Presence Of Relicts Research Articles

Стратиграфическое положение и местонахождения тэмлянской флоры бассейна нижнего течения р. Анадырь

Plant fossils from the volcano-clastic deposits of the lower part of the Tanyurer Formation and lower part of the Tavaivaam Unit in the Anadyr city area (Northeastrn Russia) are described for the first time. This assemblage was named as the Temlyan flora. It consists of 25 taxa and includes ferns, horsetails, lycophytes, ginkgoaleans, czekanowskialeans, cycadophytes, conifers and angiosperms. The Temlyan flora is similar in systematic composition to the Rarytkin flora from the upper part of the Rarytkin Formation which was dated as the late Maastrichtian-Danian. But it is distinguished from the latter by presence of the numerous relicts (Lokyma, Nilssonia, Encephalartopsis, Phoenicopsis and Ginkgo ex gr. sibirica). Probably the presence of relicts in the Temlyan flora is connected with influence of volcanic activity. Age of the Temlyan flora is determined as the late Maastrichtian-Danian on the basis of systematic similarity with the Rarytkin Flora. However this age may be slightly younger, possibly only early Paleocene, because the Tanyurer Formation superposes the Rarytkin Formation. Stratigraphic range of Lokyma, Nilssonia, Encephalartopsis, Phoenicopsis and Ginkgo ex gr. sibirica is extended from its previously known latest records in the early Campanian or middle Maastrichtian up to as late as the latest Maastrichtian or early Paleocene. It is very possible, that these typical Mesozoic taxa may have persisted into the Paleogene.

Immigration of glacial relicts into northern Europe

On the basis of opinions held by leading Soviet geologists the author, in a paper of 1957, concluded that the immigration started from an ice‐dammed lake in the valley of R. Onega, emptying into the White Sea, from which the animals had been sluiced up in front of the advancing ice‐sheet. Recent geological work suggests that the Würm ice‐cap of northern Europe (and adjacent Arctic regions) extended in northern Russia as far eastwards as the Urals, creating a continuous network of ice‐dammed waters along the ice‐front. Consequently, the relicts may have come from considerably more eastern regions than the Onega Ice Lake. The presence of relicts in lakes of the Kola Peninsula is also discussed. It is shown that these once enigmatic relict localities can be explained in the light of recent geological research, which suggests that the White Sea basin experienced a freshwater phase during the Würm deglaciation, thus allowing the relicts, which do not tolerate higher salinities, to reach even the Kola Peninsula.