48 



ILLINOIS STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 480 



ft Rock Island 

 /." 4 *Galesburg 



Macomb 6# Normal 



I2_ Urbano 



^ Springfield 



Charleston 



•^ Boundory of the 



Pennsylvanian System 



1 Institution with paleo- 



botonical research 

 progrom or collection 



2 Town of historical 



importance for paleo- 

 botany 





.'£ 



Bloomington 



fNevi 



13 £0-1^ 

 ^•Carbondale V* 



Harmony 





v^r\ 







20 40 Mi 



es 





1=1 — 1=1 — 1 









1 - Field Museum of Natural History 



(formerly Chicago Natural 

 History Museum) 



2 - University of Illinois 



at Chicago Circle 



3 - Augustana College 

 k - Knox College 



5 - Western Illinois University 



6 - Illinois State University 



7 - Illinois State Geological Survey 



8 - University of Illinois 



9 - Eastern Illinois University 



10 - Indiana Geological Survey 



11 - Indiana University 



12 - Illinois State Museum 



13 - Southern Illinois University 



Pig. 5 - Institutions in the Illinois Basin 

 that have paleobotanical research 

 programs or collections. 



The study of plants from coal balls from 14 coals within the Illinois Basin 

 provides a paleobotanical framework on which evolutionary studies of species and 

 genera can be carried out. Such studies maybe complemented by work on coal balls 

 from stratigraphic horizons in other areas of the United States (for example, Kan- 

 sas, Iowa, Oklahoma, eastern Kentucky) and in Europe. Because coal balls from 

 North America and Europe are complementary, it is possible to follow anatomically 

 certain common genera through more than 20 sampling zones, spanning virtually 

 the entire Pennsylvanian or Upper Carboniferous (Silesian) Period. 



Future studies probably will examine the evolutionary basis for morpholog- 

 ical concepts in appropriate taxonomic groups. Mycological studies of coal-ball 

 floras and comparisons of the foliage in coal-ball plants with the compression 

 floras promise to yield significant data. Coal-ball studies at present are concerned 

 with determining the connections between plant parts and establishing whole plant 

 restorations, further ontogenetic studies, monographs of genera, descriptions of 

 floras, and comparative flora studies. The many sizable coal-ball collections 

 that have been made during the past two decades furnish excellent opportunities 

 for broadening the scope of studies of coal- ball plants. 



One such study is being made by Leisman, who wrote, "My major project 

 involving the Illinois Basin is an ecological or floristic comparison between Kan- 

 sas coal-ball horizons (Weir- Pittsburg, Mineral, Fleming, and Bevier) and the 

 Herrin (No. 6) Coal as revealed at Sahara [Coal Company Mine]. " Concerning 

 coal- ball floras, Darrah wrote: 



I should like to see a critical flora prepared for not only the coal 

 plants of Illinois but of the whole United States. Inasmuch as most of 

 the work quite naturally has been botanical and morphological we have no 

 real synthesis as to the floral associations and ecological attributes 

 which most certainly can be derived from the voluminous evidence already 

 at hand. In the second place, I should like to see someone tackle the 

 fern fructifications. I believe there is a diversity here which will ul- 

 timately give us a chance to unravel the impression-compression fern-like 

 foliage that abounds in the Pennsylvanian. 



