Terrestrial floras during the Carnian Pluvial Episode in the Northwestern Tethys

The Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE) has been identified as a time of plant radiation and origination of new lineages, likely related to rapid changes from xerophytic to more hygrophytic floras. Increasing humidity, causally resulting from large igneous province volcanism, is considered the likely trigger for the observed changes in terrestrial ecosystems. Understanding the cause and effects of the CPE on the plant realm requires the study of well-preserved floras that are precisely aligned with the CPE. Some of the most iconic Carnian floras are located in the Alps, laying during the CPE in the northwestern margin of the Tethys. This includes the famous Lunz locality (Northern Calcareous Alps) with the so far most diverse and rich plant fossil assemblages, as well as the Raibl plant fossil assemblages (Carnic Alps) and Dibona and Monte Pora (Southern Alps). These successions did not only yield the oldest fossiliferous amber worldwide. Integrated studies of palynomorphs and macro-remains reveal a variety of different plant fossil assemblages from highly diverse ones dominated by ferns and cycadophytes to plant fossil assemblages almost exclusively composed of conifers that show a mixture of predominantly late Palaeozoic (Majonicaceae, Voltziaceae), Mesozoic (Cheirolepidiaceae), and extant (Araucariaceae, Pinaceae, and Podocarpaceae) conifer families.