Stratigraphie des Oberkarbons: Untersuchung der Makrofloren Abschlussbericht

Abstract

Extensive exploration by the oil and natural gas industry throughout the northern part of Germany has proved the presence of Upper Carboniferous deposits at depth. Many fossil plant remains were found in the rock samples from a total of 127 deep horeholes. These have been examined morphologically and stratigraphically and they prove that the boreholes have penetrated varied sequences of strata ranging from Namurian to Autunien. The large number of fossils examined gives a clear picture of the plants involved, of their associations, and of their development during Upper Carboniferous times. In the oldest strata, ranging from the Namurian up to the lower part of Westphalian D, the flora found by the boreholes can be compared with plant assemblies well known from the Ruhr Coal Basin and from Ibbenbueren and Piesberg in the Osnabrueck Coalfield. Younger Carboniferous strata are not known in these areas. For this reason the flora from these boreholes provide much new information about the palaeogeography of the northern part of Germany. Our knowledge of the floral development and ecological variation from Upper Westphalian D to Upper Stephanian and Autunian is completed. As a result of having such a large number of specimens it has been possible to create rangecharts of the plants involved. The stratigraphical distribution and frequency of plant species from the upper part of Westphalian C up to the Autunian are listed in a table. Another table shows the vertical distribution from Westphalian C up to the Autunian of the species which are most important stratigraphically. The flora of the older strata, from the Namurian to the lower part of Westphalian C, have not been included in these tables as they are well documented in previous publications (JOSTEN 1983 and 1991). (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: RO 8419(459-3/1) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman