Late Cainozoic Floras of Iceland

Being the only place in the northern North Atlantic yielding late Cainozoic terrestrial sediments rich in plant fossils, Iceland provides a unique archive for vegetation and climate development in this region. This book includes the complete plant fossil record from Iceland spanning the past 15 million years. Eleven sedimentary rock formations containing over 320 plant taxa are described. For each flora, palaeoecology and floristic affinities within the Northern Hemisphere are established.

The exceptional fossil record allows a deeper understanding of the role of the "North Atlantic Land Bridge" for intercontinental plant migration and of the Gulf Stream-North Atlantic Current system for regional climatic evolution.

1. Introduction to the Nature and Geology of Iceland
2. A brief Review of Palaebotanical Research in Iceland
3. Systematic Paleobotany
4. The Archaic Floras (15 Ma)
5. The Classic Surtarbrandur Floras (12 Ma)
6. The early Late Miocene Floras (10 Ma) -- First Evidence of Cool Temperate and Herbaceous Taxa
7. The middle Late Miocene Floras (9-8 Ma) -- A Window into the Regional Vegetation Surrounding a Large Caldera
8. A Lakeland Area in the Late Miocene (7-6 Ma)
9. A late Messinian Palynoflora with a distinct Taphonomy
10. Pliocene Terrestrial and Marine Biota of the Tjornes Peninsula -- Warm Climates and Biogeographic Re-arrangements
11. The Pleistocene Floras (2.4-0.8 Ma) -- Shaping the Modern Vegetation of Iceland
12. The Biogeographic History of Iceland -- The North Atlantic Land Bridge Revisited
13. Climate evolution in the northern North Atlantic -- 15 Ma to present
14. Art Meets Science -- The Unpublished Drawings by Carl Hedelin and Therese Ekblom