Anatomical characteristics of fossil wood collected from the Manchar Formation (Miocene), Thano Bula Khan, Sindh, Pakistan

By

Soomro, Noorulain
Mangi, Jamal Uddin
Panhwer, Mahjabeen
Jatoi, Ghulam Hussain
Khuhro, Sajjad Ali
Khokhar, Qamaruddin
Khan, Shabab Ali
Mengal, Ali Nawaz
Shaikh, Nasirudin

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2021-1-25

Original Publication

Italian botanist

Volume

11

Pages

1--8

Subjects

Atalantioxylon thanobolensis sp. nov. Rutaceae , fossil wood , Manchar Formation , Pakistan

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft 2016-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.11.60344

 

Abstract

The characterization of petrified wood provides valuable information about paleoclimatology and geological history and helps to reconstruct the past forest flora of different parts of the earth. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the anatomical characteristics of fossil wood of the Miocene age collected from the Manchar Formation exposed at Thano Bula Khan, Sindh, Pakistan. In order to carry out a detailed anatomical investigation, three-dimensional sections were prepared using a petrotome. The microscopic analysis allowed us to study vessel size and arrangement, wood parenchyma, fibers, and xylem rays. Based on the comparison between recent and fossil wood, we concluded that the investigated characters are comparable with those of the genus Atalantia Corrêa of the Rutaceae family. Therefore, it was named as Atalantioxylon thanobolensis sp. nov. with reference to the location of Thano Bula Khan from which the fossil wood was collected.