Gymnosperm and angiosperm pollen grains in Holocene sediments from a paleolagoon in the coastal plain of extreme southern Brazil

Abstract

This paper describes pollen grains of three gymnosperms and 31 angiosperms preserved in one Quaternary sedimentary profile of a paleolagoon, Hermenegildo Beach (33°42′S–53°18′W), in the extreme southern coastal plain of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. We present these data as taxonomic references for paleoenvironmental studies in this region. The profile was collected directly from the vertical slope over an interval covering the last conventional 2600 years, as determined by radiocarbon dating. Chemical processing of the samples was performed according to standard methodology, using HCl, HF, KOH, and acetolysis, and analyses were performed on light microscopy. The pollen material was found during the counts of 300 pollen grains in each sample, controlled by saturation curves. Descriptions and illustrations are included, along with ecological data from the original organisms. The high taxonomic diversity found in this study will enhance subsequent plant successional studies, which are essential to paleoenvironmental reconstructions of the coastal plain of southern Brazil.