New data about the Late Cretaceous floras of the Ulya depression (western coast of Sea of Okhotsk)
New investigation of fossil plants from volcanic-sedimentary deposits of the Amka Formation in Ulya River basin (southern part of the Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt, Northeastern Russia) shows, that the Arinda, Uenma, Ust-Amka and Gyrbykan floristic assemblages from diff erent localities of this formation have very close systematic composition. We propose to joint these assemblages in the single regional flora, which is named the Ulya flora. The Ulya flora consists of almost 40 species. The majority of them are represented by new undescribed taxa. In this flora gymnosperms (Phoenicopsis ex gr. speciosa Heer, Ginkgo ex gr. adiantoides (Ung.) Heer, G. ex gr. sibirica Heer, Sphenobaiera sp., Podozamites sp., Elatocladus spp., Araucarites sp., Sequoia sp., Metasequoia sp., Cupressinocladus sp., Ditaxocladus sp., Pityophyllum sp., Pityostrobus sp.) predominate. Ferns (Asplenium dicksonianum Heer, Arctopteris sp., Cladophlebis spp. and several undescribed taxa) and angiosperms (Trochodendroides spp., undetermined Platanaceae, Dicotylophyllum spp., Quereuxia angulate (Newb.) Krysht. ex Baik.) are not abundant. This flora is characterized by presence of the Early Cretaceous relicts (Phoenicopsis, Sphenobaiera and Podozamites), by rarity of angiosperms and by high endemism. On the base of comparison of the Ulya flora with other floras from middle and northern parts of the Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt, the age of the Ulya flora is estimated as the Coniacian.