Abstract
A middle Eocene pollen profile was extracted from a 9-meter series of clay and lignite in western Tennessee. Recent pollen depositional information on small basins was used to interpret depositional environments and pollen source areas. Two depositional systems were operant during deposition, an open system and a closed system. Using the change in depositional systems, three pollen source areas, local, background, and regional were established. The results show care must be taken in stratigraphic correlation of small nonmarine fossil deposits when this is based on types present and relative abundance. Plant communities of the three source areas varied significantly in composition, a situation which must be considered in floristic interpretation of past community structures and paleoclimates.
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Potter, F.W. (1977). Depositional and Floristic Interpretations of a Pollen Diagram from Middle Eocene, Claiborne Formation, Upper Mississippi Embayment. In: Romans, R.C. (eds) Geobotany. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1674-0_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1674-0_4
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