Table of Contents
1 Cover
6 Section I: Remote Origins 1 The Opening of the North Atlantic Plate Tectonic Résumé Magnetic Anomalies Mantle Plumes The Iceland Plume Early Palaeocene Before the North Atlantic Opening The Geographical Pattern of Break‐Up Micro‐continent Formation Magmatism Heralding the Birth of the New Ocean Flood Basalt Eruptions Seaward Dipping Reflectors Ash Beds of Western and Central Europe The Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum Iceland Evidence for Plume Pulsing Continental Uplift after Ocean Formation Summary Acknowledgements References 2 Cenozoic Vegetation and Phytogeography of the Sub‐arctic North Atlantic Introduction Paleogene Floras and Vegetation Neogene Floras and Vegetation Biogeographic Implications Conclusion and Future Research References 3 Interglacial Biotas from the North Atlantic Islands Introduction The Faroe Islands Iceland Greenland Discussion and Conclusions References
7
Section II: Origins of the Present Biota
4 Origin and Dispersal of the North Atlantic Vascular Plant Floras
North Atlantic Endemics – A History of Over‐Description and Rapid Hybrid Speciation
Colonisation History of North Atlantic Plants
Genetic and Floristic Relationships Among Five Atlantic Floras
Some Glacial Survivors After All?
Concluding Remarks
Acknowledgements
References
5 The Aquatic Fauna of the North Atlantic Islands with Emphasis on Iceland
Introduction
Aquatic Invertebrates
Endemism
Discussion
References
6 The Vascular Floras of High‐Latitude Islands with Special Reference to Iceland
Introduction
A Survey of High‐Latitude Islands
Patterns of Species Richness
Iceland and Its Vascular Flora
Summary
Acknowledgements
References
7 Quaternary Vertebrates from the North Atlantic Islands
Introduction
Fish
Birds
Pre‐Holocene Mammal Remains
Holocene Marine Mammals
Holocene Terrestrial Mammals
Discussion and Conclusions
Acknowledgements
References
8 North Atlantic Insect Faunas, Fossils and Pitfalls
Introduction
The