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Unit-V PALEOBOTANY ) CORE COURSE II PLANT BIODIVERSITY II (Unit-V PALEOBOTANY ) Concepts of Paleobotany, A general account on Geological Time Scale. Techniques for paleobotanical study. Fossil types: Compressions, incrustation, casts, molds, petrifactions, coalballs and compactions. Age determination and methods of study of fossils. Systematic and Nomenclature of fossil plants. Paloclimates and fossil plants. Role of fossil in oil exploration and coal excavation, Paleopalynology. Palaeobotany is the study of fossil plants. These fossils are found in the layers of earth and certain layers of rocks. It is also spelled as Palaeobotany (Gr. Palaeon = old; botany = study of plants). It is the branch of Palaeology. It deals with the identification of the plant remains from geological contexts and use for the biological construction of the plant environments (paleography) and both the evolutionary history of plants with a bearing upon the evolution of life in general. Palaeobotany includes the study of terrestrial plant fossils as well as the study of prehistoric marine autotrophs such as photo synthetic algae, weeds or kelps. Its synonym is Palaeophytology. A closely related field is palynology which is the study of fossilized and extinct spores and pollens. Stenbery (1761-1838) is known as the father of Palaeobotany. The most ancient plant fossils were microscopic algae that lived more than one billion years ago during Precambrian times. Concept of Paloebotany: Palaeobotany is the study of fossil plants. , i.e., the plants existed in the past and now are entirely extinct. These fossils are found in the layers of earth and certain layers of rocks. It is also spelled as Palaeobotany (Gr. Palaeon = old; botany = study of plants)..It is the branch of Palaeology. It deals with the identification of the plant remains from geological contexts and use for the biological construction of the plant environments (paleography) and both the evolutionary history of plants with a bearing upon the evolution of life in general. This is the difficult branch of Botany in respect that the fossil plants are difficult to obtain and they are rather scarce. Whenever the fossil plants are found, they are in parts which are to be coordinated. This is a tough process of the study. The fossils are cut in sections with a great difficulty and thereafter the preparations are made which require great labour, time and technique. The study of fossils is useful academically as well as economically. The academic interest lies in that their study clears up to a great extent the inter-relationships and evolution of the ancient groups of the plants. The economic interest lies in that some fossils are confined to definite strata of earth crust and they are associated with petroleum, coal and similar other things of economic value. Actually some coal fields were discovered only on account of the presence of certain fossils just above the coal mines. Another point of view of academic interest is that the fossils help in the determination of the climate of ancient time in different regions. During Carboniferous period the earth was covered by very luxuriant forests and it is assumed that climate in those days was very uniform because the plants flourished in those times (i.e., Carboniferous period) were greatly the same on the whole surface of the earth. They also presume that the interior crust of the earth consists of many heavy metals like iron and lead. Whatsoever might have been the position but it is very clear that the first crust which formed the first surface much have been very uniform. Later on the water and air appeared and with the appearance of these two destructive factors the surface of the earth began to change. Rain and air affected the surface of the earth to great extent and at certain places the surface rose up in high mountains by bursting of interior of matter and at other places it sank down and formed seas and oceans. The rocks withered off, the volcanic eruptions and other changes took place and the general topography of the earth was completely changed. Rivers coming down from mountains bring down pieces of rocks and large quantity of sand when they flow in the plains. This sand settles down at the bottom of the water. Along with this sand the parts of the plants and animals which get into that sand would have a chance of being preserved. This preservation takes place in different forms. The fossils are mainly found in the sand which has been brought down by the rivers from the mountains. This sand has become compressed and sedimentary rocks have been formed in the bottom of water. They contain the pieces of plants or entire bodies or bodies of animals which have been surrounded by mud and salt and they got the chance of being preserved. This preservation takes in two forms: 1. Impressions: These impressions may be of the surface markings of the plant material or be the markings of the internal cavities in the plant material. The surrounding mud gets deposited on the surface of the plant material or gets into the cavity and their impressions are left. In some fine fossils even details of the venation, structure of stomata and epidermal hairs have been studied. In such impressions the plant material itself has decayed or turned into coal. However, the surface impressions cannot be relied upon as we know that the plants, e.g., Equisetum (a pteridophyte). Ephedra (a gymnosperm) and Casuarina (an angiosperm) gave same type of impressions, but all of them are widely differentiable and have no affinities and relationships with each other. 2. Petrifaction: Another method of preservation of great importance is that the plant material when lying in water has become infiltrated with mineral matter such as lime, silica, magnesium salts and other similar substances. These salts penetrate the minute cells and the organic matter is being replaced by mineral salts. The original organic matter may be completely or partially changed but its outline and general structure is left in the form of these infiltrated substances. In coal mines generally the coal balls are found which are formed by the infiltration of calcium bicarbonate. In another method of preservation in which rare and small parts of plant material such as seeds, pollen grains, spores, etc., have been preserved. In this method the plant material happens to fall in resin or amber extruded by some plants, such as pine trees and others. Importance of Palaeobotany 1. Palaeobotany research is helpful in solving the problems connected with the formation of earth and evolutionary (gradual development) relationship among plants. 2. It helps to discover the earliest occurrence of different kinds of plants in the geological record. This knowledge of sequential occurrence of taxa is then used to develop an understanding of environmental relationship among groups of plants. 3. Palaeobotany research may be helpful in determining what fossil plants were like, and the kinds of animals that utilised then as food and habitat. This information may be helpful to infer the characteristics of the ancient environment including the type of climate in which plants grow (reconstruction of ancient ecological system and climate is known as palaeoecology and paleoclimatology respectively.) 4. It is said that long ago continents moved. Palaeobotany helps in the study of problem. 5. The knowledge of Palaeobotany is also helpful in solving certain problems connected with the search of petroleum and coal. 6. Palaeobotany has also become important to the field of archaeology (the analysis and interpretation of plant tissues found at archaeological sites) primarily for the phytoliths (a minute particle formed of mineral matter by a living plant and fossilized in rock) in relative dating and relative Palaeoethnobotany. (It is also called earth science, the study of fossil seeds and grains to farther archaeological knowledge, especially of the domestication of cereals. The proper chronological placement of a feature, object or happening in the geological time scale without reference to its absolute age is called relative dating). A GENERAL ACCOUNT ON GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALE The geologic time scale (GTS) is a system of chronological dating that relates geological strata (stratigraphy) to time. It is used by geologists, paleontologists, and other Earth scientists to describe the timing and relationships of events that have occurred during Earth's history. Geological time scale is a record of earth’s history based on the organisms that lived at different times. The geological time scale is a system of chronological measurement that related stratigraphy (the study of rock strata, especially the distribution, deposition and age of sedimentary rocks) to time, and is used by the geologists, palentologists and other earth scientists to describe the time and relationship between the events that have occurred throughout earth’s history. The first geological time scale was proposed in 1913 by the British geologist Arthur Holmes (1890-1965). This was soon after the discovery of the radioactivity and using it Holmes estimated that the earth was about 4 billion years old (evidence from radioactive dating indicates that earth is about 4.5 million years old). This was much greater than previously believed. The geological time scale is divided into five main eras: Coenozoic, Mesozoic, paleozoic, Proterozoic and Archezoic. Each era is divided into periods and each period is divided into epochs. It is as follows: There is another kind of time division used – the eon. The entire interval of the existence of visible life is called the Phanerozoic eon. The great Precambrian expanse of time is divided into the Proterozoic, Archean and Hadean eons in order of increasing age. The names of the eras in the Phanerozoic eon (the eon of visible life) are the Cenozoic (recent life), Mesozoic (middle life) and Paleozoic (ancient life).
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