Presence of land-plants on a volcanic island in a Devonian Sea (Rhenish Mountains, West Germany)

Abstract

Remains of land-plants have been found in parautochthonous position in volcaniclastic sediments of the Middle Devonian of the Lahn syncline (Rhenish Mountains). These sediments resulted from the interaction of volcanic activity, littoral erosion and reef building. The erosional processes together with the remains of land-plants prove that the volcano was an emerged island which was surrounded by a fringing reef. This observation adds to the biogeographic knowledge of early land-plants, gives an example of an unusual taphonomic setting, demonstrates the usefulness of plant megafossils in paleoenvironmental reconstructions, and expands our understanding of a well defined part of the Middle Devonian world.