This fossil flora provides evidence of succession on a volcanic field in which a mixed conifer forest is replaced for a period by a broadleaved schlerophyll vegetation. The sequence will be dated using the potassium-argon method and the rates of succession compared with modern rates on disturbed areas. This is the first time that gradual replacement of miocene exotic hardwood vegetation will have been recorded and dated. The study has a relevance to global change. The general date corresponds to a major spread of the Antarctic ice sheet some 15 Ma ago and will be the first time that marine changes in the southern oceans can be correlated to mid-latitude terrestrial changes. The study will also test the hypothesis that these fossil floras are preserved in situ and have not been transported from elsewhere and are the direct, although ancient, ancestors of present-day high montane floras.
