Abstract
The present paper provides: (1) an analysis of the qualitative and quantitative compositional development of Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous palynological assemblages from the Bantry Bay and other sections of southern Ireland; (2) a scheme of successive phases, (inter) regionally recognizable in the gradual compositional development of Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous palynological assemblages; (3) a palynological zonation based on three successive assemblages zones ( Retispora lepidophyta Assemblage Zone, Verrucosisporites nitidus Assemblage Zone, Spelaeotriletes pretiosus Assemblage Zone); and (4) two palaeogeographically related local phases, within the scheme of regional phases. It is concluded that: (1) the scheme of regional phases, in combination with the assemblage zones recognized, provides a more realistic tool for long-range palynostratigraphical correlation than the earlier proposed schemes of concurrent range zones; (2) the assemblage zones may be used for chronostratigraphical purposes, the boundary between the Retispora lepidophyta Assemblage Zone and the Verrucosisporites nitidus Assemblage Zone approximates the conventional Devonian-Carboniferous boundary; (3) the palaeogeographically related local phases may be considered to reflect floras of the coastal and alluvial plain, and the coastal-deltaic area, respectively; (4) within southern Ireland, the palynologically determined Devonian-Carboniferous boundary lithostratigraphically correlates with a thin mudstone unit (Claystone Member, Castle Slate Member). The taxonomical part includes: (1) an emended diagonosis of Lophozonotriletes; (2) formal proposals of new combinations of Ceratosporites delicatus, Asperispora acuta, Asperispora perlota and Diaphanospora scolecophora; and (3) the establishment of the Verrucosisporites nitidus morphon and the Dictyotriletes submarginatus morphon.
Published Version
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