palynomorphspollen

Palynomorphs are microscopic organic particles preserved in sediments and soils, used to reconstruct past biological communities and environmental conditions. The term encompasses a broad suite of propagules and remains, including pollen grains, spores, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, fungal spores, chitinozoans, and related microfossils. Because many palynomorphs have durable walls, they can be transported by wind or water and preserved for long times, making them valuable for stratigraphy and paleoecology.

Pollen grains are produced by seed plants, including gymnosperms and angiosperms. They have resistant outer walls called exine, with patterns that can be diagnostic at species, genus, or family levels. Pollen is central to palynology for tracing past vegetation, reconstructing climate, and dating sediments through biostratigraphy. Assemblages from a single locality are often presented as pollen diagrams to illustrate vegetation change through time.

Dinoflagellate cysts—produced by marine microalgae—record past marine conditions, while terrestrial spores and pollen reflect land plants. Acritarchs, chitinozoans and other palynomorph groups extend the record into older intervals, including the Paleozoic. The combined palynomorph suite supports inferences about paleoenvironments, hydrology, and ecosystem dynamics.

Laboratory work typically involves sampling, removing carbonates and silicates with acids, concentrating particles, and mounting them on slides for light or electron microscopy. Palynologists count and identify grains to generate relative abundances, often summarized in diagrams or zonations that aid correlation and dating.

Applications include biostratigraphy, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, petroleum geology, and archaeology. Limitations include taphonomic bias, reworking of material, differential preservation, and potential contamination, which must be addressed to avoid misinterpretation.