iNORTH ATLANTIC CLIMATES OF THE PAST 15 



Arctic floras, especially of the Tertiary, but partly also of Pre-Tertiary age, 

 which contrast so impressively with the poorer recent vegetation. The pioneer 

 paleo-botanist of the polar floras was the Swiss Oswald Heer who pubUshed 

 his famous Flora fossilis arctica in 1868 and later. 



We must mention here especially the following places where Tertiary 

 Arctic floras have been found: Iceland. Greenland, Spitsbergen, King 

 Charles Land and Grinnell Land. 



The southernmost occurrences are those in Iceland. Heer (1868) cited 41 

 plant species from here; he and other authors mention Piinis, Picea, Abies, 

 Tsuga, Sequoia, Cryptomeria, Liriodendroii, Lawns, Sassafras, Platanus, 

 Planer a, Dombeyopsis. Acer, Rhus, Rlianmus, Vitis, Alnus, Be tula, Corylus, 

 Fagus. Quercus, Juglans, Sali.x, Ulmus, Vaccinium, Viburnum. However, the 

 determinations are based on leaf impressions and therefore they are in part 

 very uncertain. Berry (1930), who revised critically all polar floras in 1930, 

 let pass as plants that might justly be considered of a cool temperate climate 

 only the following: Platanus, Liriodendron, Acer, Juglans, Gingko, Fra.xinus, 

 and Hicoria. Heer {loc. cit.) inferred a chmate with an annual average 

 temperature of at least 9 C. That may be rather true. 



Later on. Askelsson (1946) has described also some pollen, and at my 

 suggestion Pflug (1956, 1959) studied in more detail the pollen floras of 

 Iceland, especially from the lignites (Icelandic: surtarbrandur). Also Meyer 

 and Pirrit (1957) and Jux (1960) made pollen-analytical investigations here. 

 But the pollen has more importance as regards stratigraphy and not so much 

 concerning paleoclimatology. 



Finally. E. Schonfeld (1956) studied fossil Icelandic woods. He found among 

 others, Ilex and supposed that the Icelandic Ilex and also Picea had their 

 nearest relations in North American species. 



In Greenland the lea\es of willow, poplar, birch, and hazel dominate 

 according to the revisions of Berry (1930). But there also are represented 

 Liquidanibar. Ulnnis. Platanus. Sassafras. Fraxinus. Cornus. Liriodendron. 

 Acer, and I itis. 



In a rather new paper Schloemer-Jaeger (1958) cites from Spitsbergen 

 above all Sequoia langsdorfic, Metasequoia occidentalis, and Cercidiphyllum 

 arcticum. The average January temperature must have been higher than O'C. 

 There are also pollen-analytical studies by Manum (1954). 



Grinnell Land is the locality nearest to the Pole, 82' N. Lat. According to 

 Berry (1930) its Tertiary flora consists of Equisetum, Faxodiwn, Pinus, 

 Abies, Populus. Be tula, and Corylus. 



This last locality, especially, shows that the Tertiary polar floras have 

 nothing to do with tropical or even only subtropical vegetation; they are 

 ordinary floras of moderate climate. They fit in with the picture of the Tertiary 

 chmatic belts of the whole Earth, and these belts were generally shifted 

 polewards (cf. Chaney. 1940; Schwarzbach, 1946). 



