Enigmatic occurrence of Permian plant roots in Lower Silurian rocks,Guizhou Province,China |
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Authors: | Yi Wang Dianne Edwards Michael Bassett Hong‐He Xu Jiafei Xiao Qing Jiang Xiaole Zhang |
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Institution: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, , Nanjing, 210008 China;2. School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, , Cardiff, CF10 3AT UK;3. Department of Geology, National Museum of Wales, , Cardiff, CF10 3NP UK;4. Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, , Guiyang, 550002 China |
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Abstract: | Pinnatiramosus qianensis Geng, 1986, is a plant with a complex, extensive pinnate branching system and pitted tracheids, collected from marine Lower Silurian (Llandovery; c. 430 Ma) rocks in Guizhou Province, China. It challenges long‐held theories on the origin and early evolution of vascular plants in the Silurian and Devonian. However, there is a hypothesis that the fossils were not syngenetic with the entombing rock, but were the rooting systems of much younger plants, probably of Permian age. New sections and collections of P. qianensis have been subjected to detailed analyses, which indicate that P. qianensis belongs to an early Permian (c. 285 Ma) rooting system growing down into lower Silurian rocks. |
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Keywords: |
Pinnatiramosus qianensis
Early Permian Early Silurian rooting system early land plant |
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