Register      Login
Australian Journal of Botany Australian Journal of Botany Society
Southern hemisphere botanical ecosystems
RESEARCH ARTICLE

An in situ, Late Pleistocene Melaleuca fossil forest at Coal Head, western Tasmania, Australia

Marcus V. Rowell, Gregory J. Jordan and Richard W. Barnes

Australian Journal of Botany 49(2) 235 - 244
Published: 2001

Abstract

Stumps of more than 365 tree and shrubs are preserved in growth position on the shores of Macquarie Harbour, western Tasmania. The most likely age is Last Interglacial or early Last Glacial. The in situ forest was almost monospecific Melaleuca (probably M. ericifolia) swamp forest, with one very large Nothofagus cunninghamii, occasional Acacia, interspersed with tussocks of Gahnia grandis. The Melaleuca stumps showed a more or less continuous size distribution, and tree rings suggested an age range from a few years to approximately 100 years or more. Similar vegetation occurs now in parts of lowland western and northern Tasmania, particularly in poorly drained, undisturbed, coastal sites. The composition of the in situ fossil forest differed markedly from previously recorded macrofossil and fossil palynomorph floras, suggesting that both of the latter included significant allochthonous components.

https://doi.org/10.1071/BT00049

© CSIRO 2001

Committee on Publication Ethics


Export Citation Get Permission

View Dimensions