Spore assemblages from samples of three known environments--(1) coal (fresh-water) swamp, (2) nonmarine, and (3) offshore-marine of the Upper Pennsylvanian--are described to the generic level. The number and types of spore and pollen genera are different in each assemblage.

The five dominant genera from each of six coals were placed in one group representing a fresh-water environment. The airborne saccate pollen were put in another group representing an offshore-marine environment. The two groups were combined into a ratio that indicates the predominance of one of the two environmental groups. This is termed the "swamp-marine ratio" which, combined with a third assemblage variable--generic diversity--was used to construct an environmental chart. Spore and pollen assemblages from each of the known environments occupy mutually exclusive areas on the chart.

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