ANALYSIS OF THE UPPER PENNSYLVANIAN PHYTOZONAL UNITS OF THE DONETS BASIN AND THE NORTHERN CAUCASUS USING THE ECOSTRATIGRAPHIC APPROACH

• Дата: 2026
• Автор: Бояріна, Н.I.
• Формат: Стаття
• Мова: Англійська
• Опубліковано: Institute of Geological Sciences, NAS of Ukraine 2026
• Теми: phytozonation; palaeophytocoenotic changes; vegetation differentiation; Late Pennsylvanian; Donets Basin; Northern Caucasus
• Онлайн доступ: http://geojournal.igs-nas.org.ua/article/view/343227
• Назва журналу: Geological journal

Floristic, palaeophytocoenotic and palaeoecological analyses of the Late Pennsylvanian vegetation cover of the Donets Basin and the Northern Caucasus were conducted for the time intervals of five macrofloral zones to substantiate the Upper Pennsylvanian phytozonal units in the context of palaeoecosystem changes. The vegetation cover of each basin was defined by a type of differentiation reflecting plant community distribution and developmental features of plant communities shaped by ecological niche dynamics. The vegetation cover in the Donets intracraton basin with post-rift paralic setting, where glacioeustatic sea level changes had a significant impact, was characterised by a spatial differentiation into plant communities of coastal lowlands, deltaic and floodplain plains, and river valley slopes in low-relief terrains and the emergence of new ecological niches while changing dominant landscape types. The vegetation cover in the intramontane basin of the Northern Caucasus with a fluvio-lacustrine setting, where a spatial distribution of landscapes were influenced by changes in a local base level of erosion controlled by orogenic processes, was characterised by a catenary differentiation into plant communities of lacustrine coasts, deltaic-floodplain valleys and river valley slopes in sloping terrains with increased plant species richness as a manifestation of the ecotone effect and the emergence of new ecological niches as a result of niche overlap. The time intervals of macrofloral zones are aligned with the stages of development of vegetation cover that are distinguished by progressive or regressive phytocoenotic changes and phytocoenogenetic transformations of plant communities caused by ecosystem-level factors. The analysis of the Late Pennsylvanian vegetation cover in the Donets Basin and the Northern Caucasus indicates that the different landscape and ecological conditions in different tectono-sedimentary basins determined the different types of vegetation cover differentiation, dynamics of ecological niches and diverse phytocoenotic processes. The dynamics of ecological niches and phytocoenotic processes in plant communities under conditions of different types of vegetation cover differentiation controlled the floristic composition of communities, which is reflected in stratigraphic ranges of key and characteristic taxa of macrofloral zones.