Náttúrufræðingurinn - 1988, Qupperneq 32

þvermál og eru því um það bil helmingi
minni en stærstu rauðviðartrén, sem
verða yfir 110 m á hæð, og eru með
stærstu lífverum jarðarinnar. En hvað
sem segja má um stærðina þá virðist
kínarauðviðurinn ætla að þrauka og er
nú talinn úr útrýmingarhættu.
HEIMILDIR
Chaney, R.W. 1951. A revision of fossil
Sequoia and Taxodium in western North
America based upon recent discoveries.
— Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. New Ser. 40:
171-263.
Freysteinn Sigurðsson & Kristján Sæmunds-
son. 1984. Surtarbrandur á Vestfjörðum.
- Orkustofnum OS-84039/OBD-02, 43
bls.
Gothan, W. & H. Weyland. 1964. Lehrbuch
der Paláobotanik, 2. útg. - Akademie
Verlag, Berlín: 594 bls.
Guðmundur G. Bárðarson. 1918. Um surtar-
brand. - Andvari 43: 1-71.
Hewes, J. 1981. Redwoods. - Hamlyn, Lond-
on: 192 bls.
Jóhannes Áskelsson. 1942. Surtarbrands-
náman í Botni. - Náttúrufr. 12: 144-148.
McDougall, I., Leó Kristjánsson & Kristján
Sæmundsson. 1984. Magnetostratigraphy
and geochronology of Northwest Iceland.
- J. Geoph. Res. 89 (88): 7029-7060.
Miki, S. 1941. On the change of flora in east-
ern Asia since the Tertiary period. - Jap-
an J. Bot. 11: 237-303.
Rasmussen, J. & E.B. Koch. 1963. Fossil
Metasequoia from Mikines, Faroe Is-
lands. - Fróðskaparrit 12: 83-96.
SUMMARY
Fossil Metasequoia from
Súgandafjörður, Northwest
Iceland
by
Leifur A. Símonarson
Raunvísindastofnun Háskólans
Dunhaga 3
107 Reykjavík, Iceland
Fragmentary shoots of Metasequoia with
several decussate, linear leaves are described
from Tertiary interbasaltic sediments in Súg-
andafjörður, Northwest Iceland. The shoots
probably belong to Metasequoia occidentalis
Chaney which occurs in the entire Tertiary
system. However, here Metasequoia is descri-
bed for the first time in Icelandic deposits.
The sediments in Súgandafjörður are of Upp-
er Miocene age and 13-14 m.y. old. They
belong to the oldest plant-bearing horizon in
Iceland, which comprises the Selárdalur-
Botn flora consisting of mixed warm-temp-
erate forest of deciduous trees and conifers
where angiosperms dominate over conifers
and Taxodiaceae over Pinaceae.
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