Palaeozoic and Mesozoic palaeo–wildfires: An overview on advances in the 21st Century

Abstract

Fire is a major driver for the evolution of biodiversity throughout the Phanerozoic and occurs in continental palaeoenvironments since the advent of the first land plants in the Silurian. The detection of palaeo–wildfire events can be based on different proxies, and charcoal is widely accepted as the most reliable evidence for such events in sedimentary layers. Although the identification of sedimentary charcoal as the product of incomplete combustion was the subject of controversial scientific discussions, palaeobotanical data can be used to confirm the pyrogenic origin of such material. In an overview on Palaeozoic and Mesozoic charcoal remains, differences in the number of published records can be detected for individual periods; including phases with both, lower (Silurian, Triassic, Jurassic) and higher (Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Cretaceous) numbers of published evidences for palaeo–wildfires. With the aim to discuss selected advances in palaeo–wildfire studies since the beginning of the 21st Century, we present an overview on the published occurrences of charcoal for an interval from the Silurian up to the Cretaceous. It was possible to confirm that a lack of detailed palaeobotanical data on the subject is detected in some intervals and regions, despite the high potential of occurrences detected in form of pyrogenic inertinites by coal petrographic studies. Although such temporal and regional gaps can be explained by taphonomic and palaeoenvironmental biases, it also indicates the scientific potential of future studies in diverse palaeogeographical and temporal settings.