Publications

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Conrad C. Labandeira, Michael S. Engel, Torsten Wappler

The middle Eocene Messel and Eckfeld localities are renowned for their excellently preserved faunas and diverse floras. Here we describe for the first time pollen from insect-pollinated plants found in situ on well-preserved ancient bees using light and scanning electron microscopy. There have been 140 pollen types reported from Messel and 162 pollen types from Eckfeld. Here we document 23 pollen types, six from Messel and 18 from Eckfeld (one is shared). […]

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, Guido W. Grimm, Reinhard Zetter, Thomas Denk

Modern lineages of the beech family, Fagaceae, one of the most important north-temperate families of woody flowering plants, have been traced back to the early Eocene. In contrast, molecular differentiation patterns indicate that the Fagus lineage, Fagoideae, with a single modern genus, evolved much earlier than the remaining lineages within Fagaceae (Trigonobalanoideae, Castaneoideae, Quercoideae). The minimum age for this primary split in the Fagaceae has been estimated as 80 ± 20 Ma (i.e. […]

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, Gunver Krarup Pedersen, Guido W. Grimm, Reinhard Zetter

The Cretaceous and Palaeogene floras of western Greenland that were initially described as part of the classical work “Flora fossilis arctica” by Oswald Heer in the 19th century are currently under revision. The Nuussuaq Basin has repeatedly been investigated by geologists and marine invertebrate palaeontologists. These studies provide a modern stratigraphic framework and a basis for revisions of various Cretaceous to Eocene floras from this region, and the correlation of fossil material […]

Authors: Johannes M. Bouchal, Reinhard Zetter, Friðgeir Grímsson, Thomas Denk

We investigated a palynological section from middle Miocene sediments at Eskihisar (south-western Anatolia) to establish biogeographic links of the palynoflora and to infer the palaeoenvironment. Four algal palynomorphs, nine spore taxa, eight gymnosperms, three monocots and 67 dicot pollen types were encountered and investigated using the ‘single grain method’ that combines light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Two pollen zones reflect different phases of basin development. Zonal vegetation remained fairly stable across […]

Authors: Torsten Wappler, Friðgeir Grímsson

Iceland is the only known terrestrial place in the subarctic North Atlantic providing a fairly continuous sedimentary and plant fossil record over the past 15 million years. While the basic palaeobotanical framework of this pattern has been well established during the last decade, less attention has been paid to the abundant insect traces on fossil leaves/leaflets. Here, we assess the diversity and frequency of insect herbivory on 4349 fossil angiosperm leaves/leaflets from six plant-bearing sedimentary formations exposed […]

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, Guido W. Grimm, Barbara Meller, Johannes M. Bouchal, Reinhard Zetter.

An ongoing investigation of the middle Miocene (Sarmatian) palynoflora from the Lavanttal Basin continues to show that it contains an extremely rich assemblage of angiosperm taxa. The Fagales to Rosales pollen record documented here contains 34 different taxa belonging to the Betulaceae (Alnus, Betula, Carpinus, Corylus, Ostrya), Fagaceae (Castanea, Fagus, Quercus Groups Cerris, Ilex, Cyclobalanopsis, Quercus/Lobatae), Juglandaceae (Engelhardioideae, Carya, Juglans, Pterocarya), Myricaceae (Morrella vel Myrica), Cannabaceae (Celtis), Elaeagnaceae (Elaeagnus), Rhamnaceae, Rosaceae (Prunus) […]

Authors: Barbara Meller, Reinhard Zetter, Andreas Hassler, Johannes M. Bouchal , Christa-Charlotte Hofmann, Friðgeir Grímsson

A new locality, at Schaßbach (Carinthia, Austria), within the Neogene Lavanttal Basin has yielded numerous well preserved early Badenian (Langhian) plant macrofossils. This paper, which is the first in a series of papers that describe the macrofossil remains from Schaßbach, provides a geological and chronostratigraphic framework of the study area and summarizes previous research on plant macrofossils from the Lavanttal Basin. Here, Cenozoic leaf fossils of Ginkgo with preserved […]

Authors: Torsten Wappler, Conrad C. Labandeira, Michael S. Engel, Reinhard Zetter, Friðgeir Grímsson

Iconic examples of insect pollination have emphasized narrowly specialized pollinator mutualisms such as figs and fig wasps and yuccas and yucca moths. However, recent attention by pollination ecologists has focused on the broad spectra of pollinated plants by generalist pollinators such as bees. Bees have great impact for formulating hypotheses regarding specialization versus generalization in pollination mutualisms. We report the pollination biology of six northern European species of an extinct tribe of […]

Authors: Steven R. Manchester, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter

The fossil record provides good evidence for the minimum ages of important events in the diversification and geographic spread of Asteridae, with earliest examples extending back to the Turonian stage of the Late Cretaceous (~89 million years ago [Ma]). Some of the fossil identifications accepted in previous considerations of asterid phylogeny do not stand up to careful scrutiny. Nevertheless, among major clades of asterids, there is good evidence for a range of useful anchor points. Here, we provide a […]

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Heidemarie Halbritter, Guido W. Grimm

The fossil record of Aponogeton (Aponogetonaceae) is scarce and the few reported macrofossil findings are in need of taxonomic revision. Aponogeton pollen is highly diagnostic and when studied with light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) it cannot be confused with any other pollen types. The fossil Aponogeton pollen described here represent the first reliable Cretaceous and Eocene records of this genus worldwide. Today, Aponogeton is confined to the tropics and subtropics of the Old […]

Authors: Thomas Denk , Guido W. Grimm , Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter.

Shallowing of the Panama Sill and the closure of the Central American Seaway initiated the modern Loop Current–Gulf Stream circulation pattern during the Miocene, but no direct evidence has yet been provided for effective heat transport to the northern North Atlantic during that time. Climatic signals from 11 precisely dated plantbearing sedimentary rock formations in Iceland, spanning 15–0.8 million years (Myr), resolve the impacts of the developing Miocene global thermohaline circulation on terrestrial vegetation […]

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Qin Leng

The origin and evolution of angiosperms can be unravelled by using fossil records to determine first occurrences and phytogeographic histories of plant families and genera. Many angiosperm families, for example the Onagraceae, have a poor macrofossil record, but are more common in palynological records. Modern Onagraceae produce pollen clearly distinct from that of other angiosperms. Combined morphological features obtained by use of light and scanning electron microscopy have enabled assignment of fossil Onagraceae pollen to extant genera, and […]

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, David K. Ferguson, Reinhard Zetter

Various pollen morphotypes of Decodon from the Cenozoic of North America, Europe, and Asia are described for the first time, using a combination of LM and SEM. The report includes the earliest pollen record of Decodon from the Northern Hemisphere. The pollen grains were obtained from sedimentary samples using the single grain technique, allowing for a high taxonomic resolution. The fossil pollen show clear traceable changes in morphology toward the present. The apparent pollen diversity noted at […]

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Christian Baal

Preliminary studies of the palynoflora from the Lavanttal Basin show a relatively rich assemblage of pollen and spores. The palynoflora comprises at least 17 different kinds of spores, representing the Bryophyta (Sphagnum), Lycopodiophyta (Lycopodium, Selaginella), and the Pteridophyta (Dryopteris, Osmunda, Pteris), about 20 different pollen types of conifers assignable to Cupressaceae and Pinaceae, and 130–160 different kinds of angiosperm pollen. In this study, we describe all spores together with pollen from two seed plants, i.e. Ginkgo (Ginkgophyta) and […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A. Símonarson

At the end of the nineteenth century, Alfred Gabriel Nathorst (1850–1921), then professor of palaeobotany in Stockholm, planned a major investigation of plant fossils from Iceland. This work was, however, put aside and not revived before his death. What remained was a set of more than 40 sheets containing pencil drawings of several hundred fossils from Iceland. The drawings prepared by Carl Axel Hedelin and Thérèse Ekblom between 1885 and ca 1910 are of extraordinary […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A. Símonarson

This chapter evaluates climatic signals from floras of 11 sedimentary rock formations from Iceland spanning the time interval 15–0.8 Ma. From 15 to 12 Ma, the climate was humid warm temperate probably with hot summers (Cfa climate) as evidenced by the presence of taxodiaceous conifers such as Glyptostrobus and Cryptomeria and warmth-loving angiosperms. The first shift towards cooler conditions occurred between ca 12 and 10 Ma; during this period the Taxodiaceae and warmth-loving angiosperms such as Magnolia, Lauraceae, and Liriodendron disappeared from the […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A. Símonarson

Plants lacking long distance dispersal mechanisms required a functioning land bridge to colonize Iceland, a route provided by the North Atlantic Land Bridge (NALB). During the Cainozoic, the NALB, also referred to as the Thulean route, came into existence in the latest Paleocene and Early Eocene, but there has been considerable debate about the timing of its termination. The North Atlantic Land Bridge consisted of the well-defined subaerial Greenland-Scotland Transverse Ridge. The individual parts of this […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A. Símonarson

The Pleistocene vegetation history of Iceland is closely linked to the onset of large scale northern hemisphere glaciations. The first regional glaciation in Iceland occurred at ca 2.5 Ma (Praetiglian), just before the deposition of the oldest Pleistocene plant-bearing sediments in Iceland (Brekkukambur Formation, 2.4–2.1 Ma). Both the macro- and microfloras of the Brekkukambur Formation are not very well preserved and do not allow detailed interpretations of the palaeoenvironment. However, based on plant and insect remains […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A. Símonarson

A thick sequence of fossiliferous sediments on the Tjörnes Peninsula in northern Iceland records the vegetation, faunal and climatic histories of the northern North Atlantic region during the Mid-Pliocene Climatic Optimum. The Tjörnes beds are divided into three biozones, the Tapes Zone (ca 4.4–4 Ma), the Mactra Zone (4–3.6 Ma), and the Serripes Zone (3.6–2.6 Ma). The marine faunal assemblages in the Tapes and Mactra Zones are mainly boreal, but during deposition of the Serripes Zone, […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A. Símonarson

A thin, white coloured ash/pumice layer on top of the poor macrofossil units at the Selárgil locality yields a rich late Messinian palynoflora that was deposited under a markedly different taphonomic setting than most other late Cainozoic floras discussed in this book. Pollen contained in this volcanic sediment apparently was deposited in a very short time during the actual ash fall, whereas in most other Cainozoic formations in Iceland pollen was deposited in clastic sediments over […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A. Símonarson

Fossil plants recovered from the Late Miocene (Messinian) Hreðavatn-Stafholt Formation grew in a landscape dominated by lakes of different sizes that were connected by small rivers and swampland. Well-drained areas bordering these wetlands were covered by mixed broadleaved deciduous and conifer forests dominated by Pinaceae, Rosaceae, and Acer. Relict taxa occurred both in wetlands (aff. Calycanthaceae) and hardwood forests (Cyclocarya,Fagus, Tetracentron). The flora and vegetation of the 7–6 Ma formation witnessed a cool temperate climate and the fairly […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A. Símonarson

Terrestrial fossils from Late Miocene sediments in the Mókollsdalur area are mainly known for their insect fauna. Plant fossils and the sedimentological context suggest that most of the macrofossils deposited at Mókollsdalur originate from trees and shrubs that grew on the slopes around a caldera lake in the highlands. Abundant fossils of aquatic crustaceans, insects, and plants suggest that the lake and adjacent areas were a diverse ecosystem at the time of deposition. Forests covering the […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A. Símonarson

A remarkable change is noticed in the 10 Ma floras of Iceland. In contrast to older floras, herbaceous elements become prominent in the palynological record, and, for the first time, small-leaved Ericaceae are encountered in the macrofossil record. The high number of pollen taxa recovered from sedimentary rock samples of the Tröllatunga-Gautshamar Formation account for the remarkable richness of this flora (ca 100 taxa). Pollen, spores, and macrofossils are all exquisitely preserved. Importantly, many taxa that […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A. Símonarson
The classic Surtarbrandur floras of Iceland are 12 Ma (late Serravallian) and belong to the Brjánslækur-Seljá Formation. They make up the most diverse macroflora known from the Miocene of Iceland, with the highest number of exotic angiosperms recorded from this period (Laurophyllum, Liriodendron, Magnolia, Platanus, and Sassafras). Unlike in the older and younger floras, Fagus is absent from the macrofossil and pollen record, suggesting that the older F. friedrichii had not yet been replaced by the later immigrating F. gussonii. The plant assemblages recovered from […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A. Símonarson

The oldest plant fossils currently known from Iceland are ca 15 Ma, their deposition coinciding with the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum. At this time, forests in Iceland were dominated by mixed broadleaved deciduous and coniferous taxa with a few broadleaved evergreen genera such as Rhododendron and Ilex. Lowland forests were dominated byGlyptostrobus. Questions about the colonization history of Iceland or proto-Iceland are of particular interest since not much is known about the availability of effective land […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A. Símonarson

This chapter provides morphological descriptions including remarks on nomenclatural problems for the macrofossil (M) and palynological (P) record from Iceland. The systematic section starts with Bryophyta (mosses), Lycopodiophyta (clubmosses and spikemosses), and Pteridophyta (horsetails and true ferns), followed by Gnetophyta, Ginkgophyta, Pinophyta (conifers), and Magnoliophyta (flowering plants). Families and genera appear in alphabetical order. Incertae sedis are listed at the end of each large taxonomic group. For each taxon described, stratigraphic and geographic occurrences are […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A. Símonarson

The development of palaeobotanical research in Iceland reflects the emergence of palaeobotany as a science in Central Europe and has traditionally been closely tied to research activities in Denmark and Sweden. A major impetus for palaeontological research in Iceland and other Arctic areas came from the Swiss palaeontologist Oswald Heer, commencing in the mid-nineteenth century. Modern palaeontological research reflects current trends in palaeontology, namely, reconstructing climate changes and evolution from fossil plants and animals, and evaluating […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A. Símonarson

Iceland is an island in the northern North Atlantic halfway between Europe and Greenland/North America and some of its northern parts touch the Arctic Circle. Its position at the conjunction of warm southerly and cold northerly waters and air masses contribute to a particular climate that is unusually mild considering the high latitude of the island. From a biogeographical point of view, Iceland is an important place for both palaeontologists and recent botanists and zoologists. […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Reinhard Zetter

Dating the subsidence history of the North Atlantic Land Bridge (NALB) is crucial for understanding intercontinental disjunctions of northern temperate trees. Traditionally, the NALB has been assumed to have functioned as a corridor for plant migration only during the early Cenozoic, but recent findings of plant fossils and inferences from molecular studies are challenging this view. Here, we report dispersed pollen of Quercus from Late Miocene sediments in Iceland that shows affinities with extant northern hemispheric white oaks […]

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, Leifur A. Símonarson

Nú á dögum fer frekar lítið fyrir náttúrulegum íslenskum skógum og heldur eru þeir snauðir af tegundum, enda bera þeir þess greinileg merki að vaxa á mörkum kuldabeltisins og tempraða beltisins. Einu tegundirnar sem voru hér þegar land byggðist og mynda eiginleg tré eru birki (Betula pubescens Ehrh.) og reyniviður (Sorbus aucuparia L.). Plöntu­ leifar úr fornum setlögum landsins sýna okkur þó að á fyrri jarðsögutímum var hér oft og einatt mun lífvænlegra fyrir trjágróður og þá döfnuðu hér […]

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, Leifur A. Símonarson

Palaeontological research on the Miocene and Pliocene floras and faunas of Iceland date back to the 1770’s. At that time, plant fossils from Iceland were considered belonging to a single flora, and in the early 20th century scientist considered this flora of Eocene age. During the past few decades systematic palaeontology, palaeoclimatology, stratigraphy, and palaeogeography have been linked to results from isotopic (K/Ar and Ar/Ar) absolute age determinations and palaeomagnetic measurements of Cainozoic lavas in Iceland. As a result, numerous […]

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, Thomas Denk, Reinhard Zetter

Dispersed pollen, fruits, and leaves of Tetracentron (Trochodendraceae) are described from the Miocene of Iceland and assigned to a new species, Tetracentron atlanticum. The Icelandic fossils represent the first unambiguous record of Tetracentron for the Cainozoic of Europe. Well-preserved dispersed grains of Tetracentron are also identified from the Eocene and Miocene of western North America and compared to the Icelandic fossils. In general, Tetracentron pollen is rather uniform through the Eocene to Recent, only displaying minor variation in […]

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, Thomas Denk

This study aims to document the floristic changes that occurred in Iceland between 15 and 6 Ma and to establish the dispersal mechanisms for the plant taxa encountered. Using changing patterns of dispersal, two factors controlling floristic changes are tested. Possible factors are (1) climate change, and (2) the changing biogeography of Iceland over the time interval studied; that is, the presence or absence of a Miocene North Atlantic Land Bridge. Miocene floras of Iceland (15–6 Ma) show relatively high […]

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, Leifur A. Símonarson, Thomas Denk

Í greininni er lýst eins nákvæmlega og unnt er plöntusamfélögum úr elstu setlagasyrpum á Íslandi, en þær eru taldar 15 og 13,5 milljón ára. Allmargar plöntutegundanna sem hér verður fjallað um hafa ekki verið greindar áður úr íslenskum jarðlögum og sagt er frá nýrri tegund af linditré sem nýlega var nafngreind og fékk latneska nafnið Tilia selardalense, en við höfum kosið að nefna arnarlind á íslensku. Þegar bornir eru saman 15 milljón ára gamlir plöntusteingervingar frá Selárdal í […]

Author: Friðgeir Grímsson

Í Borgarfirði á Vesturlandi eru varðveitt víðáttumikil setlög frá síðmíósentíma, um það bil 7–6 milljón ára gömul. Þessar jarðmyndanir hafa verið nefndar Hreðavatnssetlögin eða bara Hreðavatnslögin. Setlögin eru mjög fjölbreytt að útliti og gerð vegna þess að sum hafa myndast úr rofefnum, önnur eru gosræn og loks eru setlög mynduð við starfsemi lífvera. Markmið þessa verks eru að gera grein fyrir þessum setlögum, rekja myndunarsögu þeirra og túlka helstu umhverfisþætti á setmyndunartímanum. Setlög í nágrenni núverandi Hreðavatns voru rannsökuð sérstaklega.

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, Thomas Denk, Leifur A. Símonarson

Two macrofloras, 15 and 13.5 Ma old, are described from the oldest exposed plant bearing sediments on Iceland. Many of the taxa are mentioned for the first time and a lime tree, Tilia selardalense, is described as a new species. In case of the older flora, differences in the environment are reflected in plants derived from volcanic sediments from high elevations (Selárdalur, 15 Ma) and from lowland alluvial plains (Botn, 15 Ma). The former are characterized by […]

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, Leifur A. Símonarson

Laufblöðum, aldinum og fræjum sem tilheyra ættkvíslinni beyki (Fagus) hefur verið lýst úr þremur setlagasyrpum á Vestfjörðum. Í fyrsta lagi úr Selárdals–Botns setlagasyrpunni, en hún er talin um 15 milljón ára, þá úr Dufansdals–Ketilseyrar setlagasyrpunni, sem er líklegast um 13,5 milljón ára, og loks úr Skarðsstrandar–Mókollsdals setlagasyrpunni sem er 9–8 milljón ára gömul. Beykileifar úr íslenskum jarðlögum hafa verið greindar til 6–7 mismunandi tegunda og hefur sú greining að mestu leyti verið gerð á blöðum eða blaðförum. Laufblöð, aldin og fræ, […]

Authors: Thomas Denk, Friðgeir Grímsson, Zlatko Kvaček

A large number of plant macrofossils from several Middle to Upper Miocene localities from Iceland have been studied. The fossil material includes four ferns and fern allies, seven conifers, and about 40 species of flowering plants. Betula islandica and Salix gruberi are described as new species. Coniferous twigs previously ascribed to the genus Sequoia are shown to belong to Cryptomeria based on macro-morphological and epidermal features. Fossil plants from Iceland are compared with coeval fossil taxa from Europe […]

Authors: Friðgeir Grímsson, Thomas Denk

Leaf and cupulenut remains belonging to Fagus (beech) have previously been reported from three plant-bearing formations on Iceland, the 15 Ma Selárdalur–Botn Formation, the 13.5 Ma Dufansdalur–Ketilseyri Formation, and the ca. 9–8 Ma Skarðströnd-Mókollsdalur Formation, and have traditionally been assigned to various species. In this paper, we study Fagus leaves and cupules from the Miocene of Iceland based on unpublished and newly collected material and assess their taxonomic position. Leaves from Selárdalur (15 Ma) and Tafla (13.5 Ma) are described […]