Fossil angiosperm wood and its host deposits from the periphery of a dominantly effusive ancient volcano (Doupovské hory Volcanic Complex, Oligocene-Lower Miocene, Czech Republic): systematics, volcanology, geochronology and taphonomy

 

Authors: Sakala J, Rapprich V, Pécskay Z

Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences, volume 85, issue 4; pages: 617 - 629; Received 21 April 2010; Accepted in revised form 22 September 2010; Online 12 November 2010

Keywords: fossil angiosperm wood, systematic palaeobotany, volcanology, taphonomy, geochronology, Tertiary, Czech Republic,

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Abstract

A variety of fossil woods occur on the northern margin of the Doupovské hory Volcanic Complex in the northwestern part of the Czech Republic. The woods were buried by three different processes reflecting three different settings. First, a large area between the towns of Kadaň and Klášterec is covered by an up to 100mthick sequence of lahar and debris avalanche deposits. These flows and avalanches gathered wood of Liriodendron, Lauraceae, Platanus, Cercidiphyllum, ?Craigia and Styracaceae from both the volcanic complex slopes and adjacent plains. Second, a rich assemblage of fossil woods with thermophilous elements such as Lauraceae and palms was preserved on the northern volcanic complex periphery by a Strombolian eruption of a monogenic cone. Third, a shallow lake formed to the side of the volcanic complex, where Platanus trunks were fossilized in the travertine. The wood of Liriodendron has never been previously recorded in the localities representing volcanic complex foothills, but is common in the local lahar deposits. This distribution leads us to hypothesize that Liriodendron forests dominated higher topographic levels of the Doupovské hory Volcanic Complex, reaching, but probably not exceeding 1000m a.s.l.

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