PALYNOMORPH DISTRIBUTION COMPARED TO VEGETATION IN MODERN TROPICAL LAGOS LAGOON SEDIMENTS

Surface sediments were collected from eight lagoonal communities: Atlas Cove, Five Cowrie Creek, Maroko, Berger De Motz, Palaver Island, Bayeku, Majidun Lagoon, and University of Lagos Lagoon. Organic matter was extracted by acid digestion, and three palynomorph types (pollen, embryophyte spores and fungal spores) retrieved from the samples were identified and counted and their percentages and concentrations calculated. Absolute counts and relative percentages of the vegetation were also estimated. The pollen species encountered range from 10 at Moba, 12 at Five Cowrie Creek, 28 at Palaver, 37 at Bayeku, 38 at Berger De Motz and 39 at Atlas cove, 52 at University of Lagos Lagoon and 60 at Majidun Lagoon vegetation communities. The phytosociological record of the eight sampled sites compared favourably with their respective pollen spectra obtained from sediment samples. They are good reflections of the vegetation that occupied the studied sites in recent past. The dominant plant types are well represented in the pollen spectra in most cases, although some species presented cases of overrepresentation and under representation. The results of this work show that palynomorphs from Lagos Lagoon sediments truly represent the vegetation and just as it is being used in the Niger Delta and other places; it can as well be used to characterize parent vegetation communities, determine the relative age of oil bearing rocks, reconstruct paleoclimates under which sediments were deposited as well as locate reservoir via the inferred depositional environment.