B. Papp szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 30-31. 1999-2000 (Budapest, 2000)

Erdei, Boglárka; Lesiak, Maria: A study of dispersed cuticles, fossil seeds and cones from Sarmatian (Upper Miocene) deposits of Sopron-Piusz puszta (W Hungary)

The heavily fragmented leaves and poorly preserved seeds suggest long transportation routes. Cones are relatively well preserved which may be attributed to shorter transport or rather to their more resistant woody structure concerning the processes of fossilization and transport. Gymnosperms (47.2%) and angiosperms (50.9%) are represented with nearly the same proportions, however, this may be a distorted picture due to the resistant structure of gymnosperm cuticles. With these remarks in mind some palaeoecological and palaeoclimatological implications of the flora are concluded as follows. Leaf fragments, seeds and cones from Sopron-Piusz puszta represent several vegetation types which thrived even at a great distance from each other. The occurrence of some taxa refers to certain vegetation types. The presence of taxodiaceous plants and Pterocarya may suggest a swampy or riparian vegetation. Lauraceous taxa, Toddalia and Magnolia presumably contributed to the formation of mixed mesophilous forests. Pinus salinarum based on its Mediterranean affinities, refers to a forest appearing in relatively dry conditions compared to the forest types mentioned above. Buxus pliocenica suggests rather mesophilous conditions, that is to say, it is more likely to have turned up in a mixed, but at least partly open, mesophilous forest. The stroma of Trichothyrites refers to humid, subtropical conditions (PHADTARE 1989). From a palaeoclimatological point of view it is important to emphasize the occurrence of a thermophilous element, namely Toddalia, from the "Late" Sarmatian (or more precisely, the upper part of Sarmatian) Sopron flora. The palaeoclimatological implications of the flora are in agreement with the results of the palaeoclimatological reconstruction of other Hungarian Sarmatian floras (ERDEI 1999). The Sarmatian floras of Erdőbénye (Kővágó-oldal, Barnamáj, Ligetmajor), Tállya and Felsőtárkány from the northeastern part of Hungary suggest a warm temperate climate with 13-15 °C mean annual temperature and at least 800-1000 mm mean annual precipitation. The flora of Sopron corresponds well with these results. More or less similar climatic values must have been characteristic of the palaeoflora in both regions. * * # Acknowledgements - We are indebted to Prof. Zlatko Kvacek for his useful remarks and assistance concerning the identification of some cuticle fragments. The study was supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA. Nr 019235) and was carried out in the scope of the Hungarian-Polish Academic Cooperation (Project nr 30).