PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF WELLINGTON FORMATION (PERMIAN, OKLAHOMA) PALEOBOTANY
This study begins the examination of the vegetational response in Oklahoma to the onset of arid conditions by investigating the paleobotany of the Wellington Formation. The Wellington Formation crops out in central Oklahoma (and Kansas) and is famous for the insects preserved in dolomites (Elmo and Midco Beds). It is up to 250m thick in north-central Oklahoma and contains red/green/gray shales, sandstone lenses, and thin dolomite beds. In the subsurface in western Oklahoma, it attains a thickness of over 400m and also contains halite and gypsum (as anhydrite) beds that are especially common and thick near its base.
Paleobotanical surveys record a variety of palynofloral and macrofloral assemblages throughout the outcrop area. The palynofloral assemblages have been recovered from sediments representing wet habitats (dark gray shales) to drier habitats (light gray shales). The palynofloras reflect this heterogeneity in the observed abundance of spores versus pollen, but are usually dominated by bisaccate gymnospermous pollen types (probably coniferous) regardless. Many of the pollen types are striate/taeniate and suggestive of arid-adapted taxa. Macrofloras are typically restricted to fluvial deposits and contain a preponderance of peltasperms (including gigantopterids), with individual bedding planes dominated by taeniopterids or walchian conifers. Highly localized deposited are dominated by cordaites.