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Abstract
A palynological study of the Ordovician–Silurian boundary (Katian–Rhuddanian) succession in the Röstånga-1 drillcore, southern Sweden, has been performed. The lithology is dominated by mudstone and graptolitic shale, with subordinate limestone, formed in the deeper marine halo of southern Baltica. The palynological assemblages are dominated by marine microfossils, mainly chitinozoans and acritarchs. Sparse but well-preserved cryptospores, including Tetrahedraletes medinensis, Tetrahedraletes grayii and Pseudodyadospora sp., were encountered in the Lindegård Formation (late Katian–early Hirnantian), with the oldest record just above the first appearance of the graptolite species Dicellograptus complanatus. This represents the earliest record of early land plant spores from Sweden and possibly also from Baltica and implies that land plants had migrated to the palaeocontinent Baltica by at least the Late Ordovician.
Acknowledgements
The results form part of ASB's master thesis at Lund University. The studies were supported by European grant (L020901652) to ASB. Claudia Rubinstein is acknowledged for discussions concerning the acritarch and spore taxonomy. We further thank Axel Munnecke and Thomas Servais for reviewing the manuscript and suggesting improvements. This research was further supported by the Swedish Research Council through grant LUCCI (Lund University Carbon Cycle Interactions) to K. Mehlqvist and V. Vajda. M. Calner acknowledges support from the Swedish Research Council. This paper is a contribution to the IGCP Project 591 (The Early to Middle Palaeozoic Revolution).