地球上最早的森林:英格兰西南部萨默塞特和德文郡中泥盆纪(埃菲尔纪)汉曼砂岩层的树木化石和植被诱导沉积结构

Neil S. Davies, William J. McMahon, Christopher M. Berry
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引用次数: 0

摘要

泥盆纪时期树木和森林的演化从根本上改变了地球的陆地生物圈,并通过稳定沉积物以及与流动的空气和水相互作用,对物理环境和地貌产生了影响。众所周知,从给第纪中期开始,木质植物区系一直是 "泥盆纪景观工厂 "机械的关键部分,但人们对早期森林的影响却不甚了解。在本文中,我们报告了英格兰西南部萨默塞特和德文郡埃菲尔期杭曼砂岩地层中以前未被发现的cladoxylopsid森林景观的证据。这个单元以前一直被认为是古植物贫乏区,但在这里却被证明包含了英国记录中最早的此类树木化石证据,以及全球已知最古老的立木相对位置证据:通俗地说就是 "化石森林"。除了可归因于Calamophyton等中泥盆纪早期植物群的大量化石材料外,植物遗迹的沉积背景还揭示了这些最早的森林对生物地貌的影响。这些树木生长在一个规模庞大的分布式河流系统(DFS)中,该系统很容易受到季节性干扰事件的影响。沉积系统的性质导致生物地貌特征最常被记录(来自系统的远端)的地层出现偏差,但在整个 DFS 中,有证据表明植物与沉积物之间存在相互作用,表现为植被引起的沉积结构、生根特征和植物碎屑堆积。在邻近 DFS 的近岸地层中也发现了植物残骸,这证明新生物沉积颗粒的产生和输出形成了新的非海洋/海洋远程连接。刽子手砂岩层说明了丛生树作为生物地貌媒介所具有的革命性力量,它形成了间距密集的森林,脱落了异常丰富的植物碎屑,同时也影响了当地的地貌和沉积物堆积,并深刻改变了地貌抵御洪水扰动事件的能力。这些发现提供了证据,证明埃菲尔阶段(393.3-387.7 Ma)标志着由树木驱动的物理环境变化的开始,这将永远改变地球的非海洋地貌和生物圈。 补充材料:https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.7084873
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
Earth's earliest forest: fossilized trees and vegetation-induced sedimentary structures from the Middle Devonian (Eifelian) Hangman Sandstone Formation, Somerset and Devon, SW England
The evolution of trees and forests through the Devonian Period fundamentally changed Earth's land biosphere, as well as impacting physical environments and geomorphology by stabilizing sediment and interacting with flowing air and water. From the mid Givetian Age onwards, lignophyte flora are known to have been key parts of the machinery in the ‘Devonian Landscape Factory’, but the impact of earlier forests, dominated by less woody cladoxylopsids, are not as well understood. In this paper we report evidence for a previously unrecognized cladoxylopsid forest landscape, archived within the Eifelian Hangman Sandstone Formation of Somerset and Devon, SW England. This unit has previously been considered palaeobotanically depauperate but is here shown to contain the earliest fossil evidence for such trees in the British record, as well as the oldest known evidence globally for the relative position of standing trees: in common parlance a ‘fossil forest’. In addition to abundant fossil material attributable to the cladoxylopsid tree Calamophyton , and other early Middle Devonian flora, the sedimentary context of the plant remains sheds light on the biogeomorphic impacts of these earliest forests. The trees colonized a sizeable distributive fluvial system (DFS) that was prone to seasonal disturbance events. The nature of the sedimentary system has created a bias to those facies where biogeomorphic signatures are most frequently recorded (from the distal parts of the system), but across the DFS there is evidence of plant-sediment interactions in the form of vegetation-induced sedimentary structures, rooting features, and accumulations of plant debris. Plant remains are also found in nearshore facies adjacent to the DFS, attesting to the development of a novel non-marine/marine teleconnection from the production and export of new biological sedimentary particles. The Hangman Sandstone Formation is illustrative of the revolutionary power of cladoxylopsid trees as biogeomorphic agents, forming densely spaced forests and shedding exceptionally abundant plant debris, whilst also impacting local landforms and sediment accumulations and profoundly changing landform resilience against flood disturbance events. These findings provide evidence that the Eifelian Stage (393.3-387.7 Ma) marks the onset of tree-driven changes to physical environments that would forever change Earth's non-marine landscapes and biosphere. Supplementary material: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.7084873
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