Botanical affinity of the taxa encountered in the Maywood Formation

This dataset lists the species of palynomorphs occurring in the Middle Devonian (Givetian) deposits of the Maywood Formation of Cottonwood Canyon, Wyoming, USA. The palynological investigation was carried out in order to decipher the age and paleoenvironment of the microconchid tubeworms (Tentaculita) which were described from the deposits of the Maywood Formation. The retrieved data suggest a likely brackish water origin for the deposits studied, although temporary fully freshwater conditions cannot be ruled out. Indeed, the terrestrial spores recovered from the Maywood samples belong to progymnosperm, lycopsid and primitive fern groups (see the data attached), which were major components of swamp plant communities, suggesting very close proximity of fresh water sources to the depositional paleoenvironment of the Maywood Formation. The highly abundant progymnosperm Geminospora spp., in particular, specifically suggests deposition in, or adjacent to, fluvio-lacustrine, lower floodplain, or paralic environments. Fine granular and fibrous amorphic organic matter with orange fluorescence has been linked with various terrestrial and algal aquatic sources. In addition, well-preserved terrestrial spores, and the presence of megaspores, tetrads, and pyrite, all support a brackish, shallow-water depositional setting. This is in agreement with other fossiliferous and lithologic evidence provided in this and in previous studies.