Forest-tundra neighbouring the North Pole: plant and insect remains from the Plio-Pleistocene Kap København Formation, north Greenland

The Kap København Formation in northeast Peary Land, Greenland, is believed to be 2.0-2.5 million years old, i.e. from the Plio-Pleistocene transition. Although deposited in marine and coastal environments, the sediments contain abundant remains of terrestrial and limnic organisms. This paper examines macroscopic plant and insect remains. The species composition shows that upland areas were covered with forest-tundra and heathland and that mesotrophic, well-vegetated lakes and a number of other wetland localities existed in the area. The presence of arctic plants in the formation puts some time constraints on their origin.