A TRANSECT THROUGH A CLASTIC-SWAMP TO PEAT-SWAMP ECOTONE IN THE SPRINGFIELD COAL, MIDDLE PENNSYLVANIAN AGE OF INDIANA, USA

Permineralized fossil plants in coal balls were collected along a kilo meter transect through an organic-rich shale in the Springfield Coal i n southwestern Indiana. The organic shale is an upper bench of the Spr ingfield Coal in art area where the coal is split into an upper and lo wer bench by a complex system of clastics that originated as a splay. The elastic wedge, described as the Folsomville Member/Leslie Cemetery paleochannel, is up to 6 km wide and 15 m thick. The transect begins approximately 100 m from the edge of the clastic wedge that splits the coal seam and follows the upper bench of coal over and toward the cen ter of the elastic wedge. The dominant elements of the vegetation were the lycopsid tree Paralycopodites brevifolius and several species of medullosan pteridosperms. This report confirms the ecotonal habitats o f this vegetation.