Liquidamabar fossil from Clarkia Flora

Liquidamabar fossil from Clarkia Flora

Using Paleobotanical Evidence to Infer Changes in Pacific Northwest Climate and Vegetation Since the Middle Tertiary

By Mike Sullivan

ESC 401, Spring 2003

Conifer fossil from Clarkia Flora

What is Paleobotany?

Introduction to Paleobotany

cool warm

General temperature trends throughout tertiary and quaternary.

source: E.B Leopold "Origin of our Modern Floras" unpublished

How did the Pacific Northwest change over time? Click on the links to find out what the PNW looked like in each epoch.

Holocene

Miocene

Oligocene

For further information, consult the papers presented in the Geological Society of America's Cordilleran Section 98th Annual Meeting.