Palynology of the Cenomanian Woodbine Group

This study explores the palynology of the Cenomanian Woodbine Group in order to answer questions about the paleoecology of North Texas during the Cenomanian and how palynofloras vary at different localities with different facies, as well as the radiation of angiosperms in the Late Cretaceous. This study also helps our understanding of the paleoecology after the Albian Trinity Group in Texas. Three localities in North Texas were sampled and a total of seventeen productive samples were analyzed for palynological data. Pollen was extracted from mudstones from two depositional environments: lower delta plain marshes and a meandering river system. The palynomorphs recovered represent sixty-one unique taxa. The sample localities show the changing composition of marsh environments through the Cenomanian, including changes from cycad brackish water swamps to cypress swamps to palm swamps. The samples also show an increasing dominance of angiosperms through time. The overall paleoecology of the Woodbine is determined to be sub-tropical to tropical near shore environments deposited in a hot, humid, and wet climate