A laboratorial study on the influence of alkaline and oxidative environment on the preservation of Pinus tabulaeformis pollen

Abstract

Different sedimentary settings can influence preservation of pollens, which would lead to mis-interpretation of fossil pollen spectrum. This study investigates the influence on the preservation of Pinustabulaeformis pollen by simulating alkaline and oxidative environment in the laboratory. There was no obvious change in the content of Pinustabulaeformis pollen while comparing the original with the ones that were immersed with 10% NaOH liquor for ten days, or boiled for five hours, and or boiled with 20%-30% NaOH for one hour, respectively. However, the pollen fossils were obviously corroded and eroded after being boiled with 40% NaOH for one hour and were seriously corroded after five hours. The result indicates that Pinus tabulaeformis pollen is quite durable in alkaline environment and heating condition within a shorter period of time, although alkaline environment has a disadvantage for itspreservation. We also tested the influence of oxidation on Pinus tabulaeformis pollen preservation with KMnO₄ as oxidant. The result presents that the number of remaining Pinustabulaeformis pollen grains decreased quickly after being dipped in KMnO₄ along with extending the reaction time and reinforcing oxidant. The rate of remnant pollen grains was less than 1% after being dipped with 2% KMnO₄ for one hour. It is suggested that oxidative environment has stronger influence on Pinus tabulaeformis pollen preservation than alkaline environment.

Keywords

Pinus tabulaeformis pollen / pollen fossil corrosion / pollen preservation / alkaline environment / oxidative action

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Acknowledgements

This research was jointly supported by the Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40730103), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40571166, 40672107), PhD Foundation of National Education Ministry (Grant No.20050094004), Special Foundation for PhD of Hebei Province (Grant No. 06547006-3), Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (D2008000186) and Hebei Foundation for Key Subject Construction of University, Great thank to the two unknown revisers and Dr. Wang Zhanghua at East China normal university for their helpful suggestions on paper structures and English language.

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