Discovery of Permineralized Plant Fossils (coal Balls) in the Bolsovian (eg, Westphalian C) (middle Pennsylvanian, Upper Carboniferous), Stellarton Basin, Nova-Scotia, Canada

Abstract

Permineralized plant fossils (coal balls) of Bolsovian age (ex Westphalian C) were discovered in the Foord seam of the Stellarton Basin of Nova Scotia. The coal-ball plants were preserved in a siderite-dolomite matrix and formed in a nonmarine intermontane setting. The coal-ball flora is dominated by arborescent lycopods and contains a few ferns, as well as occasional seed ferns, calamiteans, and cordaiteans. The following taxa were identified: Diaphorodendron, Paralycopodites brevifolia, Lepidocarpon lomaxii, Stigmaria, Scolecopteris, Botryopteris tridentata, Medullosa, Heterangium, Astromyelon, and Cordaianthus. This assemblage contains plants typical of Westphalian coal-swamp floras and helps fill a stratigraphic gap in Westphalian coal-ball floras of Euramerica.