Abstract A series of vegetation changes take place in tropical ecosystems during the Pennsylvanian Subperiod. The most notable change, recognizable from palynology and plant macrofossils at the Middle and Late Pennsylvanian boundary in the Illinois Basin, is the extirpation, or local extinction, of certain lineages of arborescent lycopsids, followed by their replacement by stem group marattialean tree ferns. The leading hypothesis suggests a significant change in precipitation regime as the cause. To test this hypothesis, we examine the vascular anatomy and physiology of key lineages of Pennsylvanian plants: the sphenopsids, tree ferns, cordaitaleans, medullosans, lycophytes and extrabasinal stem group coniferophytes. Using scanning electron and light microscopy of fossilized anatomy, we provide new data on these plants’ vascular systems, quantifying their physiological capacity and drought resistance. We find that three Pennsylvanian plant lineages – the medullosans, arborescent lycopsids and Sphenophyllum – contain high hydraulic conductivity but are vulnerable to drought-induced damage, whereas others are resistant, including stem group tree ferns and coniferophytes. Relative abundance changes among these plants were likely driven by drought, and differences in water use efficiency would have amplified drought events as plant communities changed. The interaction of physiological selectivity and positive feedback between aridity and drought tolerance likely played a significant role in Late Paleozoic floral changes.

Abstract The Nukhul Formation (Suez rift) consists of fluvial and tidally influenced shallow marine strata that were deposited in fault-controlled seaways and tidal embayments during rift initiation. In this study, we create a half-graben-scale, high-resolution (typical grid cell dimensions 20 m x 20 m x <1 m), geocellular outcrop model of the Nukhul Formation. The evolution of the normal fault system in the study area is associated with the development of fault-parallel and fault-perpendicular folds. The changing nature of the structural template, and the resulting geomorphology, during deposition led to complex syn-rift stratigraphic architecture and facies distributions. We use a LIDAR-based digital outcrop approach to map this geological complexity to a high degree of accuracy, for export to reservoir modelling software. Software developed in-house was used to integrate field observations with the digital dataset, aid interpretation, and create realistic surface meshes from outcrop data. Facies modelling used a combination of sequential indicator simulation and object-based modelling approaches. Sedimentary logs were attached to the dataset and used as conditioning data. 2D probability maps, source points, and flow lines constrained the geocellular outcrop model to match the known geology. The approach leads to improvements in three areas: (i) geological knowledge of the study area, (ii) data portability, and (iii) geocellular outcrop modelling. Comparison between the final geocellular outcrop model, outcrop geology, and inferred palaeogeography shows that the geology of the Nukhul Formation is realistically modelled. The final reservoir model can be used as an analogue for similar geological settings. It can be applied to improve the prediction of subsurface geology in analogous reservoirs and to increase the accuracy of static connectivity and flow simulations. Ultimately this will improve knowledge of the impact of facies heterogeneities on reservoir performance and lead to increased efficiency of reservoir drainage.