Journal article
Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) macroflora from the Chatham Islands, New Zealand: Bryophytes, lycophytes and pteridophytes
C Mays, AMP Tosolini, DJ Cantrill, JD Stilwell
Gondwana Research | Published : 2015
Abstract
Late Cretaceous fossils from the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, represent an important high palaeolatitude (~. 70-80°S) flora. Located between eastern and western Gondwana, and prior to Late Cretaceous continental break-up, these plants grew during a period of global greenhouse climates. Macrofloral remains of the Tupuangi Formation, Pitt Island, accumulated in a deltaic floodplain setting with plant material occurring on well-developed, hydromorphic soil horizons or entrained in sediments overlying the soils. The macroflora includes a rich angiosperm-conifer-. Ginkgo flora with subsidiary ferns, lycophytes and bryophytes. The components of the assemblage described herein include those of pro..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the help of volunteer laboratory and field assistants: Elyse Butterfield, Andrew Giles, Cameron McKenzie, David Pickering and Jesse Vitacca. Special thanks go to chief preparator, Chava Rodriguez, who directed the efforts to 'bring life back' to these fossils. We would also like to thank Assoc. Prof. Andrew Drinnan of the School of Botany, University of Melbourne, for his assistance with laboratory facilities. CM would like to thank the residents of Pitt Island, especially Mr. John Preece, Mr. Bill Gregory-Hunt and Mrs. Dianne Gregory-Hunt for allowing access to the outcrops on their land, as well as Mr. Ken Lanauze and Mrs. Judy Lanauze for their assistance on Pitt Island. Terry and Donna Tuanui kindly provided support on Chatham Island before and after fieldwork on Pitt Island. Fieldwork and research supported by a Monash University Faculty of Science Bridging Research Grant and an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (ARC-LP0989518) awarded to JDS. Further financial support was provided by an Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship awarded to CM.