Recent status and problems of pollen stratigraphy
Shigemoto Tokunaga, Hideaki Oshima, Yoshinaga ITO · Journal of Geography (Chigaku Zasshi) · 1977
The pollen stratigraphy is a part of paleopalynology. The pollen stratigraphy of Tertiary, Quaternary and Mesozoic are not yet completed in Japan.The oldest fossil spores have been found from the Permian of Kyoto prefecture. The good pollen assemblages have been found over lower Cretaceous, but well preserved Cretaceous specimens is limited to the Hokkaido and northern areas of Tohoku district.The many Tertiary pollen and spore assemblages have been found from many places through Japan.In the beginning of pollen analysis in Japan, analysis of lignite and coal was commenced, but now the good samples for analysis are clay, silt and others.The valuable fossil pollen and spores for correlation are the warm-temperate flora in the northern part of Japan and the cool-temperate species is important in the southern part of Japan.In the Okinawa-Taiwan area, the pollen of southern conifer, for example Dacrydium and Phyllocladus, are important for palynological correlation, and also in the south-east Asia, Rhizophora and Sonneratia are remarkable.The problems in the palynological correlation are the recognition of derived fossils and the mechanism of transportation of pollen and spore.