AN INITIAL INVESTIGATION OF EOCENE POLLEN FROM NORTHERN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WYOMING, USA

With National Park Service permission, during the 2000 Eastern Illinois Geology Field Camp trip to Yellowstone National Park samples of the Eocene Sepulcher Formation were obtained. The volcaniclastic rocks are from the northern part of the park west of Specimen Ridge, near the Fossil Tree.

These samples have been subjected to palynological study. This is the first report on the fossil pollen from this specific area. The presence of several genera of dicot and coniferous pollen substantiates the anecdotal palynological reports of others elsewhere in this formation. While not enough grains have been recovered to make firm paleoclimatic inferences, the presence of an Eocene mixed coniferous hardwood forest is suggested by this preliminary analysis.