PALYNOMORPHS FROM TEHUACÁNCUICATLÁN VALLEY TRAVERTINE ROCKS WITH ARTIODACTYLA ICNITES, MEXICO

RAMIREZ-ARRIAGA, E.; MARTINEZ -HERNANDEZ, E.; MERCEDES B. PRÁMPARO; NIETO-SAMANIEGO, A.F.

MENDOZA

Congreso; 4th International Paleontological Congress; 2014

IPA

Although travertine rocks are isolatedly distributed, they are well exposed in the Tehuacán Cuicatlán Valley. Two quarries are well known: one close to Tehuacán city, in Santiago Miahuatlán, Puebla (SMP) and the other in Teotitlán of Flores Magón, Oaxaca. Some authors consideredthem to be Pliocene?Quaternary in age. However, other authors such as Martínez-Amador et al. reported a Miocene age and considered them as part of the Tehuacán Formation. The purpose of this work is to reconstruct past vegetation through the analysis of the palynomorphs which weredeposited during Villa Alegría travertine rock formation. This research is part of a large PAPIIT- IN-114914-3 project aimed towards reconstructing the evolution of plant communities throughout thePaleogene and Neogene in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley. Samples for palynological studies were recovered from stratified reddish and yellow travertine rocks in an exposed section at Villa Alegria,Tehuacán village, Puebla. They are composed of micrite and recrystallized calcite, with microfossils and Artiodactylaicnites. One to three slides per sample were scanned in order to characterize the palynomorph occurrence. Slides are deposited in the palynological collection of the Institute of Geology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Preliminary palynological analysis registered the presence of highland elements such as Myrtaceidites, Liquidambarpollenites, Alnipollenites and Fraxinuspollenites as part of cloud forest. On the other hand, there are some lowland elements; such as: Graminidites and Tubulifloridites. Moreover, the presence of Aglaoreidia cyclops, a fossil taxon associated with upper Eocene to lower Oligocene freshwater deposits in Europe and North America and recently also identified in Australia, would suggest a Paleogene instead of Plio-Pleistocene ageas had been reported by several authors.