Helicosporous fungi and Early Eocene pollen, Eureka Sound Group, Axel Heiberg Island, Northwest Territories

Abstract

Two types of helicosporous fungal spores were recovered from a sample from the Iceberg Bay Formation, Eureka Sound Group, at Strand Fiord, Axel Heiberg Island. These spores appear to be identical to those produced by the Recent genera Helicoön, Helicodendron, and Helicosporium. The associated pollen flora indicates an Early Eocene age for the sample and interval from which it was collected. The pollen and spores suggest that swamp forest vegetation, dominated by trees of Taxodiaceae–Cupressaceae and growing in a temperate climate, was present at or close to the site of deposition.