Silurian Climatic Zonation of Cryptospore, Trilete Spore and Plant Megafossils, with Emphasis on the Přídolí Epoch

TL;DR

This study explores how plant spores and fossils from the Silurian period varied across different climate zones, especially during the Přídolí Epoch.

Contribution

The paper provides new insights into Silurian plant distribution patterns by analyzing spore and megafossil records across climate belts.

Findings

Cryptospore and trilete spore diversity is lowest in tropical regions and highest in temperate and cool belts.

Tropical plant assemblages were likely dominated by rhyniophytes, while trimerophytes were more common in temperate regions.

The highest number of unique cryptospore taxa was found in the cool belt, and unique trilete spore taxa in the temperate belt.

Abstract

This paper describes dispersed cryptospores and trilete spores from tropical, temperate and cool climate belts within Přídolí and compares them with the land plant megafossil record. The palynology of earlier intervals in the Silurian are also reviewed. A common feature of the cryptospore and trilete spore records is that their number is surprisingly lowest in the tropical climatic belt and much higher in the temperate and especially in the cool latitude, and the highest number of cryptospore taxa occurring only in one belt is found in the cool belt while the highest number of trilete spore taxa that occurred only in one belt is recorded in the temperate belt. In general, based on the dispersed spore record, we can estimate that the plant assemblages of the tropical belt were dominated by rhyniophytes; trimerophytes probably prevailed over rhyniophytes in the temperate belt, and rhyniophytes again dominated within the cool belt.

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