Terrestrial palynostratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) to lowermost Paleocene of southern Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT

A large amount of palynological research has been undertaken on the Late Cretaceous–Paleocene strata of the plains area of southern Alberta. The present study is a summary of the palynoflora encountered in individual rock units across the region. Previous palynological research has been summarized and a brief summary of the geology of the region provided. A large number of taxa have been identified with many not as yet described. Important palynomorph taxa are illustrated along with a tabulation of all the species identified to date for each stratigraphic unit. A biostratigraphic scheme is proposed with 19 biozones described. Not all of these biozones are present in Alberta and information has been taken from materials in Saskatchewan, Canada, and Montana, United States.

KEYWORDS:

• Palynology
• Cretaceous
• Paleocene
• Alberta
• Canada
• biostratigraphy

Acknowledgements

The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology supported all aspects of this research throughout this study. A. Sweet and J. Lerbekmo have been major influences on the author over the four decades he has spent studying the Western Interior Basin. Discussions with D. Eberth and D. Brinkman over time have greatly facilitated concepts developed in this paper. K. Aulenback, R. Kalgutkar, B. Davies, L. Dancey and R. Harms provided excellent preparations of the enormous number of samples utilized in this study. Two anomynous reviewers provided much-needed and appreciated comments that improved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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D.R. Braman

DENNIS R. BRAMAN completed his MSc and PhD theses at the University of Calgary, studying Devonian and Carboniferous palynomorph assemblages from northern Canada. For the past 34 years, he has been a curator of palynology at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. While at the museum, he has concentrated on the study of Late Cretaceous and Paleocene palynology of the Western Interior Basin of North America. Topics of special interest have included biostratigraphy, environmental aspects of sequence, the Cretaceous–Paleocene boundary, and systematics.