New data on the macroflora of the basal Rotliegend group (Remigiusberg Formation; Gzhelian) in the Saar-Nahe basin (SW-Germany)

Abstract

New discoveries of fossil plant macroremains from the Remigiusberg Formation (lowermost Rotliegend group) considerably enlarge our knowledge about the flora of the basal-most part of the lithostratigraphically defined Rotliegend group within the Saar-Nahe Basin in SW-Germany. Most taxa are plants that grew in relatively humid habitats near rivers, or around margins of the lake in whose sediments the plant macroremains were found. This, together with previously reported palynological data, suggests that the wetlands in which these plants grew were large enough to act as taphonomical barriers against the deposition of plant macroremains from dryer habitats. Based on some of the new taxa, it is also possible to constrain the base of the biostratigraphic Autunia conferta zone in this basin, a task that was not possible before, due to the scarcity of macrofloristic data from the basal Rotliegend group. The new data provide evidence that the upper part of the Remigiusberg Formation is probably not older than late Gzhelian. This corresponds to earlier biostratigraphic interpretations based on palaeozoological remains.