Palynofacies and spore assemblage variations of upper Viséan (Mississippian) strata across the southern North Sea

Miospore abundances, assemblage diversities and the number of coincident genera between the sections are reduced in moving towards distal depositional settings. This reduction most effects rounded triangular and triangular miospores, while the proportion of rounded miospores increases significantly. The palaeobotanical/palaeoecological character of the miospores also clearly changes in moving from coastal clastic to carbonate platform depositional settings. These changes appear to be largely controlled by taphonomic effects such as primary input and sorting during transportation and deposition, such that a facies-related pattern is apparent. Variations in late Viséan miospore assemblages across the studied area appear to be most closely related to the different facies realms suggesting that previously identified differences in miospore assemblages from Germany and Britain reflect depositional facies rather than regional variations in parent vegetation or climate.