Preliminary data on the Givetian flora of Oum el Jerane (Anti-Atlas, Morocco)

International audience ; This communication presents a preliminary analysis of an unpublished fossil plant assemblage from the marine deposits of Oum El Jerane in Tafilalt (Southeastern Morocco). These fossils were collected during a geological field-trip conducted in 2013 by Profs. El Hassani, Becker and Tahiri as part of the International Field Symposium ̏The Devonian and Lower Carboniferous of Gondwana˝. The plant remains are dated of the upper Givetian (Middle Devonian) by the associated fauna (Becker et al. 2013). They represent the oldest assemblage of anatomically preserved plants in Morocco. The specimens are anatomically preserved in a limonitic matrix. About 30 small axes measuring between 4 and 14 mm wide and preserved over a length not exceeding 30 mm were collected. Wafers were prepared in cross-section, and longitudinally when the axis length allowed it. The described specimens are assignable to the Iridopteridales, pseudosporochnalean-type Cladoxylopsida and Aneurophytalean progymnosperms. The Oum El Jerane assemblage shows affinities with contemporaneous plant assemblages from the eastern USA, suggesting floristic exchanges with the paleocontinent Laurussia