Composition and structure of an in situ Middle Pennsylvanian peat-forming plant assemblage buried in volcanic ash, Radnice Basin (Czech Republic)
Abstract
A three-dimensional reconstruction is provided of the composition, spatial distribution, and structure of a single-aged, Middle Pennsylvanian (Moscovian) peat-forming forest of a high-ash, planar (rheotrophic) mire, buried in situ by volcanic ash and preserved in the Lower Radnice Coal of the Radnice Basin (Czech Republic). In all, 24 whole-plant taxa of various growth forms were identified.
This assemblage represents a lepidodendrid- and Cordaites borassifolius-dominated forest, with a well-developed understory of subarborescent lycopsids, tree ferns, medullosan pteridosperms, and calamites, as well as herbaceous ground cover. Based on samples from the coal roof, the palynological record is in agreement with the tuff bed assemblage except for the quantity of certain taxa.