The classic Lower Devonian plant-bearing deposits of northern New Brunswick, eastern Canada: Dispersed spore taxonomy and biostratigraphy

Abstract

This paper describes dispersed spore assemblages recovered from the Lower Devonian Val d'Amour and Campbellton formations exposed along the Restigouche River in northern New Brunswick, eastern Canada. The dispersed spore assemblages were recovered from seven of the nine sampled sections and biostratigraphical analysis suggests that these can be assigned to the polygonalis–emsiensis, annulatus–sextantii and douglastownense–eurypterota Spore Assemblage Biozones. This indicates that these strata range in age from Pragian to late Emsian [or possibly earliest Eifelian]. The new biostratigraphical control enables accurate stratigraphical correlation of the nine sections and provides important age constraints for the famous early land plant megafossil and non-marine invertebrate/vertebrate assemblages recovered from these strata. Two new dispersed spore species are described: Emphanisporites genselae sp. nov. and Emphanisporites morrisae sp. nov.