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Figure 5 Relative abundance of spore taxa in representative coal beds, from oldest at the base to youngest 

 at top, in which Botryococcus is abundant or common. Lycospora was borne by lycopod trees, which were most 

 abundant on substrates that were very wet to flooded. 



abundance (fig. 4). Lycopsids continued to increase in 

 abundance in the top half of the peat and reached their 

 peak abundance (maceration 1958E) in the overlying 

 peaty mud. Lycopsid abundance sharply declined dur- 

 ing deposition of the overlying iron-rich mud, but then 

 remained at about 30% of the spore assemblages in the 

 gray shale environments that followed. Diaphoroden- 

 dron and Synchysidendron represented by Granasporites 

 medius were very rare during deposition of the under- 

 clay and were rare in the peat swamp and overlying 

 more-clastic peat (macerations 1958 E and F). Dia- 

 phorodendron became more common during deposition 

 of the gray mud (macerations 1958 I and J). Other ly- 

 copods played a minor role in the floras. Chaloneria is 

 well represented in the peat, judging from the 5% Endo- 

 sporites in the coal. Crassispora, produced by Sigillaria, 

 reached a maximum of only 3% of the spore assemblage 

 in the organic-rich mud (macerations 1958 E and F) and 

 limonitic mud (maceration 1958G) overlying the coal. 

 Densosporites, borne by small herbaceous lycopods, was 

 most abundant (4%) in the thin-bedded gray shale en- 

 vironment (maceration 19581). 



Ferns dominated the environment of clay deposi- 

 tion that formed the seat earth of the peat swamp. The 

 most abundant fern spores, Laevigatosporites globosus, 

 are from scolecopterid tree ferns. Triquitrites, which 

 was probably produced by f ilicalean ferns, is also abun- 

 dant. Most of the remaining fern spores including 

 Granulatisporites, Lophotriletes, Raistrickia, and Apicu- 

 latasporites were also derived from filicalean ferns. 

 Ferns diminished in importance later in the peat 

 swamp and overlying clastic wet environments except 

 where they became slightly more abundant during 

 deposition of the less carbonaceous mud (macerations 

 1958 G through J). 



Sphenopsid plants were abundant during deposi- 

 tion of what became the underclay, but unlike ferns, 

 they were also a major part of the peat flora. Sphenop- 

 sids were a minor constituent in the overlying peaty 

 mud environment, but they increased abruptly in im- 

 portance during deposition of the gray mud (macera- 

 tion 1958G), overlying black peaty mud (maceration 

 1958H) and gray mud (macerations 1958 I and J). 



Cordaites were not common in the seat earth envi- 

 ronment but were well represented during the early 



15 



