Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Late Cretaceous Flora of the Zyryanka Coal Basin in Northeastern Russia: Composition, Age, and Plant Communities

  • Published:
Stratigraphy and Geological Correlation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Plant fossils collected by O.V. Grinenko on the right bank of the Vstrechnaya River in the Zyryanka coal basin (Northeastern Russia) in 1989 have been studied. The Vstrechnaya taphoflora includes 25 species of fossil plants assigned to ferns, cycadaleans, ginkgoaleans, leptostrobaleans, conifers, gymnosperms of an uncertain systematic position, and angiosperms. The presence of advanced conifer taxa and angiosperm plants in the Vstrechnaya taphoflora enables the determination of its age as Late Cretaceous, most probably Turonian and Coniacian. The significant difference between the Vstrechnaya floristic assemblage, as well as the Vstrechnaya flora as a whole, and the Buor-Kemus Formation flora enabled us to regard the plant-bearing sediments as an independent local stratigraphic unit, the Vstrechnaya Formation. The Vstrechnaya taphoflora includes plants that probably formed distinct Mesophytic and Cenophytic plant communities. The composition of the former was inherited from the more ancient, Early Cretaceous, floras of the region; the latter include advanced conifer taxa and angiosperm plants and thus reflect the gradual invasion of the evolutionarily new Late Cretaceous vegetation into the continental interior of Northeastern Asia.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.
Plate II.

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  1. Belyi, V.F., Stratigrafiya i struktury Okhotsko-Chukotskogo vulkanogennogo poyasa (The Stratigraphy and Structures of the Okhotsk–Chukotka Volcanogenic Belt), Moscow: Nauka, 1977 [in Russian].

  2. Bugdaeva, E.V., Volynets, E.B., Golozubov, V.V., Markevich, V.S., and Amel’chenko, G.L., Flora i geologicheskie sobytiya serediny melovogo perioda (Alchanskii bassein, Primor’e) (Flora and Geological Events of the Mid-Cretaceous Period (Alchan River Basin, Primorye)), Vladivostok: Dal’nauka, 2006 [in Russian].

  3. Geologicheskaya karta SSSR. Masshtab 1 : 1  000 000 (novaya seriya). Ob"yasnitel’naya zapiska. List Q-54, 55 – Khonuu (The 1 : 1 000 000 Geological Map of the USSR. New. Ser. Sheet Q-54, 55 – Khonuu. Explanatory Note), Leningrad, 1986 [in Russian].

  4. Herman, A.B., Late Early–Late Cretaceous floras of the North Pacific Region: florogenesis and early angiosperm invasion, Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol., 2002, vol. 122, nos. 1–2, pp. 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Herman, A.B., Albian–Paleocene flora of Northern Pacific, in Tr. GIN RAN. Vyp. 592 (Trans. Geol. Inst. Ross. Acad. Sci. Vol. 592), Moscow: GEOS, 2011 [in Russian].

  6. Herman, A.B. and Lebedev, E.L., Stratigraphy and flora of the Cretaceous deposits of the northwestern Kamchatka, in Tr. Geol. Inst. Akad. Nauk SSSR. Vyp. 468 (Trans. Geol. Inst. USSR Acad. Sci. Vol. 468), Moscow: Nauka 1991. [in Russian].

  7. Herman, A.B., Golovneva, L.B., Shczepetov, S.V., and Grabovsky, A.A., The Late Cretaceous Arman Flora of Magadan Oblast, Northeastern Russia, Stratigr. Geol. Correl., 2016, vol. 24, no. 7, pp. 1–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Kiritchkova, A.I., Fitostratigrafiya i flora yurskikh i nizhnemelovykh otlozhenii Lenskogo basseina (Phytostratigraphy and Flora of the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous Deposits of the Lena Basin), Leningrad: Nedra, 1985 [in Russian].

  9. Kryshtofovich, A.N., Late Cretaceous flora of the Kolyma River basin, in Materialy po izucheniyu Kolymsko-Indigirskogo kraya. Ser. 2. Geologiya i geomorfologiya. Vyp. 15 (Materials on the Kolyma–Indigirka Territory. Ser. 2. Geology and Geomorphology. Vol. 15), Gostrest Dal’stroi, 1938, pp. 1–31. [in Russian]

  10. Popov, G.G., Zyrianka coal basin, in Geologiya mestorozhdenii uglya i goryuchikh slantsev SSSR (Geology of Coal and Combustible Shale Deposits of the USSR), Moscow: Gosgeoltekhizdat, 1962, vol. 10, pp. 32–105. [in Russian]

  11. Resheniya Mezhvedomstvennogo soveshchaniya po razrabotke unifitsirovannykh stratigraficheskikh skhem dlya Severo-Vostoka SSSR (Resolutions of the Interdepartmental Meeting on the Development of Unified Stratigraphic Schemes for the Northeastern USSR), Magadan, 1959 [in Russian].

  12. Resheniya Vtorogo Mezhvedomstvennogo regional’nogo stratigraficheskogo soveshchaniya po dokembriyu i fanerozoyu Severo-Vostoka SSSR (Magadan, 1974-1975 gg.) (Resolutions of the 2nd Interdepartmental Regional Stratigraphical Meeting on the Precambrian and Phanerozoic of the Northeastern USSR (Magadan, 1974–1975)), Magadan: GKP SVTGU, 1978 [in Russian].

  13. Resheniya Tret’ego Mezhvedomstvennogo regional’nogo stratigraficheskogo soveshchaniya po dokembriyu, paleozoyu i mezozoyu Severo-Vostoka Rossii (Sankt-Peterburg, 2002) (Resolution of the Third Interdepartmental Regional Stratigraphic Meeting on the Precambrian, Paleozoic, and Mesozoic of Northeastern Russia (St. Petersburg, 2002)), St. Petersburg: Vseross. Nauchno-Issled. Geol. Inst., 2009 [in Russian].

  14. Retallack, G.J. and Dilcher, D.L., A coastal hypothesis for the origin and rise to dominance of flowering plants, in Palaeobotany, Palaeoecology, and Evolution. Vol. 2, Niklas, K.J., Ed., New York: Praeger Publ., 1981, pp. 27–77.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Samylina, V.A., Mesozoic flora from the left bank of the Kolyma River (Zyrianka Coal Basin). Part I: Horsetails, ferns, cycadaleans, bennetitaleans, in Tr. Bot. Inst. AN SSSR. Ser. VIII (Trans. Bot. Inst. USSR Acad. Sci. Ser. VIII), 1964, vol. V, pp. 40–79. [in Russian]

  16. Samylina, V.A., Mesozoic flora from the left bank of the Kolyma River (Zyrianka coal basin). Part II: Ginkgoaleans, conifers. General Chapters, in Tr. Bot. Inst. AN SSSR. Ser. VIII (Trans. Bot. Inst. USSR Acad. Sci. Ser. VIII), 1967, vol. VI, pp. 133–176. [in Russian]

  17. Samylina, V.A., Early Cretaceous angiosperms of the Soviet Union based on leaf and fruit remains, J. Linnaean Soc. (Botany), 1968, vol. 61, no. 384, pp. 207–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Samylina, V.A., Early Cretaceous floras of the northeastern USSR (problems of establishing Cenophytic floras), in XXVII Komarovskie chteniya (Proc. XXVII Komarov’s Readings), Leningrad: Nauka, 1974 [in Russian].

  19. Samylina, V.A., Melovaya flora Omsukchana (Cretaceous Flora of Omsukchan). Leningrad: Nauka, 1976 [in Russian].

  20. Shczepetov, S.V., Herman, A.B., and Belaya, B.V., Srednemelovaya flora pravoberezh’ya reki Anadyr’ (stratigraficheskoe polozhenie, sistematicheskii sostav, atlas iskopaemykh rastenii) (Middle Cretaceous Flora on the Right Bank of the Anadyr River: Stratigraphic Range, Taxonomic Composition, and Atlas of Fossil Plants), Magadan: Sev.-Vost. K-ompl. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Dal’nevost. Otd. Ross. Akad. Nauk, 1992 [in Russian].

  21. Spicer, R.A., Ahlberg, A., Herman, A.B., Kelley, S.P., Raikevich, M., and Rees, P.M., Palaeoenvironment and ecology of the middle Cretaceous Grebenka flora of northeastern Asia, Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 2002, vol. 184, nos. 1–2, pp. 65–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Stebbins, G.L., Flowering Plants: Evolution Above the Species Level, Cambridge: Massachusetts: Belknap Press Harvard Univ. Press, 1974.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  23. Sveshnikova, I.N. and Budantsev, L.Yu., Iskopaemye flory Arktiki. I. Pozdnemelovaya flora ostrova Novaya Sibir’ (Fossil Floras of the Arctic. Part 1: Late Cretaceous Flora of New Siberian Island), Leningrad: Nauka, 1969, pp. 68–110. [in Russian]

  24. Vassilevskaya, N.D., Eastern Siberia, in Stratigrafiya SSSR. Melovaya sistema (Stratigraphy of the USSR. Cretaceous System), Moscow: Nedra, 1987, semivol. 2, pp. 62–78. [in Russian]

  25. Vereshchagin, V.N., Vstrechninskaya Formation, in Stratigraficheskii slovar' SSSR. Trias, yura, mel (Stratigraphic Dictionary of the USSR. Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous), Leningrad: Nedra, 1979. [in Russian]

  26. Yudova, D.A. and Golovneva, L.B., New species of the genus Sequoia Endlicher (Cupressaceae) from the Late Cretaceous deposits of the Northeastern Russia, Paleobotany, 2015, vol. 6, pp. 80–95.[in Russian]

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are sincerely grateful to E.V. Bugdaeva (Biodiversity Federal Research Center, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok), Yu.B. Gladenkov (Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences), O.S. Dzyuba and N.K. Lebedeva (Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk), and N.V. Nosova (Botanical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg) for valuable advice and remarks that led to considerable improvement of the paper.

Funding

This work was carried out within the framework of the State Assignments to the Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and with support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, grant no. 19-05-00121.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119017, Moscow, Russia

    A. B. Herman

  2. Komarov Botanical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 197376, St. Petersburg, Russia

    S. V. Shczepetov

Authors
  1. A. B. Herman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S. V. Shczepetov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to A. B. Herman or S. V. Shczepetov.

Additional information

Translated by S. Semenova

Reviewed by E.V. Bugdaeva, Yu.B. Gladenkov, O.S. Dzyuba, N.K. Lebedeva, and N.V. Nosova

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Herman, A.B., Shczepetov, S.V. Late Cretaceous Flora of the Zyryanka Coal Basin in Northeastern Russia: Composition, Age, and Plant Communities. Stratigr. Geol. Correl. 29, 55–64 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869593821010020

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869593821010020

Keywords:

Search

Navigation