Late Messinian flora from the post-evaporitic deposits of the Piedmont Basin (Northwest Italy)

In the Piedmont Basin (PB), one of northernmost Mediterranean basins recording Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC), pollen and plant macroremains (leaves, fruits seeds) were studied in four sedimentary sections post-evaporitic interval (5.6–5.33 Ma). The joint palaeobotanical investigations two datasets allowed reconstruction a floristic assemblage which consists 133 taxa (95 woody 38 non-woody taxa). lowland/coastal vegetation reconstructed by integrating macro- microfossil data exhibits several analogies with existing “types/formations” South-Southeast Asia, whereas occurring solely record suggest existence altitudinal forests conifers few angiosperms. We that generalized type lowland, zonal palaeovegetation PB was no-analog type, but most similar to either “mixed mesophytic forests” or “broad-leaved evergreen forests”, indicates Köppen-Trewartha subtropical palaeoclimate.