Среднеюрские растения-углеобразователи Улуг-Хемского бассейна (Республика Тыва, Россия)

Abstract

Dispersed cuticles of plants from coals of the Middle Jurassic Ulugkhem Formation (locality 229 near Mount Begreda, Ulug-Khem Basin, Republic of Tyva) were studied. As a result of the study of mesofossils using light and scanning electron microscopes, it was found that the coals are composed mainly of the remains of ginkgophytes. They are represented by the leaves of Pseudotorellia cf. angustifolia Doludenko, the female reproductive organs of this plant Umaltolepis sp., as well as the leaves of Eretmophyllum neimengguensis Li, Sun, Wang, Dilcher, Tan, Li, Na. The conifers played subordinate role. The palynospectrum of the coal seam is dominated by the spores of ferns; bisaccate and monosulcate pollen are next in importance. Thus, ginkgophytes and ferns predominated in the Middle Jurassic swamp communities in the Ulugh-Khem Basin. For the first time, the coal-forming role of the genus Eretmophyllum was revealed. The Middle Jurassic flora of Tyva is similar to the floras of the Kansk-Achinsk and Irkutsk basins of Eastern Siberia, Angren Basin of Uzbekistan, and the Ordos Basin of Inner Mongolia, China by predominance of Pseudotorellia. The vegetation was clearly differentiated into the lowland and the slope one. In the latter the leptostrobaleans, ginkgoaleans, and conifers were represented. Pseudotorellia is one of the main components of swamp plant communities in the more northern regions: in the Ulug-Khem and Irkutsk basins, and in the Aban and Pereyaslovka coal fields of the Kansk-Achinsk Basin. This genus disappears in the Nazarovo coal field of the Kansk-Achinsk Basin, being replaced by the leptostrobaleans. Here the compositions of swamp and slope communities practically do not differ. The Late Mesozoic swamp plant communities were characterized by conservatism, as well as by extreme sensitivity to environmental changes, which apparently developed because of their existence in the same conditions of high humidity. Degradation of the swamps led to the disappearance of swamp plant communities.