The oldest Neogene sediments in Wales: palaeoenvironment and palaeoclimate of the Trwyn y Parc solution pipe complex

MCCOY JESSICA; GIBSON E. MARTHA; O'KEEFE JENNIFER M. K.; NUÑEZ OTAÑO N.B.; WARNY SOPHIE; POUND MATTHEW

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Congreso; 53rd AASP-TPS Annual Meeting at LSU; 2021

The palynological society

Trwyn y Parc, Anglesey, Wales is one of three onshore UK sites to contain a Miocene-age fossil flora, it is both a Regionally Important Geological Site and part of the GeoMôn UNESCO Global Geopark, making its geoheritage of international importance. Trwyn y Parc was previously assigned to the Miocene, but when in the Miocene was never established. A reanalysis of the original palynology has enabled the fossiliferous sediments in solution pipes 12-13 to be assigned to a Middle Miocene, possibly Langhian age. The palaeoclimate of the UK has been reconstructed using the co-existence approach. These climate reconstructions compare to those of the German Middle Miocene and the Langhian post-Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum. Reconstructed mean annual temperature and precipitation range from 17.2 to 18.1ºC and 1217 to 1356mm, in comparison to respective current variables 10.0ºC and 836mm. Reconstructed coldest and warmest mean month temperatures were 4.3 to 5.8 ºC and 26.5 to 27.80C, respectively, compared to present-day temperatures of 2.9ºC (coldest) and 18.80C (warmest), providing new evidence for a strong summer cooling from the Middle Miocene to today.