Zs. P. Komáromy szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 13. 1979 (Budapest, 1979)

Hably, Lilla: Climatic changes in the area of Central Paratethys during the Tertiary (based on the macroflora)

cal optimum of this zone is almost subtropical. According to MAI there existed

1 a deciduous flora under an fluctuating warmer climate. Further on it is difficult to make comparisons between flora in this country and in zones delineated in other areas as the majority of florae dealt with so far belongs to the Sarmatian stage and little is known about the antecedents. KNOBLOCH (KNOBLOCH et al. 19 75) sets up two zones in the Eggenburgian stage the first of which he identifies with MAI's zone IV. MAI assumes warm and humid climate at the beginning of the Miocene. In zone IV. a mixture of Arctotertiary and laurophillous can be observed with the flora tending to become laurophillous at its optimum. In the Ottnangien stage KNOBLOCH designates one single zone which is significant also in Hungary its paratype locality being Ipolytarnóc. This is the Engelhardtia detectaLaurophyllum div. sp. - Calamus noszkyi zone. In the flora laurophillous leaves with entire margin dominate. In the Karpatian stage KNOBLOCH distinguishes three further flora zones and demonstrates its similarity with MAI's zone on the basis of the presence of Mastixioidea flora, maintaining, however, that this is older. Zone VI. shows great similarity to the Eocene flora. According to KNOBLOCHthis corresponds roughly to the Eggenburgian, and can be regarded as the flourishing of the Mastixioidea flora in Germany after the Eocene. In Bohemia this dates from a later age according to KNOBLOCH, from the Ottnangian/Karpatian. The flora of zone VI. suggests to MAI a definitely tropic climate with temperatures ranging from 20 to 23°C and a rainfall of between 1000-2000 mm. In the Upper Karpatian and Lower Badenian florazone Mastixioidea disappears in the Czech regions and there is a higher proportion of Arctotertiary elements. In the other zone, also of Lower Badenian, only Arctotertiary elements are present and of Paleotropical ones only the representatives of the longlasting Lauraceae family are to be found. In the Middle Badenian three phytocenose are isolated, in one of them there is a preponderance of Arctotertiary elements. The rich Sarmathian flora of this country also contains predominantly Arctotertiary elements. In the Pannonian and Pontian are poor in species in the Czech regions, moreover the Hungarian Pliocene does not contain a large number of species compared to the abundance of the Miocene. HORVÁTH (1963)describes Salix species from around Sé (Western-Hungary near Szombathely) from this he concludes the cool and rainy climate. There is a large amount of Glyptostrobus europaeus as well as two species: Pteris sp. and Osmunda parschlugiana in its herb layer. The Myrica species of the flora belong to Myrica gale-form. The flora of Upper Pliocene indicate the approaching of the ice-age. The gradual impoverishment is to be explained by the deterioration of the climate. Summing up the climatic variations in the Tertiary it can be concluded that in the Upper Eocene and in the Lower Oligocène under a subtropical climate a thermophillousPaleotropical flora dominated, which probably survived until the Middle Oligocène. The borderline between the Lower and Middle Oligocène is rather difficult to draw. The Middle Oligocène is characterized by a rather more drier climate, getting drier South of Hungary. In the Egerian decisive changes occur in the northern part of the Central Paratethys. This is the time when the Arctotertiary elements become dominant. The deciduous flora indicate cooler climate and seasonal changes. The Eggenburgian shows a warming up in Germany and to a lesser extent in Bohemia. This cannot be