Discovery of plant cuticles in phyllite, late Pennsylvanian Southern Anthracite Field, eastern Pennsylvania, USA: a new research resource?

Abstract

We report a small number of well preserved Late Pennsylvanian plant fossils physically associated with an 8-cm-long assumed anthracitic axis on one of the larger rock slabs (phyllite) described by Leo Lesquereux from the Southern Anthracite Field, USA. The fragmentary fossils, not larger than 1.6 mm, resemble microscopically ‘fossilized-cuticles’. Additionally, observed are 10–28 μm diametric bodies reminiscent of spores. Effectively demonstrated is the co-occurrence of two preservation modes of plant material: (1) as assumed anthracitic axis; and (2), as ‘fossilized-cuticle’ in a metamorphic environment. An organometallic process is hypothesized for stabilizing the preservation states with novel research potential for plant-fossil preservation in an anthracitic terrain.