THE LATE TERTIARY CLIMATE IN WUHAN AREA RECOGNIZED BY FOSSIL WOODS

Twenty-two species(7 gymnosperm and 15 angiosperm)of fossil woods excavated from northern part of Yanglou Town,Xinzhou County,the City of Wuhan,Hubei Province were studied. The angiosperm fossil woods foers discovered and identified asthe first record in China. These 15 angiosperm species are modernly distributed in tropical or suptropical zone. Among them, Bischofia polycarpa Airy-Shaw of the Euphorbiaceae,Acrocarpus fraxinifolius Arn. ex Wight of Caesalpiniaceae and Ormosia pinnata Merr. of Papilionaceae are distributed in tropics and have disappeared in Wuhan area atpresent. It is strongly proved that the climate in Wuhan area was more scorching and humid at the ancient times than it is at the modern times.