Succession of Paleobotanical Events - Evidence for Mid-Westphalian D Floral Changes, Morien Group (late Pennsylvanian, Nova-Scotia)

Abstract

Selected, recent collections of compression floras from the Sydney Coalfield of Nova Scotia are described and used, in conjunction with previously collected floras from the Coalfield, to propose a reconstruction of paleobotanical events. Identified in the succession are first records of taxa whose staggered occurrences are sufficiently comparable to floral change-overs currently used in Europe to mark mid-Westphalian D time. It is therefore hypothesized to correlate the Sydney change-overs that occurred at the Mullins and the Emery Seams with those that mark mid-Westphalian D in the Saarland (W. Germany) and at South Wales (U.K.). Hence, a model is proposed for the location of mid-Westphalian D in North America.