DISCOVERY OF PERMINERALIZED PLANT FOSSILS (COAL BALLS) IN THE BOLSOVIAN (EG, WESTPHALIAN C) (MIDDLE PENNSYLVANIAN, UPPER CARBONIFEROUS), STELLARTON BASIN, NOVA-SCOTIA, CANADA

Permineralized plant fossils (coal balls) of Bolsovian age (ex Westpha lian C) were discovered in the Foord seam of the Stellarton Basin of N ova Scotia. The coal-ball plants were preserved in a siderite-dolomite matrix and formed in a nonmarine intermontane setting. The coal-ball flora is dominated by arborescent lycopods and contains a few ferns, a s well as occasional seed ferns, calamiteans, and cordaiteans. The fol lowing taxa were identified: Diaphorodendron, Paralycopodites brevifol ia, Lepidocarpon lomaxii, Stigmaria, Scolecopteris, Botryopteris tride ntata, Medullosa, Heterangium, Astromyelon, and Cordaianthus. This ass emblage contains plants typical of Westphalian coal-swamp floras and h elps fill a stratigraphic gap in Westphalian coal-ball floras of Euram erica.