Resumen
Macrofossils and most mineralized microfossils are often absent in metasediments and commonlyunrecognizable in deformed rocks. Conversely, organic-walled microfossils such asspores/pollen, acritarchs and chitinozoans (i.e. palynomorphs) can preserve their characteristics even inhigh-grade metamorphic conditions (Hanel et al., 1999; Bernard et al., 2007). They are frequently theonly preserved fossils in metamorphic rocks and thus valuable for obtaining sedimentation ages andpaleoenvironmental data. Here we discuss some geological variables involved in palynomorph preservationand destruction in deformed metasediments by compiling data from the literature and by presentingdata from Devonian and Carboniferous metasediment samples from the Ossa-Morena Zone(W Portugal).