Geotimes
Highlights
Palynology
Fred Rich
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Palynologists and palynology continue
to take an active role in a variety of sciences, not the least of which is geology.
"From bottom to top, palynologists have made significant advances in their
science," we wrote in the Geotimes palynology review published last
July. The same can be said for the year 2001. Scientific odysseys did take the
study of microscopic fossils into new realms, as evidenced by the publication
of The Last Billion Years: A Geological History of the Maritime Provinces of
Canada. At the risk of presuming to know far too much, authors R. Fensome
and G. Williams, both members of the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists
(AASP), have written a text described as "a joy to read [and] a treat for
the eyes." Although the book deals with far more than palynology, the willingness
of the authors to tackle a billion years at a time is an interesting contrast
to the work of P. G. Kevan and T. P. Phillips, who wrote "The economic impacts
of pollinator declines: an approach to assessing the consequences" (Conservation
Ecology, v. 5, n.1).
Palynologists are consistently addressing the peculiar problems presented by the
dynamic Blue Planet. Wasn't that a Star Trek episode?
Two international organizations honored their leaders in 2001. In the June AASP
Newsletter, Alfred Traverse of Penn State was recognized for his considerable
contributions to palynology and an "unrelenting intellectual curiosity"
that has made him an outstanding educator. AASP awarded Traverse the Medal of
Excellence in Education. Palynologist Margaret B. Davis, University of Minnesota,
was honored as the recipient of the Distinguished Career Award by the American
Quaternary Association (Fall Newsletter, The Quaternary Times). Her citation
describes Davis as "a pioneer in the paleoecology of North American plant
communities, [whose] work was particularly influential in establishing pollen
analysis as an ecological tool."
Palynologists contribute on a regular basis to a number of geological, biological,
anthropological, and medical publications. Approximately every four years, a volume
also appears containing the proceedings of special palynological congresses. In
2001, the 450-page Proceedings of the Ninth International Palynological Congres,
held in Houston, Texas, was published by AASP. Edited by D.K. Goodman and R.T.
Clarke, the work represents an incredible diversity of technical disciplines and
scientific applications. Its 65 articles range from melissopalynology (study of
honey) and forensic palynology (study of crime scenes; www.crimeandclues.com/pollen.htm)
to biostratigraphy, the delineation of paleoclimates, and the reconstruction of
fossil floras. The articles provide compelling evidence of palynology's valuable
role in collaborative scientific studies. The Proceedings can be ordered
online.
Several major contributions concerned Gondwanan Paleozoic biostratigraphy and
paleoclimatology. Palynological evidence was recognized as a tool for identifying
Devonian sea-level fluctuations governed by glacio-eustacy (M. Streel and others,
Earth Science Reviews, v. 52, n. 1-3, p. 121-173). A similar example was
documented from the Holocene of the Canadian Scotian Shelf (E. Levac, Marine
Micropaleontology, v. 43, n. 3-4, p. 179-197). Sea-surface conditions were
reconstructed using proxy data from marine-brackish water dinoflagellate cysts,
in combination with pollen/spore records, to determine oceanic and atmospheric
interactions. A succession of paleoceanographic events was identified by using
quantitative and qualitative methods to determine climatic signals (i.e., hypisthermal
optimums). Neoglacial toxic dinoflagellate blooms, similar to modern red tides,
were related to a rise in temperature and a concomitant increase of nutrient-enriched
meltwater into marine depositional settings.
Several papers outlining the pan-Australian Jurassic (R. Helby and others, Memoir
of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, v. 24, p. 1-224) served
as a major biostratigraphic contribution to our discipline. The research, partially
sponsored by the Australian Geological Survey Organization, includes descriptions
and illustrations of numerous new species and discusses their stratigraphic importance
for characterizing the source/reservoir/seal of the Timor Sea, northwest Australia's
most prolific petroleum system.
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A professor in the Department
of Geology and Geography at Georgia Southern University, Fred Rich is also past-president
of AASP. E-mail
Wood retired from BP Amoco in 1999. He presently
divides his time as a consulting paleontologist with the irf group inc., and
as a technical communications and knowledge management consultant with ExxonMobil,
Upstream Production Central Technology Organization-Nigeria/Cameroon/Equatorial
Guinea. E-mail
