Paleovegetation Community and Paleoclimate Succession in Middle Jurassic Coal Seams in Eastern Coalfields in Dzungaria Basin, China

Bibliographic Details
Title: Paleovegetation Community and Paleoclimate Succession in Middle Jurassic Coal Seams in Eastern Coalfields in Dzungaria Basin, China
Authors: Xingli Wang, Shuo Feng, Wenfeng Wang, Qin Zhang, Jijun Tian, Changcheng Han, Meng Wang
Source: Plants, Vol 14, Iss 5, p 695 (2025)
Publisher Information: MDPI AG, 2025.
Publication Year: 2025
Collection: LCC:Botany
Subject Terms: Dzungaria Basin, paleoclimate, paleovegetation, paleovegetation community, spores and pollen, Botany, QK1-989
More Details: The Dzungaria Basin is located north of Xinjiang and is one of the largest inland basins in China. The eastern coalfields in the Dzungaria Basin contain a large amount of coal resources, and the thickness of the coal seams is significant. Therefore, the aim of this study was to classify the paleovegetation types and develop paleoclimate succession models of the extra-thick coal seams. We conducted the sampling, separation, and extraction of spores and pollen and carried out microscopic observations in the Wucaiwan mining area of the eastern coalfields in the Dzungaria Basin. The vertical vegetation succession in the thick seam (Aalenian Stage) in the study area was divided into three zones using the CONISS clustering method. The results show that the types of spore and pollen fossils belong to twenty families and forty-five genera, including twenty-three fern, twenty gymnosperm, and two bryophyte genera. The types of paleovegetation in the study area were mainly Lycopodiaceae and Selaginellaceae herb plants, Cyatheaceae, Osmundaceae, and Polypodiaceae shrub plants, and Cycadaceae and Pinaceae coniferous broad-leaved trees. The paleoclimate changed from warm–humid to humid–semi-humid and, finally, to the semi-humid–semi-dry type, all within a tropical–subtropical climate zone. The study area was divided into four paleovegetation communities: the nearshore wetland paleovegetation community, lowland cycad and Filicinae plant community, slope broad-leaved and coniferous plant mixed community, and highland coniferous tree community. This indicates that there was a climate warming event during the Middle Jurassic, which led to a large-scale lake transgression and regression in the basin. This resulted in the transfer of the coal-accumulating center from the west and southwest to the central part of the eastern coalfields in the Dzungaria Basin.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2223-7747
Relation: https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/14/5/695; https://doaj.org/toc/2223-7747
DOI: 10.3390/plants14050695
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/37358c1d622642939105fb1abab24446
Accession Number: edsdoj.37358c1d622642939105fb1abab24446
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:22237747
DOI:10.3390/plants14050695
Published in:Plants
Language:English