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Science 18 September 1992:
Vol. 257. no. 5077, pp. 1675 - 1677
DOI: 10.1126/science.257.5077.1675
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Articles

The Present Is Not the Key to the Past: A Polar Forest from the Permian of Antarctica

Edith L. Taylor 1, Thomas N. Taylor 1, and N. Rubén Cúneo 2

1 Byrd Polar Research Center and Department of Plant Biology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210
2 Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, 9 de Julio 655 (9100) Trelew, Chubut, Argentina

An in situ Upper Permian fossil forest in the central Transantarctic Mountains near the Beardmore Glacier includes 15 permineralized trunks in growth position; the paleolatitude of the site was approximately 80° to 85° south. Numerous leaves of the seed fern Glossopteris are present in the shale in which the trunks are rooted. The trunks are permineralized and tree rings reveal that the forest was a rapidly growing and young forest, persisting in an equable, strongly seasonal climate—a scenario that does not fit with some climate reconstructions for this time period.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Climate simulation of the latest Permian: Implications for mass extinction.
J. T. Kiehl and C. A. Shields (2005)
Geology 33, 757-760
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NEW LATE PALEOZOIC CONCHOSTRACAN (CRUSTACEA: BRANCHIOPODA) FROM THE SHACKLETON GLACIER AREA, ANTARCTICA: AGE AND PALEOENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS.
(2002)
Journal of Paleontology 76, 70-75
Biodiversity and terrestrial ecology of a mid-Cretaceous, high-latitude floodplain, Alexander Island, Antarctica.
H. J. Falcon-Lang, H. J. FALCON-LANG, D. J. CANTRILL, and G. J. NICHOLS (2001)
Journal of the Geological Society 158, 709-724
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Tetrapod and Large Burrows of Uncertain Origin in Triassic High Paleolatitude Floodplain Deposits, Antarctica.
(2001)
Palaios 16, 218-232
Ocean stagnation and end-Permian anoxia.
R. M. Hotinski, K. L. Bice, L. R. Kump, R. G. Najjar, and M. A. Arthur (2001)
Geology 29, 7-10
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Long-Term Growth of Ginkgo with CO2 Enrichment Increases Leaf Ice Nucleation Temperatures and Limits Recovery of the Photosynthetic System from Freezing.
A. C. Terry, W. P. Quick, and D. J. Beerling (2000)
Plant Physiology 124, 183-190
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)