With the knowledge of the Devonian sediment distribution and the Devonian plant localities in China, we compiled the palaeogeographic maps of the Early, Middle and Late Devonian plant distribution in China. According to these maps, we may find that the plants in the Early Devonian were distributed in Yunnan, Guangxi, and Hunan in southwest China and migrated to the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the Middle Devonian and to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the Late Devonian. In North China, the Early Devonian plants were not recorded, but the Middle Devonian plants were found in northern Xinjinag. The plants migrated to the Qilian Moutains and some areas in Ningxia in the Late Devonian. The percentage of every kind of plants in the three ages of Devonian was calculated. The plants of zosterophyllophytes were the dominant types in the Early Devonian floras, associating with rhyniophytes and prelycopods. The lycopods became the dominant plants in the Middle Devonian floras. In the Late Devonian, lycopods still dominated, and sphenphytes, ferns and pteridosperms developed quickly.
Corresponding Authors:
Li Chengsen is a professor in the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. E-mail:lics@ibcas.ac.cn.
About author: Yang Nan, born in 1980, is a PhD. candidate in the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Now he is mainly engaged in early vascular plant research.
Cite this article:
. Constitution and palaeogeographical distribution of the Devonian vascular plants in China[J]. JOURNAL OF PALAEOGEOGRAPHY, 2009, 11(1): 91-104.
. Constitution and palaeogeographical distribution of the Devonian vascular plants in China[J]. JOPC, 2009, 11(1): 91-104.