Abstract Here we introduce the volume Applications of Non-Pollen Palynomorphs: from Palaeoenvironmental Reconstructions to Biostratigraphy . The study of non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs) has a long and rich history that is interwoven with that of pollen-based studies. NPPs are among the oldest fossils on record and are instrumental in determining the origin and evolution of life, as well as studying origination and extinction events prior to the origin of pollen-producing angiosperms. This new volume on NPPs provides an up-to-date and seminal overview of the subject, linking deep-time and Quaternary study of the subject for the first time.

ABSTRACT Meighen Island, in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is one of the most important localities for study of the late Neogene Beaufort Formation because of the presence of marine sediments interbedded with terrestrial fossiliferous sands. The stratigraphic succession, fossils from the marine beds, correlation with reconstructions of sea level, and paleomagnetic data from the Bjaere Bay region of the island suggest that the Beaufort Formation on Meighen Island was likely deposited either at 3.2–2.9 Ma or during two intervals at ca. 4.5 Ma and 3.4 Ma. The exposed Beaufort Formation on Meighen Island probably encompasses at least one warm interval and eustatic sea-level highstand of the Pliocene. Fossils of plants and arthropods are abundant in the alluvial sands exposed in the Bjaere Bay region. The lower part of the sequence (Unit A), beneath the muddy marine sequence (Unit B), contains plant taxa that have not been seen above the marine beds. Sediments below the marine beds are dominated more by fossils of trees, whereas the organic debris from above marine beds contains many fossils of plants, insects, and mites characteristic of open treeless sites. Regional tree line probably occurred on Meighen Island during deposition of the upper sediments, which implies a mean July climate at least 9 °C warmer than at present. When the marine sediments were deposited, nearshore water temperatures probably did not fall below 0 °C; hence, the Arctic Ocean probably lacked perennial ice cover. This confirms recent modeling experiments exploring the causes of Arctic amplification of temperature that have found the removal of sea ice to be a key factor in resolving previous proxy-model mismatches.

ABSTRACT This trip explores three different occurrences of a diamictite-bearing unit in the transition between Upper Devonian redbeds of the Hampshire Formation (alluvial and fluvial deposits) and Mississippian sandstones and mudstones of the Price/Pocono Formations (deltaic deposits). Palynology indicates that all the diamictites examined are in the LE and LN miospore biozones, and are therefore of Late Devonian, but not latest Devonian, age. Their occurrence in these biozones indicates correlation with the Cleveland Member of the Ohio Shale, Oswayo Member of the Price Formation, and Finzel tongue of the Rockwell Formation in the central Appalachian Basin and with a large dropstone (the Robinson boulder) in the Cleveland Member of the Ohio Shale in northeastern Kentucky. Although several lines of evidence already support a glaciogenic origin for the diamictites, the coeval occurrence of the dropstone in open-marine strata provides even more convincing evidence of a glacial origin. The diamictites are all coeval and occur as parts of a shallow-marine incursion that ended Hampshire/Catskill alluvial-plain accumulation in most areas; however, at least locally, alluvial redbed accumulation continued after diamictite deposition ended. The diamictites are parts of nearshore, marginal-marine strata that accumulated during the Cleveland-Oswayo-Finzel transgression, which is related to global eustasy and to foreland deformational loading during the late Acadian orogeny. Detrital zircon data from clasts in a diamictite at Stop 3 (Bismarck, West Virginia) indicate likely Inner Piedmont, Ordovician plutonic sources and suggest major Acadian uplift of Inner Piedmont sources during convergence of the exotic Carolina terrane with the New York and Virginia promontories. Hence, the Acadian orogeny not only generated high mountain source areas capable of supporting glaciation in a subtropical setting, but also through deformational foreland loading, abetted regional subsidence and the incursion of shallow seas that allowed mountain glaciers access to the open sea.

Abstract The mine caves of Naica (Chihuahua, Mexico) are famous because they host large gypsum crystals. Mine works intersected new caves hosting the largest crystals in the world in the year 2000. From 2006 these caves became the object of a multidisciplinary research project with the goal of inferring their ages, the boundary conditions for their formation and the mechanisms inducing their development. Several other scientific aspects were also considered, including palynology, mineralogy, microbiology, physiology, hydrogeology and astrobiology. From 2006 to 2009, scientists and explorers tried to ensure the complete documentation of these natural wonders because they were expected to be accessible for only a few years. As a result of their location c. 160 m below the natural groundwater level, they were predicted to be flooded with thermal water as soon as dewatering of the mine ceased. This occurred at the end of 2015, so that the lower part of the mine is already submerged and in the near future the giant crystal caves will also disappear. Theoretically, it is still possible to maintain these incredible wonders for future generations, but this seems highly unlikely. Soon the crystals will be submerged below c. 150 m of hot water, restarting their incredible slow growth.