hi

nice pictures

see Brown & Hebda 2011 Origin, development, and dynamics of coastal temperate conifer rainforests of southern Vancouver Island, Canada.Canadian Journal of Forest Research 32(2):353-372.

Thanks Marc, I appreciate your quick answer and reference. Am I looking at chains of Pterocarya pollen?

Dear Huibert

i am not a palynologist, however to me these look as bisaccate pollen of the Pinaceae. A palynologist could probably give a more founded opinion.

good luck

marc

These could be foraminiferal organic linings (see attached paper by Tyszka et al, 2021), which have been reported in several instances from Quaternary palynological preparations by Bas van Geel and others.

Dear Alexander,

I wonder, these are so irregular, almost chaotically arranged. I think they are fungi. I find them in between abundant Pinus and Picea pollen.

Indeed, but is the irregularity real, or only apparent (due to taphonomy, sample processing, etc.). I don't know what is their size, but they may be too big to be typical fungal material. Their sizes and how they compare to those of foraminiferal linings may solve this. Especially the one at the top right in your montage reminded me of the coiled foraminiferal linings, then the others could be explained as disrupted such specimens. I would also try to contact Bas van Geel, who has worked extensively on non-pollen palynomorphs, and Tiszka, whose paper I had attached previously). I am attaching another paper that may come in handy.

Best wishes,

Mihai Tomescu

Bas van Geel supports your interpretation that these could represent foram linings. Thanks again, Alexandru. I will resample the surface section. This is worth more research.

They resemble clusters of inaperturate pollen of gymnosperms. Check Inaperturopollenites hiatus/dubius.

When pollen is insitu, eg, from the anther, they occur in clusters but transportation disperses them.

Obianuju P. Umeji

Thank you, Obianuju

New Method for Pollen IdentiŽ cation by

FT-IR Spectroscopy

C. S. PAPPAS, P. A. TARANTILIS, P. C. HARIZANIS, and M. G. POLISSIOU*

Laboratory of Chemistry, Department of Science (C.S.P., P.A.T., M.G.P.) and Laboratory of Sericulture and Apiculture, Department

of Crop Science (P.C.H.), Agricultural University of Athens, 75 Iera Odos Street, 11855 Athens, Greece

A new methodology for identiŽ cation of pollen was developed based

on FT-IR spectroscopy. Pollen samples of twenty different plant

species were collected and the diffuse re ectance infrared Fourier

transform (DRIFTS) and KBr pellet spectra were recorded. Libraries

of spectra were created. Spectra of unknown plant origin

pollen were recorded and compared with those of the corresponding

pollen library and the match value was measured automatically

using the appropriate software (OMINC ver. 3.1). From the same

pollen samples, microscopic slides were prepared and the photographs

of the pollen grains were used as a second comparison method.

Using light microscopy, the pollen identiŽ cation is usually limited

to the family or generic name, while FT-IR spectroscopy can

distinguish species belonging to the same genus. This method is simple

and fast, and when the DRIFTS technique is used the sample is