Palynology of the Upper Flowerpot Formation, Mangum Area, Southwestern Oklahoma

Abstract

My study examines the plant palynomorphs recovered from a new section of the uppermost Flowerpot Formation of middle Permian age in southwestern Oklahoma. My goal is to document the species diversity and abundance of plant taxa using palynology—dispersed pollen and spores—and to compare observations with prior studies from leaves and palynomorphs, during an interval of time near the end of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age. Based on correlative megafossils in adjacent areas, this interval marks a profound expansion of seed plants and of a seasonally dry/arid climate in the region. My results are in agreement with these general patterns. Although showing relatively equivalent diversity of pollen (e.g., from seed plants) and spores (e.g., from ferns), my samples illustrate an overwhelming abundance of striate bisaccate pollen, in particular of the genus Lueckisporites, indicative of dry climate, and low abundance of free-sporing plants (e.g., mosses, ferns). In my sampled section, a conspicuous layer of copper bearing minerals was observed. Three samples were tested using x-ray fluorescence and registered markedly high concentrations of copper. The prevalence of palynomorphs in the upper Flowerpot Formation in southwestern Oklahoma, widely noted by previous investigators, might be related to the stratigraphic and diagenetic conditions that also foster copper deposition, but this requires further investigation.