The treefall pit of a large tree at the base of the middle Eocene Mittelkohle has been studied in the former open-cast mine Neumark Nord of the Geiseltal Mining District. Above a light clastic soil, the sedimentation in the pit started with backfall and downwashed material grading upwards into pond deposits that filled the pit. This represents a high-resolution section equivalent in time to the initial peat-forming environment. Palynology revealed a striking difference between a fern-dominated herbaceous plant community below the pit and a pulse of washed-in fagaceous pollen (Tricolpopollenites liblarensis) at the base of the pit. This is overlain by an assemblage of woody taxa typical of a peat swamp forest associated with a number of tropical elements. Comparison with a nearby but undisturbed transition from underlying sediments to the seam confirms the ecotonal character of the parent plant of T. liblarensis, and suggests that Cupressaceae s.l., Nyssaceae and Myricaceae especially benefited from moisture and light in the clearing of the treefall pit. The transition from the underlying sediment to the lignite represents a sharp break in the sedimentary regime from clastic to purely organic material with a bounding surface colonised by large trees, most of them preserved as individual stumps, but including some fallen logs.

已经在 Geiseltal 矿区的前露天矿 Neumark Nord 研究了中始新世 Mittelkohle 底部一棵大树的落树坑。在轻质碎屑土壤上方，坑中的沉积开始于倒流和向下冲刷的物质向上分级进入填充坑的池塘沉积物。这代表了与初始泥炭形成环境在时间上等效的高分辨率剖面。孢粉学揭示了坑下以蕨类植物为主的草本植物群落与冲入的山毛榉花粉（Tricolpopollenites liblarensis）之间的显着差异) 在坑的底部。覆盖在泥炭沼泽森林中典型的木质分类群与许多热带元素相关。与附近但未受干扰的从下伏沉积物到煤层的过渡相比较，证实了T的亲本植物的生态特征。liblarensis，并表明柏科sl、 Nyssaceae 和杨梅科特别受益于清除落树坑时的水分和光照。从下伏沉积物到褐煤的转变代表了沉积体系从碎屑到纯有机物质的急剧断裂，边界表面被大树殖民，其中大部分被保存为单独的树桩，但包括一些倒下的原木。