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Abstract
There is debate on whether climate or elevation controls the distribution of Pennsylvanian plant communities. Studying logjam deposits in valley fills of the Breathitt Group of eastern Kentucky offers a way to test for these controls. If plant distribution was elevation-controlled, communities would be expected to pass from drier assemblages at the base of a valley fill to wetter assemblages upwards within a valley fill. Similarly, wetter assemblages should occur down-dip, and drier assemblages should occur up-dip. If plants were controlled by climate, communities would be expected to transition from drier assemblages at the base of a valley to wetter assemblages at the top and should be regionally uniform. Studied valley fills were dominated by wetland flora, particularly lycopsids, implying that lowland coastal areas may have been occupied by relatively uniform plant communities, making it difficult to evaluate whether climate or elevation is the dominant control on Pennsylvanian plant communities.