Pollen and spores of the Navidad Formation, Neogene from Chile Polen y esporas de la Formación Navidad, Neógeno de Chile

Abstract

Palynological assemblages recovered from the Navidad Formation in outcrops of the Cordillera de la Costa, central Chile, are dominated by wood remains, cuticles, spores and pollen grains and fresh water algae (continental elements) with scarce dinofl agellate cysts, acritarchs, foraminiferal linnings marine palynomorphs) indicating that these assemblages would have been accumulated in a marine environment. Spore-pollen assemblages indicate a forest vegetation with the co-existence of Gondwanan (Podocarpaceae, Araucariaceae, Nothofagaceae) and neotropical (Sapotaceae, Malphigiaceae, Arecaceae, Chloranthaceae, Tiliaceae/Bombacaceae) taxa -Mixed Paleofl ora- supporting previous assumptions based on the macrofl ora. On the forest margins, patches of sclerophyllous formations with Anacardiaceae and Fabaceae as prevailing components may have also established. Xerophitic and halophytic shrubbyherbaceous elements (Chenopodiaceae, Calyceraceae) may have developed in sandy soils and costal salt