CENOZOIC PALEOBOTANY OF ALASKA: CONTRIBUTIONS AND RESEARCH POTENTIAL FROM ALASKAN NATIONAL PARKS

The paleobotanical resources preserved and documented in the national parks of Alaska have fascinated generations of paleobotanists and contributed to major advances in the current understanding of the biostratigraphy of Alaska, the evolution of plant distributions, and the floristic relationship between North America and eastern Asia. National Park Service (NPS) units of the Alaska region comprise nearly two-thirds (54 million acres) of the total acreage managed by the NPS and are exceptionally rich in Cenozoic plant macrofossils. Confirmed pre-Quaternary Cenozoic plant fossil localities are present on the Alaska Peninsula in Aniakchak National Park and Preserve (ANIA), Katmai National Park and Preserve (KATM), and Lake Clark National Park and Preserve (LACL); in the Gulf of Alaska region in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve (GLBA) and Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve (WRST); and in Arctic Alaska in Bering Land Bridge National Preserve (BELA). The paleobotanical resources of these parks are of regional and global significance based on their stratigraphic position, holotype specimens, and relation to type sections. Holotype specimens have been recovered from six different formations which span the Paleocene to mid-Miocene, including: Tolstoi Fm. (ANIA); Copper Lake Fm. (KATM); West Foreland Fm. (LACL); Kulthieth Fm. (WRST); Hemlock Conglomerate (KATM); and Tyonek Fm. (LACL). Type sections of the Oligocene–Miocene Frederika Formation and the Miocene Cenotaph Volcanics preserve plant fossils within WRST and GLBA, respectively. In central Alaska, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve (YUCH) and Denali National Park and Preserve (DENA) contain confirmed plant macrofossil localities from the Late Cretaceous and have potential to yield Cenozoic plant fossils higher in the stratigraphic section. We believe that the compilation of these resources and their investigative history in a single report will be an invaluable resource to paleobotanists and national park employees with great potential to inspire new research directions and science communication programs.