The West Junggar paleo-terrain, comprised of a series of active volcanic arcs and aligned with the Kazakhstan Paleoblock, played an important role as a land bridge in global plant dispersal during the Devonian Period. Its well-developed Middle to Upper Devonian deposits yielded abundant macro- and micro- plant fossils, fostering numerous paleobotanical and palynological studies. Over the past two decades, the Middle Devonian Hujiersite Flora and the Late Devonian Zhulumute Flora were studied in detail, for providing a unique window of Devonian flora in West Junggar.
Recently, the Early Land Plant Evolution working group of Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), led by Prof. XU Honghe, made new progress in Late Devonian plant assemblage and floral evolution of West Junggar during the Devonian. The research result was published in Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology.
“In this study, we recognized a new Late Devonian plant assemblage based on the macro- and micro plant fossils from the Hongguleleng Formation in West Junggar, Xinjiang, China”, says XU. The Hongguleleng Flora is comprised of macroplants, cf. Hoxtolgaya, Leptophloeum rhombicum, Frenguellia eximia and Helicophyton sp., and palynomorphs dominated of retusoid and laevigate trilete spores. This Flora shows similarities with coeval ones in Laurussia, Gondwana and South China, suggesting biogeographical affinities and potential plant dispersal.
“We summarized the fossils records from Mid-Late Devonian of West Junggar shows that at least two floral turnovers were documented in West Junggar during the Devonian, occurred respectively at the end of the Givetian Age and Frasnian-Famennian boundary”, XU adds. The rarefaction indicates that Zhulumute and Hongguleleng floras have potentially unreported species and needs to be further explored.
This study was supported by National Key R&D Program of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This study is one of series contributions to the Deep-time Digital Earth Big Science Program.
Reference: Liu B.C., Wang K., Zong R.W., Bai J., Wang Y., Yang N., Wang Y., Xu H.-H. 2024. A new Late Devonian plant assemblage in West Junggar, Xinjiang, China and its floral evolution during the Devonian. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 325, 105112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105112.
Fig. 1 Macro- and micro plant fossils from the Upper Devonian Hongguleleng Formation, West Junggar, Xinjiang.
Fig. 2 Geologic ranges of Mid to Late Devonian macroplants in West Junggar and its flora evolution.
Fig. 3 Rarefaction curves of Hujiersite, Zhulumute and Hongguleleng floras. Shaded area represents 95% confidence intervals.
Contact:
LIU Yun, Propagandist
Email: yunliu@nigpas.ac.cn
Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Nanjing, Jiangsu 210008, China
Download：