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Pollen and Vertebrates of the Early Neogene Haughton Formation, Devon Island, Arctic Canada CATHY WHITLOCK’12 and MARY R

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Pollen and Vertebrates of the Early Neogene Haughton Formation, Devon Island, Arctic Canada CATHY WHITLOCK’12 and MARY R ARCTIC VOL. 43, NO. 4 (DECEMBER 1990) P. 32- Pollen and Vertebrates of the Early Neogene Haughton Formation, Devon Island, Arctic Canada CATHY WHITLOCK’12 and MARY R. DAWSON’ (Received 19 June 1989; accepted in revked form 14 December 1989) ABSTRACT. The Haughton Formation of northern Devon Island, arctic Canada, consists of sediments depositedin a lakethat filled a large impact crater, which has been dated as early Miocene.The fossiliferous sedimentscontain a rich assemblage of pollen, someplant megafossils, and the only known early Neogene arctic vertebrates. Common pollen types are Pinus, Ericales, Corylus-type, Betula, and Alnus. Picea, Larix, Cupressaceae, and U/mus/Ze/kovaalso occur. Thesetaxa, rarer hardwoods,and spores allow a vegetational reconstruction of a mixed conifer-hardwood forest. Climatic conditions were cool temperate with maritime influences. Vertebrates, including trout, smelt, swan, and four mammal genera, lendsupport to the climatic interpretation, and they also suggest considerable endemismfor the mammals. TheHaughton flora appears to be bracketed temporally by floras from various parts of the widely distributed Beaufort Formation. Key words: Haughton Formation, Devon Island, Neogene pollen and vertebrates, early Miocene vegetational history, Beaufort Formation RkSUMfi. La Formation de Haughton dans le nord de l’île Devon, dans l’Arctique canadien, est composte de stdiments dtposks dans un lac qui remplissait un grand cratere d’impactdatant du Miocene ancien.Les stdiments fossilifbres contiennent une riche assemblage de pollen, quelques mkgafossiles de planteset les seulsverttbrts arctiques connus du Ntogene ancien. Les types courants de pollensont Pinus, les tricales, type Corylus, Betula et Alnus. I1 y a aussiPicea, Loryx, les cupressackeset U/mus/Ze/kma.Ces taxons, boisdurs plus rareset spores permettent la reconstruction d’une vkgttation constitute d’une forh mixte de conifkreset de feuillus. Le climat ttait temptrtet frais avec des influences maritimes. Les verttbrks, notamment la truite, l’tperlan, le cygne et quatre denres de mammifbres, corroborent l’interprbtion climatique et dtnotent aussi un important endhisme chez les mammifbres. La flore de Haughton semble s’inscrire chronologiquementdans des flores des diverses parties de la Formation trts disperste de Beaufort. Mots cl&: Formation de Haughton, Devon, île pollenet verttbrts du Nbgbe, histoire dela vtgbtion du Mioche ancien, Formation de Beaufort PEaEPAT. -puauns XOTOH B œwpnoti qacrn omporn AeBOH KanaacKoro ApKTnWCKOrO apxnnenara MonT n3 OCaAKOB. oTnoxnmunxcA B mpe. wmonnmnxeu KpynnblRyaapnsrR wparep. naTnpyeusr8 panmu unouenou. B ocanKax@opMaunu CQaepXUTCri 6oramR KOMnBKC IlbIilbUbl. MaKpocKonW~KHe OCYTILTKH PaCTWHR H HHrm 6onbue He 06HapyXenHHe npencraBmenn apwrnrleclolx nawnowux plurnero neorena. qaue Bcero BcrpeqaeTcs nbmwa Tamx nopoa. KaK Pinup. Ericales. Corylup-nono6narx. Betula n Alnup. TauKenonanaeTcI1 nsrnbua Picea. Lorù, Cnpresaceae n Ulmcu/zalkova. 3rn TaKmntd. 6onee penme Nmeennsle nopoaar n cnopsr ~~JBOMIOTBOCCT~HOBHT~ Kaprnny cueuamloro xwRno-nmmnnoro neca. pocruero B ycnoeufixnpoxnannoro yuepennoro KnnuaTa. noneepxennorouopcxnu Bnnmnm. Aannoe onpenenenne KnnMaTa llOLITBepXAIIIeTCA npHCyTmBHeMOCTaTKOB nO38OHOqHWX. B TOU rlHCne @opWH.KOplOIUlol. ne6eBA H YeTUpeX poDOB uneKonmamx. TH mamn YK~~~~B(UOTTatcue na 3nasn~anbnsrR~HJI~MH~M MneKonnTamnx. Bo Bpeuenndu oTnmennn @nopa (DOpuaunn XOTOH orpannsn8aeTcxcaepxy H cnmy @nopoi4 n3pa3nnqnsrx qacreR UnpoKo pacnpocrpanennoa (DOPMaunn bo@opra. Knlorlensre cnom @opuaunA XOTOH. ~POBAewH. HeoreHornuLII nunbua n naBonoqntde. ncropm pammenbnocrn PaHHSO unouena. (DOpuaunA bO@opTa INTRODUCTION The Haughton Formation containsa radiometrically dated recordof early Neogene arctic plant remains and thus Haughton Astrobleme isa nearly circular meteoritic impact provides a frame of reference for other vegetational studies structure (Robertson and Mason, 1975) located at 75O22‘N in the arcticNeogene. Pollenand spores permit reconstruction latitude, 89O40‘W longitude, near the north-central coastof of regional vegetationand climate. These interpretations are Devon Island, Northwest Territories, Canada (Fig. 1). The supplemented by the identificationof macrofloral remains impact that formed the Haughton crater has been datedby (currently under studyby A. Kelly, Duke University, and B. two radiometric methods: the fission-track method, using Tiffney, University of California, Santa Barbara). The for- apatite grains in impact-shocked gneiss (Omaret al., 1987), mation also containsthe only known vertebrate fossils from yielded 22.4 f 1.4 million years ago (ma);40Ar-39Ar analysis the beginning ofthe Neogene in the High Arctic. Theseven on gneiss clasts provideda date of 23.4 f 1.0 ma (Jessberger, vertebrate taxa recognized from the Haughton Formation 1988). These dates fall within the early Mioceneor Aquitanian provide additional information on the climate, paleobio- and provide a maximum ageon the formation of a lake that geography, and biostratigraphy of the site. Ideveloped within the crater. A preliminary list of pollen and sporesthe from Haughton Remnants of the sediments deposited inthe lake (Figs. 2 section was presented in Omar et al. (1987) and Hickey and 3) cover about 7 km2 in the west-central part of the et al. (1988). In addition, A.R.Sweet discussed paly- astrobleme and occur as scattered outliers (Frischand Thor- nomorphs from two samples collected fromthe Haughton steinsson, 1978). The sediments, which areup to about 48 m Formation (in Frischand Thorsteinsson, 1978). This report in thickness, have been designatedthe Haughton Formation updates previous information witha pollen stratigraphy from (Table 1). Field relationships suggestthat deposition of the the type section and a listing of pollen from four other Haughton Formation took placewell within the time span localities. The macroflora from the “Woodsand” of Unit representing the limits of error of the dates for the impact 13 of the type section includes lignitized conesand needles event (Hickey et al., 1988). of Lurk, Picea, and a five-needle pine; fruits and seeds of ‘Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, U.S.A. *Present address: Department of Geography, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, U.S.A. @The Arctic Institute of North America NEOGENE POLLEN AND VERTEBRATES / 325 a listing of pollen-bearing sediments). Between87 and 1016 palynomorphs were counted per sample. TABLE 1. Qpe section of the Haughton Formation, 75“4“N, 89049‘25”W,Haughton Astrobleme, N.W.T., Canada’ Unit Thickness Pollen no. (m) no. sampleDescription 26 1.7 Sand, fine-grained, silty, well-sorted, massive, upper contact mantled by a rubble cap, limonite stained at base. 25 1.2 Silt, coarse, sandy, pebbly, dolomitic. 24 0.8 Mud, medium tan, grading upward to a light tan siltstone above 60 cm. 23 0.9 Silt, coarse, sub-angular (s.a.) to angular (a.), light tan. 22 0.8 8512v Interbedded tan silt and medium grey mud, silt predominates, limonite stained. 21 1.8 8512u Same as unit 22, except mud predominates, interbeds are 1-3 cm thick and extend from base to 130 cm. Unit contains limonite FIG 1. Location of Haughton Formation and other sites mentioned in the cemented, dark red-weathering concretions text. that form a prominent band on the slope as well as the rhinoceros locality (84-01) of Dawson. 90’ 00’ 20 0.7 Silt with medium grey clay stringers and 30’ limonite-stained layers in the basal 30 cm. +w 19 0.9 8512s Mud, chippy, slightly silty, yellowish-brown with limonite staining and grey and brown interbeds. 18 2.6 Silt, coarse, slightly granular, s.a. to a., massive, bluff-forming, light tan, slightly reddish at base. “Cliff sand” unit. 17 2.9 8512q Interbedded brownish-grey mud and tan silt with scattered red-weathering concretions. -13, TERTIARY 16 1.7 Silt, sa. to a., Haughton lake tan. beds-dolomitic I5 2.0 85120 Interbedded medium brownish-grey mud and silt tan silt with scattered red-weathering concretions. Allochthonous Impact breccia 14 1.9 Silt, orange-yellow with mud lenses at base but becoming cleaner upward as it becomes &lH PALEOZOIC orange and parallel-laminated. Brownish-red, Ordovlclan- flattened, iron oxide-cemented siltstone or Silurian sediments very fine grained (v.f.g.) sandstone Fault, downthrown concretions occur at the top of the unit. This side indicated is equivalent to the artiodactyl level (84-02) and to the rabbit and shrew level. 13 2.6 Silt, coarse, slightly granular, s.a. to a., light 4 tan, with lignitized wood fragments, twigs, roots, stems, cones, and seeds occurring in 0 5 km / carbonaceous clay lenses. Top of unit is a I mudstone. “Wood silt” unit. 12 0.6 Silt, laminated, yellowish-tan with abundant limonite nodules forming a distinctive layer, interbedded mudstones increase upward. Unit grades into 13, above. FIGZ. Location and generalized geologyof Haughton crater. Stippled areas 11 1.6 8512k Mud, medium, yellowish-brown, weathering to indicate exposures of the Haughton Formation (from Hickey et 01. 1988). light yellowish-brown. Limonite nodules at 150, 90, and 60 cm. Betula and Ericales; and megaspores of Isoetes (Hickey et 10 0.4 Silt, coarse, s.a. to a. light yellowish-grey and apparent yellow and grey alternating laminae. al., 1988). 9 1.2 85123 Mud, plastic, medium yellowish-grey. Brown silt interbeds near top, some limonite lag on the METHODS OF POLLEN ANALYSIS slope. 8 1.2 8512h Silt, coarse, sandy, poorly sorted, massive, tan- weathering, reddish-brown in
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