Fossil wood diversity record from Merangin region, Jambi, Indonesia

Abstract

Merangin is a region in Jambi province, Indonesia, which well-known for its geodiversity. As part of geodiversity, fossil woods play an important role in reconstructing the ancient trees during geological history. Since the study on fossil wood origin Merangin Regency, Jambi, is still limited, this study was conducted to determine fossil wood identity through anatomical features observation and estimate the age of fossil wood samples through geological analysis. The anatomical characteristics were observed using a light microscope to identify the botanical identity of the discovered fossil wood samples. The description of anatomical features refered to the IAWA list of microscopic features for hardwood identification. The result showed that all fossil woods had similarities with the modern wood from the Dipterocarpaceae family, namely Dryobalanoxylon sp. (Kamper), Hopenium sp. (Merawan/Hopea), Shoreoxylon sp. (Meranti), and Cotylelobioxylon sp. (Giam/Resak). These fossil woods were found in different estimated geological age namely Late Permian/Perem age (254-252 million years old), Late Miocene age (7.24-5.33 million years old); Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene age (3.60-2.58 million years old); and Holocene age (11,700 years old - present). Another approach by using Global Mapper 11 resulted that all the fossil woods were estimated grown in Permian age (290 - 250 million years).