Svartevaeg Cliffs (Permian of Canada)

Also known as Axel Heiberg Island

Where: Nunavut, Canada (81.2° N, 92.2° W: paleocoordinates 38.7° N, 4.8° E)

• coordinate stated in text

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: unnamed Formation, Kungurian (279.3 - 272.3 Ma)

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: shallow subtidal; grainstone

• The plant-bearing strata occur within the Sverdrup Basin, an asymmetrical, northeasterly-trending basin in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Rifting occurred during the Early Carboniferous time, followed by extensional pulses. Fault controlled subsistence took place up until the Kungurian, when a significant phase of compressional tectonics resulted in the inversion of older rift-related structures. This event is known as the "Melvillian Disturbance," and marks the beginning of regional passive subsistence across most of the Sverdrup Basin.
• The succession of strata at this locality is complex. The relevant succession consists of the following lithologic units: a 60-m-thick covered interval overlain by 15 m of carbonates containing marine fauna and terrestrial plant fossils; and 98 m of black coaly shales and minor coal seams interfingering with and passing upward into pyroclastic breccia, volcaniclastic rocks, and ironstones.

Size classes: macrofossils, microfossils

Preservation: adpression, permineralized

Collection methods: bulk, surface (float), surface (in situ),

• All specimens were deposited in the Paleobotanical collection at the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottowa, Ontario, Canada, and are prefixed by the abrevitaion CMN.

Primary reference: B.A. LePage, B. Beauchamp, H.W. Pfefferkorn and J. Utting. 2003. Late Early Permian plant fossils from the Canadian High Arctic: a rare paleoenvironmental/climatic window in northwest Pangea. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 191:345-372 [H. Pfefferkorn/A. Kidd/A. Kidd]more details

Purpose of describing collection: paleoecologic analysis

PaleoDB collection 34100: authorized by Hermann Pfefferkorn, entered by Amy Kidd on 15.08.2003

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

unclassified
  -
Weylandites
  -
Algae
  - Botryococcaceae
Botryococcus sp. Kutzing 1849
Algae
Alisporites
  -
Cyclogranisporites
  -
Triquitrites
  -
Triquitrites sp. Wilson and Coe
Protohaploxypinus
  -
Raistrickia
  -
Vittatina
  -
Pteridopsida
  -
Lycopsida
  -
Polypodiopsida
 Schizaeales - Polypodiidae
Apiculatisporis
  -
 Coniferales -
Samaropsis spp. Göppert 1864
Pinopsida
 Pinales - Taxaceae
 Cordaitanthales -
Nephropsis sp. Zalessky 1912
Specimens are "bract scales."
 Radiatopses - Medullosaceae
Dolerotheca sp. Halle 1933
Arberiopsida
 Vojnovskyales - Vojnovskyaceae
Sylvella sp. Zalessky 1937
Bardocarpus sp. Zalessky 1937
Rufloria spp. Meyen 1963
Vojnovskya sp. Neuburg 1955
Dictyopteridiopsida
 Dictyopteridiales - Dictyopteridiaceae
Zamiopteris sp. Schmalhausen 1879
Florinites
  -
Lycopodiopsida
 Selaginellales - Selaginellaceae
Lophotriletes
  -
Trigonocarpus
  -
Trigonocarpus spp. Brongniart 1828
Walchia
  -
Walchia sp. Sternberg 1825
Sphenopsida
  -
Ginkgoopsida
 Ginkgoales -
Sphenobaiera sp. Florin 1936
 Callistophytales -
Angarocarpus sp. Radczenko 1955
Cycadopsida
 Trigonocarpales - Alethopteridaceae
Compsopteris sp. Zalessky 1934 cycads
 Life -
Micrhystridium sp. Deflandre 1937 acritarchs
Acritarch