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Encyclopedia entry: fossil plants
- Article from:
- The Oxford Companion to the Earth
- Author:
Copyright© The Oxford Companion to the Earth 2000, originally published by Oxford University Press 2000. (Hide copyright information)
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fossil plants
The study of fossil plants, palaeobotany, it not only of interest in itself, but can be applied to solving a wide range of biological and geological problems. Palaeobotany is concerned with the study of macroscopic plants, but can also include palynology—the study of spores, pollen, and other microscopic plants remains.
The nature of fossil plants
Fossilization processes: taphonomy
Plants differ from animals in a number of important respects so far as fossilization is concerned: they tend to live in erosional rather than depositional sites; they are entirely organic (except for some microscopic algae such as diatoms and coccoliths); they can show an alternation of ...