Sprecher
Beschreibung
The Gratkorn pit, comprising late Middle Miocene sediments and fossils, is well known for its diverse terrestrial vertebrate fauna. Vertebrate fossils and associated coprolites are found in a paleosol at the base of the pit, which is part of the Gratkorn Fm and is of late Serravallian age (c. 12.2 Ma). The paleosol is overlain by limnic sediments of the Gleisdorf Fm. Until now, paleoecological reconstructions have primarily been based on the vertebrate record of the Gratkorn Fm and the plant record of the Gleisdorf Fm. These datasets are difficult to compare but have suggested changes in temperature and precipitation along the section. So far, only few plant macrofossils and no spores/pollen have been found in the Gratkorn Fm, hindering direct comparison with paleobotanical data from the Gleisdorf Fm. Interestingly, hyena coprolites from the uppermost part of the Gratkorn Fm are rich in fossil spores and pollen, with over 100 taxa identified to date. Preliminary investigation of the spore and pollen content of the coprolites suggests a similarly diverse vegetation during the accumulation of the vertebrate-bearing sediments as in the overlying limnic unit. As a first step, the taxonomy of spores and pollen from the coprolites is being established and compared with that of the overlying Gleisdorf Fm. Based on the plant record, vegetation units surrounding the Gratkorn site during deposition of the paleosol will be reconstructed, and paleoclimate will be estimated based on the ecological preferences of potential modern analogues of the parent plants producing the spores and pollen.