A snapshot of mid Eocene landscapes in the southern Central Andes: Spore-pollen records from the Casa Grande Formation (Jujuy, Argentina).
The southern Central Andes-or Puna-now contains specialized plant communities adapted to life in extreme environments. During the middle Eocene (~40 Ma), the Cordillera at these latitudes was barely uplifted and global climates were much warmer than today. No fossil plant remains have been discovere...
Published in: | PLOS ONE |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277389 https://doaj.org/article/6ddfb2a0127446478d8bab90a79491d3 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:6ddfb2a0127446478d8bab90a79491d3 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:6ddfb2a0127446478d8bab90a79491d3 2023-06-06T11:46:53+02:00 A snapshot of mid Eocene landscapes in the southern Central Andes: Spore-pollen records from the Casa Grande Formation (Jujuy, Argentina). Mariano J Tapia Ezequiel E Farrell Lilia R Mautino Cecilia Del Papa Viviana D Barreda Luis Palazzesi 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277389 https://doaj.org/article/6ddfb2a0127446478d8bab90a79491d3 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277389 https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0277389 https://doaj.org/article/6ddfb2a0127446478d8bab90a79491d3 PLoS ONE, Vol 18, Iss 4, p e0277389 (2023) Medicine R Science Q article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277389 2023-04-16T00:32:26Z The southern Central Andes-or Puna-now contains specialized plant communities adapted to life in extreme environments. During the middle Eocene (~40 Ma), the Cordillera at these latitudes was barely uplifted and global climates were much warmer than today. No fossil plant remains have been discovered so far from this age in the Puna region to attest to past scenarios. Yet, we assume that the vegetation cover must have been very different from what it looks today. To test this hypothesis, we study a spore-pollen record from the mid Eocene Casa Grande Formation (Jujuy, northwestern Argentina). Although sampling is preliminary, we found ~70 morphotypes of spores, pollen grains and other palynomorphs, many of which were produced by taxa with tropical or subtropical modern distributions (e.g., Arecaceae, Ulmaceae Phyllostylon, Malvaceae Bombacoideae). Our reconstructed scenario implies the existence of a vegetated pond surrounded by trees, vines, and palms. We also report the northernmost records of a few unequivocal Gondwanan taxa (e.g., Nothofagus, Microcachrys), about 5,000 km north from their Patagonian-Antarctic hotspot. With few exceptions, the discovered taxa-both Neotropical and Gondwanan-became extinct from the region following the severe effects of the Andean uplift and the climate deterioration during the Neogene. We found no evidence for enhanced aridity nor cool conditions in the southern Central Andes at mid Eocene times. Instead, the overall assemblage represents a frost-free and humid to seasonally-dry ecosystem that prevailed near a lacustrine environment, in agreement with previous paleoenvironmental studies. Our reconstruction adds a further biotic component to the previously reported record of mammals. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Argentina PLOS ONE 18 4 e0277389 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Mariano J Tapia Ezequiel E Farrell Lilia R Mautino Cecilia Del Papa Viviana D Barreda Luis Palazzesi A snapshot of mid Eocene landscapes in the southern Central Andes: Spore-pollen records from the Casa Grande Formation (Jujuy, Argentina). |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
The southern Central Andes-or Puna-now contains specialized plant communities adapted to life in extreme environments. During the middle Eocene (~40 Ma), the Cordillera at these latitudes was barely uplifted and global climates were much warmer than today. No fossil plant remains have been discovered so far from this age in the Puna region to attest to past scenarios. Yet, we assume that the vegetation cover must have been very different from what it looks today. To test this hypothesis, we study a spore-pollen record from the mid Eocene Casa Grande Formation (Jujuy, northwestern Argentina). Although sampling is preliminary, we found ~70 morphotypes of spores, pollen grains and other palynomorphs, many of which were produced by taxa with tropical or subtropical modern distributions (e.g., Arecaceae, Ulmaceae Phyllostylon, Malvaceae Bombacoideae). Our reconstructed scenario implies the existence of a vegetated pond surrounded by trees, vines, and palms. We also report the northernmost records of a few unequivocal Gondwanan taxa (e.g., Nothofagus, Microcachrys), about 5,000 km north from their Patagonian-Antarctic hotspot. With few exceptions, the discovered taxa-both Neotropical and Gondwanan-became extinct from the region following the severe effects of the Andean uplift and the climate deterioration during the Neogene. We found no evidence for enhanced aridity nor cool conditions in the southern Central Andes at mid Eocene times. Instead, the overall assemblage represents a frost-free and humid to seasonally-dry ecosystem that prevailed near a lacustrine environment, in agreement with previous paleoenvironmental studies. Our reconstruction adds a further biotic component to the previously reported record of mammals. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mariano J Tapia Ezequiel E Farrell Lilia R Mautino Cecilia Del Papa Viviana D Barreda Luis Palazzesi |
author_facet |
Mariano J Tapia Ezequiel E Farrell Lilia R Mautino Cecilia Del Papa Viviana D Barreda Luis Palazzesi |
author_sort |
Mariano J Tapia |
title |
A snapshot of mid Eocene landscapes in the southern Central Andes: Spore-pollen records from the Casa Grande Formation (Jujuy, Argentina). |
title_short |
A snapshot of mid Eocene landscapes in the southern Central Andes: Spore-pollen records from the Casa Grande Formation (Jujuy, Argentina). |
title_full |
A snapshot of mid Eocene landscapes in the southern Central Andes: Spore-pollen records from the Casa Grande Formation (Jujuy, Argentina). |
title_fullStr |
A snapshot of mid Eocene landscapes in the southern Central Andes: Spore-pollen records from the Casa Grande Formation (Jujuy, Argentina). |
title_full_unstemmed |
A snapshot of mid Eocene landscapes in the southern Central Andes: Spore-pollen records from the Casa Grande Formation (Jujuy, Argentina). |
title_sort |
snapshot of mid eocene landscapes in the southern central andes: spore-pollen records from the casa grande formation (jujuy, argentina). |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277389 https://doaj.org/article/6ddfb2a0127446478d8bab90a79491d3 |
geographic |
Antarctic Argentina |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Argentina |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 18, Iss 4, p e0277389 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277389 https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0277389 https://doaj.org/article/6ddfb2a0127446478d8bab90a79491d3 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277389 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
e0277389 |
_version_ |
1767952360630386688 |