Linking palaeo‐wildfire to depositional environmental and ecological dynamics of an Early–Middle Pennsylvanian fluvial‐tidal transition zone—Palynology and pyrolysis evidence

Abstract Pennsylvanian time was characterised by widespread transgressive depositional systems that spanned non‐marine to fully marine environments across the North American midcontinent. This study presents new palynological and Rock‐Eval pyrolysis data from 113 samples from five cores in the northern Forest City Basin within a depositional‐environment framework previously published which integrated a wide range of physical, chemical and biogenic attributes. A total of 153 palynomorph taxa were identified and we interpret depositional environments within a Palaeozoic hydrosere framework. Swamp forest assemblages are dominated by arborescent lycopods (~40%), sub‐arborescent lycopods (~15%) and ferns (~25%), with gymnosperms and sphenopsids each composing