The Present Is Not the Key to the Past: A Polar Forest from the Permian of Antarctica
An in situ Upper Permian fossil forest in the central Transantarctic Mountains near the Beardmore Glacier includes 15 permineralized trunks in growth position; the paleolatitude of the site was approximately 80° to 85° south. Numerous leaves of the seed fern Glossopteris are present in the shale in...
| Published in: | Science |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
1992
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.257.5077.1675 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.257.5077.1675 |
| Summary: | An in situ Upper Permian fossil forest in the central Transantarctic Mountains near the Beardmore Glacier includes 15 permineralized trunks in growth position; the paleolatitude of the site was approximately 80° to 85° south. Numerous leaves of the seed fern Glossopteris are present in the shale in which the trunks are rooted. The trunks are permineralized and tree rings reveal that the forest was a rapidly growing and young forest, persisting in an equable, strongly seasonal climate—a scenario that does not fit with some climate reconstructions for this time period. |
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