Geologic implications of recycled Permian and Triassic palynomorphs in Tertiary rocks of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula

Abstract

Recycled palynomorphs in the Tertiary Seymour Island Group, Antarctic Peninsula, include more than 25 spore and pollen species well known in Gondwana rocks of Permian and Triassic age. Their relative abundance and the lack of associated recycled marine phytoplankton of similar age suggest that the provenance for the palynomorphs was a nonmarine sedimentary sequence. Consideration of the regional geology points to the provenance being part of an emergent topographic high in the forearc terrain of the late Paleozoic–early Mesozoic Gondwana plate margin and supports the conclusion that the Antarctic Peninsula was part of Gondwanaland.