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Greenhouse conditions in lower Eocene coastal wetlands? – Lessons from Schöningen, Northern Germany

View ORCID ProfileOlaf K. Lenz, Walter Riegel, Volker Wilde
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.24.059345
Olaf K. Lenz
1General Directorate, Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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  • For correspondence: olaf.lenz@senckenberg.de
Walter Riegel
2Department Palaeontology and Historical Geology, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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Volker Wilde
2Department Palaeontology and Historical Geology, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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Abstract

The Paleogene succession of the Helmstedt Lignite Mining District in Northern Germany includes coastal peat mire records from the latest Paleocene to the middle Eocene at the southern edge of the Proto-North Sea. Therefore, it covers the different long- and short-term climate perturbations of the Paleogene greenhouse. 56 samples from three individual sections of a lower Eocene seam in the record capture the typical succession of the vegetation in a coastal wetland during a period that was not affected by climate perturbation. This allows facies-dependent vegetational changes to be distinguished from those that were climate induced. Cluster analyses and NMDS of well-preserved palynomorph assemblages reveal four successional stages in the vegetation during peat accumulation: (1) a coastal vegetation, (2) an initial mire, (3) a transitional mire, and (4) a terminal mire. Biodiversity measures show that plant diversity decreased significantly in the successive stages. The highly diverse vegetation at the coast and in the adjacent initial mire was replaced by low diversity communities adapted to wet acidic environments and nutrient deficiency. The palynomorph assemblages are dominated by elements such as Alnus (Betulaceae) or Sphagnum (Sphagnaceae). Typical tropical elements which are characteristic for the middle Eocene part of the succession are missing. This indicates that a more warm-temperate climate prevailed in northwestern Germany during the early lower Eocene.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Posted September 15, 2020.
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Greenhouse conditions in lower Eocene coastal wetlands? – Lessons from Schöningen, Northern Germany
Olaf K. Lenz, Walter Riegel, Volker Wilde
bioRxiv 2020.04.24.059345; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.24.059345
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Greenhouse conditions in lower Eocene coastal wetlands? – Lessons from Schöningen, Northern Germany
Olaf K. Lenz, Walter Riegel, Volker Wilde
bioRxiv 2020.04.24.059345; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.24.059345

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