The Paleogene succession of the Helmstedt Lignite Mining District in Northern Germany includes coastal peat mire records from the latest Paleocene to the middle Eocene at the southern edge of the Proto-North Sea. Therefore, it covers the different long- and short-term climate perturbations of the Paleogene greenhouse. 56 samples from three individual sections of a lower Eocene seam in the record capture the typical succession of the vegetation in a coastal wetland during a period that was not affected by climate perturbation. This allows facies-dependent vegetational changes to be distinguished from those that were climate induced. Cluster analyses and NMDS of well-preserved palynomorph assemblages reveal four successional stages in the vegetation during peat accumulation: (1) a coastal vegetation, (2) an initial mire, (3) a transitional mire, and (4) a terminal mire. Biodiversity measures show that plant diversity decreased significantly in the successive stages. The highly diverse vegetation at the coast and in the adjacent initial mire was replaced by low diversity communities adapted to wet acidic environments and nutrient deficiency. The palynomorph assemblages are dominated by elements such as Alnus (Betulaceae) or Sphagnum (Sphagnaceae). Typical tropical elements which are characteristic for the middle Eocene part of the succession are missing. This indicates that a more warm-temperate climate prevailed in northwestern Germany during the early lower Eocene.

中文翻译：

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始新世早期沿海湿地的温室条件？– 德国北部舍宁根的教训

德国北部 Helmstedt 褐煤矿区的古近系序列包括原始北海南部边缘从最新古新世到中始新世的沿海泥炭泥炭记录。因此，它涵盖了古近纪温室不同的长期和短期气候扰动。来自记录中始新世下层的三个单独部分的 56 个样本捕获了沿海湿地植被在不受气候扰动影响期间的典型演替过程。这允许将相依赖的植被变化与气候引起的变化区分开来。保存完好的孢粉体组合的聚类分析和 NMDS 揭示了泥炭积累过程中植被的四个演替阶段：（1）沿海植被，（2）初始泥沼，（3）过渡泥炭，(4)终端泥潭。生物多样性测量表明，植物多样性在随后的阶段显着下降。海岸和邻近初始沼泽中高度多样化的植被被适应潮湿酸性环境和营养缺乏的低多样性群落所取代。孢粉体组合主要由以下元素主导桤木（桦木科）或泥炭藓（Sphagnaceae）。缺少为序列中始新世部分所特有的典型热带元素。这表明在早始新世早期，德国西北部盛行更暖温带的气候。