Pristine Early Eocene wood buried deeply in kimberlite from northern Canada.
We report exceptional preservation of fossil wood buried deeply in a kimberlite pipe that intruded northwestern Canada's Slave Province 53.3±0.6 million years ago (Ma), revealed during excavation of diamond source rock. The wood originated from forest surrounding the eruption zone and collapsed...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:d1c343dadf2b41a7ab2974f669dab235 2023-05-15T18:28:20+02:00 Pristine Early Eocene wood buried deeply in kimberlite from northern Canada. Alexander P Wolfe Adam Z Csank Alberto V Reyes Ryan C McKellar Ralf Tappert Karlis Muehlenbachs 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045537 https://doaj.org/article/d1c343dadf2b41a7ab2974f669dab235 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3446892?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0045537 https://doaj.org/article/d1c343dadf2b41a7ab2974f669dab235 PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 9, p e45537 (2012) Medicine R Science Q article 2012 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045537 2022-12-31T05:43:04Z We report exceptional preservation of fossil wood buried deeply in a kimberlite pipe that intruded northwestern Canada's Slave Province 53.3±0.6 million years ago (Ma), revealed during excavation of diamond source rock. The wood originated from forest surrounding the eruption zone and collapsed into the diatreme before resettling in volcaniclastic kimberlite to depths >300 m, where it was mummified in a sterile environment. Anatomy of the unpermineralized wood permits conclusive identification to the genus Metasequoia (Cupressaceae). The wood yields genuine cellulose and occluded amber, both of which have been characterized spectroscopically and isotopically. From cellulose δ(18)O and δ(2)H measurements, we infer that Early Eocene paleoclimates in the western Canadian subarctic were 12-17°C warmer and four times wetter than present. Canadian kimberlites offer Lagerstätte-quality preservation of wood from a region with limited alternate sources of paleobotanical information. Article in Journal/Newspaper Subarctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Canada PLoS ONE 7 9 e45537 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Alexander P Wolfe Adam Z Csank Alberto V Reyes Ryan C McKellar Ralf Tappert Karlis Muehlenbachs Pristine Early Eocene wood buried deeply in kimberlite from northern Canada. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
We report exceptional preservation of fossil wood buried deeply in a kimberlite pipe that intruded northwestern Canada's Slave Province 53.3±0.6 million years ago (Ma), revealed during excavation of diamond source rock. The wood originated from forest surrounding the eruption zone and collapsed into the diatreme before resettling in volcaniclastic kimberlite to depths >300 m, where it was mummified in a sterile environment. Anatomy of the unpermineralized wood permits conclusive identification to the genus Metasequoia (Cupressaceae). The wood yields genuine cellulose and occluded amber, both of which have been characterized spectroscopically and isotopically. From cellulose δ(18)O and δ(2)H measurements, we infer that Early Eocene paleoclimates in the western Canadian subarctic were 12-17°C warmer and four times wetter than present. Canadian kimberlites offer Lagerstätte-quality preservation of wood from a region with limited alternate sources of paleobotanical information. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Alexander P Wolfe Adam Z Csank Alberto V Reyes Ryan C McKellar Ralf Tappert Karlis Muehlenbachs |
author_facet |
Alexander P Wolfe Adam Z Csank Alberto V Reyes Ryan C McKellar Ralf Tappert Karlis Muehlenbachs |
author_sort |
Alexander P Wolfe |
title |
Pristine Early Eocene wood buried deeply in kimberlite from northern Canada. |
title_short |
Pristine Early Eocene wood buried deeply in kimberlite from northern Canada. |
title_full |
Pristine Early Eocene wood buried deeply in kimberlite from northern Canada. |
title_fullStr |
Pristine Early Eocene wood buried deeply in kimberlite from northern Canada. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Pristine Early Eocene wood buried deeply in kimberlite from northern Canada. |
title_sort |
pristine early eocene wood buried deeply in kimberlite from northern canada. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045537 https://doaj.org/article/d1c343dadf2b41a7ab2974f669dab235 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Subarctic |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 9, p e45537 (2012) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3446892?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0045537 https://doaj.org/article/d1c343dadf2b41a7ab2974f669dab235 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045537 |
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PLoS ONE |
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7 |
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9 |
container_start_page |
e45537 |
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