Diversity Of Miocene Fossil Acer From The Pohang Basin, Korea

This is a paleobotanical study on the leaves and samaras of newly collected fossil maples from the Miocene Janggi and Yeonil groups of the Pohang Basin, distributed in the Pohang area, Korea, and classified into 8 species, together with some revisions of previous works. The following 6 species have been newly discovered in the Janggi Group or Yeonil Group: Acer protomiyabei, A. palaeoplatanoides, A. huziokae, A. prototrifidium, A. pseudoginnala, and A. ezoanum. The fossil maples of the Janggi and Yeonil floras (including fossilized wood) consist of 10 species and 9 species respectively. The species diversity of Acer is the highest in the Hamjindong flora among all the tertiary floras of the Korean Peninsula, and the next highest diversity is seen in the Janggi flora. While cool temperatures were maintained during the Early Miocene, the Pohang area was a better environment for Acer plants to thrive in than the North Korean environments. However, it is estimated that Acer plants flourished in higher latitude areas as climate systems got warmer.