René Grube, Abteilung Paläontologie, Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Rosenstein 1, Stuttgart, Germany and Barbara Mohr, Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstr. 43, Berlin, Germany.
The late Eocene to early Oligocene is a time interval in earth history with major changes in both the global environment and the biota. To understand the vegetation history of this time, ODP and “Islas Orcadas“ core samples from the Antarctic Peninsula area and the Tasman Sea were analysed using qualitative and quantitative palynological methods. Both floras represent a Nothofagus-Podocarpaceae forest association with a high percentage of ferns. The mid-Eocene flora of the Antarctic Peninsula region is an indicator of a warm-temperate, humid climate. The younger Tasman Sea flora shows a similar Nothofagus-Podocarpaceae forest association, but with a different composition of Nothofagaceae as well as a smaller percentage and diversity of ferns and the presence of Casuarina, a dryness indicator. Cryptogams, gymnosperms and angiosperms show tectonically or orbitally forced temperature changes in the time period examined.
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