RECOGNITION AND EFFECTS OF FIRE IN PRE-QUATERNARY ENVIRONMENTS

Palaeobotanists, palaeoecologists and palaeoclimatologists have used a variety of techniques to identify the products of fire in the fossil record. Pre-Quaternary fires have been identified from the study of macroscopic charcoal either from coals or a range of marine and non-marine sediments. In these cases there has been less attempt to identify fire frequency (compared to Quaternary studies), rather the macroscopic nature of the charcoal, and its often excellent anatomical detail, as revealed by scanning electron microscopy, has provided much evidence on the nature of the burnt vegetation.

Four types of the effects of fires have been documented in the Pre-Quaternary record. 1. The direct result of fire producing unusual vertebrate occurrences has been proposed for three sites in the Carboniferous and Permian. 2. Extensive run-off and increased sedimentation has been reported at several Carboniferous, Jurassic and Cretaceous sites. 3. Fire related ecological catastrophes have been reported from Carboniferous and Cretaceous sites and 4. Major vegetation change following destruction of vegetation by fire has been reported in Carboniferous coal deposits.

This paper reviews the extent to which fires have been recognised in the Pre-Quaternary Fossil record and the extent to which their effects have been recognised by geologists.