Palynological Investigations of Miocene Deposits on the New Siberian Archipelago (U.S.S.R.)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic1403Keywords:
Cenozoic era, Evolution (Biology), Miocene epoch, Palaeobotany, Palynology, Plant distribution, Plant succession, Sedimentation, Stratigraphy, Novosibirskiye Ostrova, Russian FederationAbstract
New paleobotanical data (mainly palynological) are reported from Miocene beds of the New Siberian Islands. The palynoflora has a number of distinctive features: the presence of typical hypoarctic forms, the high content taxa representing dark coniferous assemblages and the considerable proportion of small-leaved forms. Floristic comparison with the paleofloras or the Beaufort Formation in arctic Canada allows interpretation of the evolution of the Arctic as a landscape region during Miocene-Pliocene time. The paper is a preliminary analysis of the mechanisms of arctic florogenesis. The model of an "adaptive landscape" is considered in relation to the active eustatic drying of polar shelves.
Key words: palynology, U.S.S.R., New Siberian Islands, Miocene, Arctic, florogenesis
