
3 | Taxodium dubium |
3 | Acer aegopodifolium |
3 | Acer integrilobum |
2 | Acer limburgense |
3 | Acer pseudomonspessulanum |
3 | Acer pyrenaicum |
3 | Acer sp. |
2 | Acer spp. |
3 | Acer subcampestre |
3 | Acer tricuspidatum |
3 | Alnus adscendens |
3 | Alnus cecropiifolia |
2 | Alnus cf. kefersteinii |
3 | Alnus ducalis |
3 | Alnus gaudinii |
3 | Alnus julianiformis |
3 | Betula pseudolumnifera |
2 | Carpinus betulus foss. |
3 | Carpinus grandis |
2 | Carpinus kisseri |
2 | Castanea sp. |
3 | Chamaerops humilis foss. |
2 | Craigia bronnii |
3 | Daphnogene pannonica |
3 | Dicotylophyllum sp. 1 – sp. 6 |
2 | Fagus decurrens |
3 | Fagus gussonii |
2 | Fraxinus sp. |
3 | Hedera multinervis |
3 | Laurophyllum pseudoprinceps |
3 | Laurophyllum sp. |
3 | Leguminosites sp. |
3 | Monokotyledonae gen. indet. |
3 | Platanus leucophylla |
2 | Platanus sp. |
3 | Populus balsamoides |
3 | Populus populina |
3 | Populus sp. 1 |
3 | Populus sp. 2 |
3 | Pterocarya paradisiaca |
2 | Quercus cerrisaecarpa |
3 | Quercus drymeja |
3 | Quercus gigas |
3 | Quercus kubinyii |
3 | Quercus mediterranea |
3 | Quercus pseudocastanea |
3 | Quercus sosnowskyi |
2 | Quercus sp. |
3 | Quercus sp. |
3 | Sassafras ferrettianum |
3 | Ulmus plurinervia |
2,3 | Zelkova zelkovifolia |
Boldface indicates that genus is present in the Hreðavatn-Stafholt Formation. Grey shading indicates that the genus is present in younger (5.5 Ma) and older formations. 1 based on pollen, spores; 2 based on leaves and/or fruit/seed fossils; 3 based on leaf fossils
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Denk, T., Grímsson, F., Zetter, R., Símonarson, L.A. (2011). A Lakeland Area in the Late Miocene. In: Late Cainozoic Floras of Iceland. Topics in Geobiology, vol 35. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0372-8_8
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