Abstract: This article provides an introduction to plant macrofossil analysis and an overview of the articles in this subsection. A plant macrofossil can be defined as a plant fossil that is visible to the naked eye and that can be manipulated by hand. There are short accounts of where macrofossils can be found, how they are sampled and analyzed, their taphonomy, and how they represent the vegetation that produced them. Macrofossil types of particular paleoecological interest are illustrated by photographs. Examples are discussed of the contributions made by macrofossil studies to aspects of Quaternary paleoecology, such as vegetation history and situations where they greatly enhance interpretations from pollen analysis. Their application in accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating is summarized, including high-resolution chronologies, avoidance and correction of lake and marine reservoir ages, and dating of tephras as time markers, and also their use in reconstructing past atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations from fossil leaves.
Publication Year: 2007
Publication Date: 2007-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 75
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