Recurrent volcanic activity recorded in araucarian wood from the Lower Cretaceous Springhill Formation, Patagonia, Argentina: Palaeoenvironmental interpretations
This paper describes a petrified trunk collected from a conglomerate bed of the Springhill Formation (Berriasian–Valanginian) in the Estancia El Álamo locality, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. The fossil trunk is classified within theubiquitous genus Agathoxylon and the wood anatomy shows a close af...
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doaj-9523e52f035346149a8ab7fb478cd4782021-03-24T13:05:27ZengInstitute of Paleobiology PASActa Palaeontologica Polonica0567-79201732-24212021-03-0166123125310.4202/app.00783.2020Recurrent volcanic activity recorded in araucarian wood from the Lower Cretaceous Springhill Formation, Patagonia, Argentina: Palaeoenvironmental interpretationsGeorgina M. Del Fueyo0Martín A. Carrizo1 Daniel G. Poiré2Maiten A. Lafuente Diaz3Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, CONICET, Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, (1405) Buenos Aires, ArgentinaMuseo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, CONICET, Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, (1405) Buenos Aires, ArgentinaCentro de Investigaciones Geológicas, UNLP-CONICET, calle 1 n. 644, 1900, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, CONICET, Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, (1405) Buenos Aires, ArgentinaThis paper describes a petrified trunk collected from a conglomerate bed of the Springhill Formation (Berriasian–Valanginian) in the Estancia El Álamo locality, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. The fossil trunk is classified within theubiquitous genus Agathoxylon and the wood anatomy shows a close affinity to that of Araucariaceae. This Patagonianwood has a distinct combination of anatomical characteristics unique among all known species from the Jurassic andCretaceous of Western Gondwana allowing to diagnose a new fossil taxon Agathoxylon mendezii sp. nov. Sedimentologicaland megafloristic proxies of the Springhill Formation suggest that Agathoxylon mendezii sp. nov. grew under awarm and wet climate, which indicates a subtropical to temperate palaeoenvironment. However, the large number of frostrings in the earlywood of this araucarian tree suggests that the palaeoenvironment at Estancia El Álamo was subjected torecurrent disturbances, most likely caused by regional continuous volcanic activity originating from volcanoes locatedfar away to the west. This activity would have produced periodic stratospheric veils that promoted rapid decreases insurface air temperature; the wood response to such stressful conditions would have been the formation of numerous (atleast five) frost rings. Although recurrent eruptions in Patagonia during the Early Cretaceous are well recorded, this studyis the first to register eruptions recorded in a coniferous wood.http://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app66/app007832020.pdfaraucariaceaeagathoxylonvolcanic eruptionswoodberriasianvalanginiansouth america |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Georgina M. Del Fueyo Martín A. Carrizo Daniel G. Poiré Maiten A. Lafuente Diaz |
spellingShingle |
Georgina M. Del Fueyo Martín A. Carrizo Daniel G. Poiré Maiten A. Lafuente Diaz Recurrent volcanic activity recorded in araucarian wood from the Lower Cretaceous Springhill Formation, Patagonia, Argentina: Palaeoenvironmental interpretations Acta Palaeontologica Polonica araucariaceae agathoxylon volcanic eruptions wood berriasian valanginian south america |
author_facet |
Georgina M. Del Fueyo Martín A. Carrizo Daniel G. Poiré Maiten A. Lafuente Diaz |
author_sort |
Georgina M. Del Fueyo |
title |
Recurrent volcanic activity recorded in araucarian wood from the Lower Cretaceous Springhill Formation, Patagonia, Argentina: Palaeoenvironmental interpretations |
title_short |
Recurrent volcanic activity recorded in araucarian wood from the Lower Cretaceous Springhill Formation, Patagonia, Argentina: Palaeoenvironmental interpretations |
title_full |
Recurrent volcanic activity recorded in araucarian wood from the Lower Cretaceous Springhill Formation, Patagonia, Argentina: Palaeoenvironmental interpretations |
title_fullStr |
Recurrent volcanic activity recorded in araucarian wood from the Lower Cretaceous Springhill Formation, Patagonia, Argentina: Palaeoenvironmental interpretations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Recurrent volcanic activity recorded in araucarian wood from the Lower Cretaceous Springhill Formation, Patagonia, Argentina: Palaeoenvironmental interpretations |
title_sort |
recurrent volcanic activity recorded in araucarian wood from the lower cretaceous springhill formation, patagonia, argentina: palaeoenvironmental interpretations |
publisher |
Institute of Paleobiology PAS |
series |
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica |
issn |
0567-7920 1732-2421 |
publishDate |
2021-03-01 |
description |
This paper describes a petrified trunk collected from a conglomerate bed of the Springhill Formation (Berriasian–Valanginian) in the Estancia El Álamo locality, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. The fossil trunk is classified within theubiquitous genus Agathoxylon and the wood anatomy shows a close affinity to that of Araucariaceae. This Patagonianwood has a distinct combination of anatomical characteristics unique among all known species from the Jurassic andCretaceous of Western Gondwana allowing to diagnose a new fossil taxon Agathoxylon mendezii sp. nov. Sedimentologicaland megafloristic proxies of the Springhill Formation suggest that Agathoxylon mendezii sp. nov. grew under awarm and wet climate, which indicates a subtropical to temperate palaeoenvironment. However, the large number of frostrings in the earlywood of this araucarian tree suggests that the palaeoenvironment at Estancia El Álamo was subjected torecurrent disturbances, most likely caused by regional continuous volcanic activity originating from volcanoes locatedfar away to the west. This activity would have produced periodic stratospheric veils that promoted rapid decreases insurface air temperature; the wood response to such stressful conditions would have been the formation of numerous (atleast five) frost rings. Although recurrent eruptions in Patagonia during the Early Cretaceous are well recorded, this studyis the first to register eruptions recorded in a coniferous wood. |
topic |
araucariaceae agathoxylon volcanic eruptions wood berriasian valanginian south america |
url |
http://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app66/app007832020.pdf |
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