Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:09:50.122Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Carboniferous flora from the Surprise Canyon Formation in the Grand Canyon, Arizona

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

William D. Tidwell ,
James R. Jennings  and
Stanley S. Beus
William D. Tidwell
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, 401 WIDB, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602, Stratigraphy
James R. Jennings
Affiliation:
Surficial Geology Section, Illinois State Geological Survey, Natural Resources Building, 615 East Peabody Drive, Champaign 61820
Stanley S. Beus
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff 86011
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A megafossil flora, composed of 12 form taxa, has been collected from the Upper Mississippian–Lower Pennsylvanian Surprise Canyon Formation in the Grand Canyon, Arizona. It is the first known flora of this age to be recorded in Arizona, and includes Lepidodendron aculeatum Sternberg, L. mannabachense Presl, L. volkmannianum Sternberg, Lepidostrobus sp. cf. L. ornatus Brongniart, Lepidostrobophyllum sp., Knorria sp., Cyperites sp., Stigmaria ficoides (Sternberg), Calamites (Mesocalamites) cistiiformis Stur, Calamites sp., Pecopteris cf. P. aspera, and Wardia sp. (seed). The 22 species of palynomorphs previously reported from this formation suggest that the local flora was more diverse than the paucity of plant megafossil specimens indicates.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 66 , Issue 6 , November 1992 , pp. 1013 - 1021
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, H. N. Jr. 1970. Index on generic names of fossil plants, 1820–1965. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1300, 354 p.Google Scholar
Arnold, C. A. 1941. Some Paleozoic plants from central Colorado and their stratigraphic significance. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 6:59–70.Google Scholar
Arnold, C. A. 1953. Fossil plants of Early Pennsylvanian type from central Oregon. Palaeontographica, 93B:61–68.Google Scholar
Arnold, C. A., and Sadlick, W. 1962. A Mississippian flora from northeastern Utah and its floral and stratigraphic relations. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 17(11):241–263.Google Scholar
Atherton, E., Emrich, G. H., Glass, H. D., Potter, P. E., and Swann, D. H. 1960. Differentiation of Caseyville (Pennsylvanian) and Chester (Mississippian) sediments in the Illinois Basin. Illinois State Geological Survey Circular, 306:1–36.Google Scholar
Baars, D. L. 1988. Triassic and older stratigraphy; Southern Rocky Mountains and Colorado Plateau, p. 53–64. In Sloss, L. L. (ed.), Sedimentary Cover—North American Craton; U.S. The Geology of North America, D-2. Geological Society of America, Boulder.Google Scholar
Baars, D. L., et al. 1988. Basins of the Rocky Mountain region, p. 109–220. In Sloss, L. L. (ed.), Sedimentary Cover—North American Craton; U.S. The Geology of North America, D-2. Geological Society of America, Boulder.Google Scholar
Beus, S. S. 1986. A geologic surprise in the Grand Canyon. Fieldnotes, Arizona Geological Survey, 16(3):1–4.Google Scholar
Billingsley, G. H., and Beus, S. S. 1985. The Surprise Canyon Formation; an Upper Mississippian and Lower Pennsylvanian(?) rock unit in the Grand Canyon, Arizona. In Stratigraphic Notes, 1984. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 1605-A:A27–A33.Google Scholar
Billingsley, G. H., and McKee, E. D. 1982. The Supai Group of Grand Canyon—pre-Supai buried valleys. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1173:137–147.Google Scholar
Blazey, E. B. 1974. Fossil flora of the Mogollon Rim, central Arizona. Palaeontographica, 146B:1–20.Google Scholar
Boureau, E. 1964. Sphenophyta, Noeggerathiophyta. Traité de Paléobotanique III, Masson et Cie, Editeurs, Paris, 544 p.Google Scholar
Brack-Hanes, S. D., and Thomas, B. A. 1983. A re-examination of Lepidostrobus Brongniart. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 86:125–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bristol, H. M., and Howard, R. H. 1971. Paleogeologic map of the sub-Pennsylvanian Chesterian (Upper Mississippian) surface in the Illinois Basin. Illinois State Geological Survey Circular, 458:1–14.Google Scholar
Brongniart, A. 1822. Sur la classification et la distribution des végétaux fossiles en général et sur ceux des terrains de sédiment supérieur en particulier. Museé National Histoire Naturelle (Paris) Mémoires, 8:203–348.Google Scholar
Brongniart, A. 1828–1838. Histoire des végétaux fossiles ou recherches botaniques et géologique sur les végétaux renfermés dans les couches du globe. G. Dufour and Ed. D'Ocagne, Paris, 1:1–136 (1828).Google Scholar
Brush, G. S., and Barghoorn, E. S. 1964. The natural relationships of some Carboniferous microspores. Journal of Paleontology, 38:325–330.Google Scholar
Bunker, B. J., Witzke, B. J., Watney, W. L., and Ludvigson, G. A. 1988. Phanerozoic history of the central midcontinent, United States, p. 243–259. In Sloss, L. L. (ed.), Sedimentary Cover—North American Craton; U.S. The Geology of North America, D-2. Geological Society of America, Boulder.Google Scholar
Chaloner, W. G. 1967. Lycophyta, p. 437–805. In Boureau, E. (ed.), Traité de Paléobotanique, Part II. Masson et Cie, Editeurs, Paris.Google Scholar
Collinson, C., Sargent, M. L., and Jennings, J. R. 1988. Illinois Basin Region, p. 383–426. In Sloss, L. L. (ed.), Sedimentary Cover—North American Craton: U.S. The Geology of North America, Vol. D-2. Geological Society of America, Boulder.Google Scholar
Crookall, R. 1964. Fossil plants of the Carboniferous rocks of Great Britain (second section). Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Palaeontology, 4(3):217–354.Google Scholar
Crookall, R. 1966. Fossil plants of the Carboniferous rocks of Great Britain (second section). Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Palaeontology, 4(4):355–572.Google Scholar
Crookall, R. 1969. Fossil plants of the Carboniferous rocks of Great Britain (second section). Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Palaeontology, 4:573–789.Google Scholar
Dalinval, A. 1960. Les Pecopteris du Bassin houiller du Nord de la France. Études géologiques pour L'Atlas topographie souterraine Houillères du Bassin du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais. I. Flore fossile, 3:1–222.Google Scholar
DiMichele, W. A., Phillips, T. L., and Peppers, R. A. 1985. The influence of climate and depositional environment on the distribution and evolution of Pennsylvanian coal-swamp plants, p. 223–256. In Tiffney, B. H. (ed.), Geological Factors and the Evolution of Plants. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Eggert, D. A., and Taylor, T. N. 1971. Telangiopsis gen. nov., an Upper Mississippian pollen organ from Arkansas. Botanical Gazette, 132:30–37.Google Scholar
Gerhard, L. C., and Anderson, S. B. 1988. Geology of the Williston Basin (United States portion), p. 221–241. In Sloss, L. L. (ed.), Sedimentary Cover—North American Craton; U.S. The Geology of North America, D-2. Geological Society of America, Boulder.Google Scholar
Hirmer, M. 1927. Handbuch der Paläobotanik. Druck und Verlag Von R. Oldenbourg, Munich and Berlin, 708 p.Google Scholar
Jennings, J. R. 1970. Preliminary report on fossil plants from the Chester Series (Upper Mississippian) of Illinois. Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science, 63:167–177.Google Scholar
Jennings, J. R. 1973. The morphology of Stigmaria stellata . American Journal of Botany, 60:414–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, J. R. 1977. Stigmarian petrifactions from the Pennsylvanian of Colorado. American Journal of Botany, 64:974–980.Google Scholar
Jennings, J. R. 1980. Fossil plants from the Fountain Formation (Pennsylvanian) of Colorado. Journal of Paleontology, 54:149–158.Google Scholar
Jennings, J. R. 1984. Distribution of fossil plant taxa in the Upper Mississippian and Lower Pennsylvanian of the Illinois Basin. Neuvième Congrès International de Stratigraphie et de Géologie du Carbonifère Compte Rendu, 2:301–312. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Jennings, J. R. 1986. A review of some fossil plant compressions associated with Mississippian and Pennsylvanian coal deposits in the central Appalachians, Illinois Basin, and elsewhere in the United States. International Journal of Coal Geology, 6:303–325.Google Scholar
Jennings, J. R., and Fraunfelter, G. H. 1986. Macropaleontology of the upper boundary of the type Mississippian. Illinois State Academy of Science Transactions, 79:253–261.Google Scholar
Jennings, J. R., and Thomas, W. A. 1987. Fossil plants from Mississippian–Pennsylvanian transition strata in the southern Appalachians. Southeastern Geology, 27:207–217.Google Scholar
Johnson, K. S., and 7 others. 1988. Southern Midcontinent region, p. 307–359. In Sloss, L. L. (ed.), Sedimentary Cover—North American Craton; U.S. The Geology of North America, D-2. Geological Society of America, Boulder.Google Scholar
Kidston, R. 1893. On the fossil flora of the South Wales coal field and the relationship of its strata to the Somerset and Bristol coal fields. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 37:565–614.Google Scholar
Kosanke, R. M. 1950. Pennsylvanian spores and their use in correlation. Illinois State Geological Survey Bulletin, 74:1–128.Google Scholar
Lacey, W. S., and Eggert, D. A. 1964. A flora from the Chester Series (Upper Mississippian) of southern Illinois. American Journal of Botany, 51:976–985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leary, R. 1977. Paleobotanical and geological interpretations of paleoenvironments of the eastern interior basin, p. 157–164. In Romans, R. C. (ed.), Geobotany. Plenum Publishing Corporation, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindley, J., and Hutton, W. 1831–1837. The fossil flora of Great Britain, or figures and descriptions of the vegetable remains found in a fossil state in this country. 1:15–49 (1832).Google Scholar
Loope, D. B. 1984. Eolian origin of Upper Paleozoic sandstones, southeastern Utah. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 54:563–580.Google Scholar
Loope, D. B. 1985. Episodic deposition and preservation of eolian sands: a late Paleozoic example from southeastern Utah. Geology, 13:73–76.Google Scholar
Mack, G. H., Suttner, L. J., and Jennings, J. R. 1979. Permo-Pennsylvanian climatic trends in the ancestral Rocky Mountains. Four Corners Geological Society Guidebook, 9th Field Conference, Permianland, Four Corners Geological Society, Durango, CO, p. 7–12.Google Scholar
Mamay, S. H. 1966. Tinsleya, a new genus of seed-bearing callipterid plants from the Permian of north central Texas. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 523E:1–15.Google Scholar
Mamay, S. H., and Read, C. B. 1956. Additions to the flora of the Spotted Ridge Formation in central Oregon. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 274:211–226.Google Scholar
Mayer, J. 1964. Stratigraphy and paleontology of the Mississippian formations of Moffat County, Colorado. The Mountain Geologist, 1:25–34.Google Scholar
McKee, E. D. 1982. The Supai Group of Grand Canyon—erosional surfaces. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1173:155–176.Google Scholar
Millay, M. A., and Taylor, T. N. 1979. Paleozoic seed fern pollen organs. Botanical Review (Lancaster), 45:301–375.Google Scholar
Miller, C. N. 1987. Terrestrial vegetation in the northern Rocky Mountains before the appearance of flowering plants. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 74:692–700.Google Scholar
Némejc, F. 1947. Lepidodendraceae of the coal districts of central Bohemia. Sborník Národního Musea v Praze (Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae), 3B(2):45–87.Google Scholar
Némejc, F. 1954. Taxonomical studies on the strobili of the Lepidodendraceae of the coal districts of central Bohemia. Sborník Národního Musea v Praze (Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae), 10B(5):3–83.Google Scholar
Pfefferkorn, H. W. 1972. Distribution of Stigmaria wedingtonensis (Lycopsida) in the Chesterian (Upper Mississippian) of North America. American Midland Naturalist, 88:225–231.Google Scholar
Presl, K. B. 1838. P. 177. In Sternberg, G. K. 1820–1838. Versuch einer geognostischen-botanischen Darstellung der Flora der Vorwelt. Leipzig and Prague, 1(7–8): 178 (1838).Google Scholar
Read, C. B. 1934. A flora of Pottsville age from the Mosquito Range, Colorado. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 185-D:79–96.Google Scholar
Remy, W., and Remy, R. 1959. Pflanzenfossilien. Akademie Velag, Berlin, 285 p.Google Scholar
Rex, G. 1983. The compression state of preservation of Carboniferous lepidodendrid leaves. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 39:65–85.Google Scholar
Sando, W. J., Gordon, M. Jr., and Dutro, J. T. Jr. 1975. Stratigraphy and geologic history of the Amsden Formation (Mississippian and Pennsylvanian) of Wyoming. U.S. Geological Survey Professional paper, 848-A:A1–A83.Google Scholar
Schopf, J. M., Wilson, L. R., and Bentall, R. 1944. An annotated synopsis of Paleozoic fossil spores and the definition of generic groups. Illinois State Geological Survey, Report of Investigations, 91:5–72.Google Scholar
Scott, A. C. 1979. The ecology of Coal Measure floras from northern Britain. Proceedings of the Geological Association, 90(3):97–116.Google Scholar
Seward, A. C. 1910. Fossil Plants II. University Press, Cambridge, 624 p.Google Scholar
Sternberg, G. K. 1820–1838. Versuch einer geognostischen-botanischen Darstellung der Flora der Vorwelt. Leipzig and Prague, 1(1):1–24 (1820); 1(4):1–48 (1825).Google Scholar
Stockmans, F., and Williére, Y. 1952–1953. Végétaux namuriens de la Belgique. Association pour L'Étude de la Paléontologie et de la Stratigraphie Houillères, Publication, No. 13. Texte (1953), 382 p., Atlas (1952).Google Scholar
Stone, C. G., and Haley, B. R. 1986. Sedimentary and igneous rocks of the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas: a guidebook with contributed papers, Part 2. Arkansas Geological Commission, Little Rock, 100 p.Google Scholar
Stur, D. R. J. 1877. Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Flora der Vorweit—Die Culm-Flora, Teil 2, Die Culm-Flora der Ostrauer und Waldenburger Schichten. Abhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Könlichen Geologisches Reichsanstalt, 8:1–366.Google Scholar
Suckow, G. A. 1784. Beschreibung einiger merkwürdigen Abdrücke von der Art der sogenannten Calamiten. Acta Historia et Commentationes Academiae Electoralis Scientiarum et elegantiorum Litterarum Theodoro-Palatinae, Physicum, Mannheim, 5:355.Google Scholar
Taylor, T. N. 1981. Paleobotany, An Introduction to Fossil Plant Biology. McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, 589 p.Google Scholar
Thomas, B. A. 1970. Epidermal studies in the interpretation of Lepidodendron species. Palaeontology, 13:145–173.Google Scholar
Tidwell, W. D. 1967. Flora of Manning Canyon Shale Part I. A lowermost Pennsylvania flora from the Manning Canyon Shale, Utah, and its stratigraphic significance. Brigham Young University Geology Studies, 14:3–66.Google Scholar
Tidwell, W. D. 1988. A new Upper Pennsylvanian or Lower Permian flora from southeastern Utah. Brigham Young University Geology Studies, 35:33–56.Google Scholar
Tidwell, W. D., Medlyn, D. A., and Simper, A. D. 1974. Flora of Manning Canyon Shale. Part II. Lepidodendrales. Brigham Young University Geology Studies, 21:110–146.Google Scholar
Tidwell, W. D., Jennings, J. R., and Call, V. B. 1988. Flora of Manning Canyon Shale, Part III. Sphenophyta. Brigham Young University Geology Studies, 35:15–32.Google Scholar
White, D. 1904. The seeds of Aneimites . Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 47:322–331.Google Scholar
White, D. 1937. Fossil plants from the Stanley Shale and Jackfork Sandstone in southeastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 186-C:43–67.Google Scholar
Willman, H. G., et al. 1975. Handbook of Illinois stratigraphy. Illinois State Geological Survey Bulletin, 95:1–261.Google Scholar