Palaeoecology and fossil soils of the Andoma Mountain (Upper Devonian) of the Vologda region, Russia

Abstract This paper deals with the general characteristics of the Upper Devonian (Frasnian) deposits cropping out along the northeastern coast of the Onega Lake by the Andoma Mountain (Vologda region, northwestern area of the European part of Russia). The Frasnian deposits of the Andoma section include at least two types of palaeosols, one of which contains well‐formed fossil burrows of lungfishes. Teeth of lungfishes assignable to the genus Ctenodus are found in close association with the burrows. The fossil assemblage of the Andoma Mountain section includes plates of placoderms, mostly Bothriolepis and Asterolepis , separate plates of Agnatha, bones and scales of Dipnoi and other sarcopterygian fishes, bivalves and numerous ichnofossils, including traces of terrestrial diplopods. Fossil plants in the Andoma section are represented mostly by large trunks of the archaeopteridalean progymnosperms Callixylon trifilievii Zalessky. A general reconstruction of the Late Devonian environment, its landscape and climate context are proposed and discussed in detail.