Jurassic and Cretaceous floras and climates of the earth /

This masterful correlation and interpretation of the fossil floras of 200 to 65 million years ago provides new facts for improved answers to many questions in palaeophytogeography, palaeoclimatology, and continental drift. Building on fossil floras investigated by his widely respected teacher, A.N. Krishtofovich, Vakhrameev devoted his research to Mesozoic floras of the vast Euro-Asiatic land mass. During the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods flowering plants evolved and spread over all lands. Broad-leaved woody plants formed closed canopy forests with many new kinds of habitats. Plant forms offer clues to prevailing climates and plant-animal interactions. Tracking these palaeofloras geographically and stratigraphically, the author confirms tropical moist climates of the Jurassic, followed by widespread cooling and moderating precipitation, then mild temperate climates in the Cretaceous. Brief reviews of the genera and species of the individual floras provide a valuable and convenient reference for research palaeobotanists in this excellent translation, enhanced by final editing by an English specialist on Mesozoic palaeobotany. The author's running commentary on the fossils and his interpretations will stimulate new palaeoecological thinking by graduate students and research workers in related disciplines. Literature citations are extensive, mainly in Russian. Systematic and geographic indexes; generalized maps of fossil localities; photographs of representative or critical fossils. W. S. Benninghoff; University of Michigan