Late Triassic palynofloras in the Sichuan Basin,South China: Synthesis and perspective

Mesozoic strata are well developed and exposed continuously across the Sichuan Basin, South China. In particular, the Upper Triassic strata yield diverse and abundant spore-pollen fossils, providing a significant reference for the study of palaeoenvironmental variations across the Triassic–Jurassic transition where mass extinctions were occurring. In this paper, we summarize the major progress on Late Triassic palynological studies in this basin. To date, 151 genera (454 species) of sporomorph fossils have been reported from the Late Triassic strata in the Sichuan Basin. Three palynological assemblages are distinguished for the Late Triassic in the Sichuan Basin. Late Triassic vegetation in the Sichuan Basin shows a remarkable predominance of ferns, followed by conifers and cycads/ginkgophytes, and conifers show a distinct increase in abundance in the latest Triassic. In general, the Late Triassic palaeoclimate in the Sichuan Basin was tropical-subtropical, humid and warm. A synthesis of the data shows that the Late Triassic did not have a constant palaeoclimate in the Sichuan Basin, several climatic events are recognized: two warm and humid climate events in Norian-Rhaetian time, coupled with a cooler and drier condition in the latest Late Triassic. Further investigations in higher resolution at more continuous sections in the Sichuan Basin are needed to better understand the Late Triassic vegetation response, climate changes, as well as palaeoecosystem variations across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary.     

Biostratigraphy and geometric morphometrics of conchostracans (Crustacea,Branchiopoda) from the Late Triassic fissure deposits of Cromhall Quarry,UK

The enigmatic fissure deposits of south‐western England and southern Wales are famous for their unique assemblage of Late Triassic vertebrates, although their age is contentious. While recent studies of palynomorphs have dated some as Rhaetian, their conchostracan (Crustacea, Branchiopoda) assemblages have not been described in detail nor used in biostratigraphy. We find that species determination of British Late Triassic conchostracans requires detailed observations of size, shape and ornamentation. We provide evidence that although Euestheria brodieana is invariably smaller than E. minuta, with some slight differences in carapace ornamentation, the traditional view that they are very similar is upheld. The use of conchostracans as a biostratigraphical tool is here tested by application to the British Triassic fissures at Cromhall quarry where the usual stratigraphical evidence provided by superposition is absent. We find no distinction between conchostracans from bedded Rhaetian deposits of the UK and specimens collected from the fissure deposits of Cromhall Quarry, Gloucestershire, supporting a late Rhaetian age for these deposits.     

Aspects of middle and late triassic palynology. 2. Preliminary palynological data from the hornos—siles formation of the prebetic zone,NE province of Jaen (Southeastern Spain)

The present paper provides preliminary palynostratigraphical data from the Hornos section, one of the characteristic sections of the Hornos—Siles Formation (Triassic of the Prebetic Zone), NE province of Jaén, Spain.Some remarks are made on the lithostratigraphical development of this formation and its tectonic complications. The palynological assemblages recognized are attributed to the scheme of successive phases in compositional development of palynological assemblages established for the late Middle—Late Triassic; the assemblages indicate a Ladinian—Karnian age for the formation.     

The Akchagylian flora and vegetation of the Udmurtian Kama River Region

A paleobotanical study of Akchagylian deposits exposed by a borehole in the Udmurtian Kama River Region was performed. The characteristics of the vegetation cover of the Early, Middle, and Late Akchagylian are provided. The composition of the fossil flora as revealed by palynological and carpological analyses are described. The significance of paleobotanical studies for the subdivision and correlation of Pliocene deposits is shown.     

川西,藏东晚三叠世有孔虫及海参骨片

金沙江上游两岸为川西、藏东地区。此区的四川省白玉县、西藏贡觉县及江达县的晚三叠世诺利期沉积中发现了有孔虫１８属２１种,海参骨片５属８种。三叠纪海参在中国为首次报道：白玉县及贡觉县的三叠世有孔虫也为首次发现。这一动物群在区域地质史及古地理研究上具有一定意义。     

A new scanilepiform from the Lower Triassic of northern Gansu Province,China, and phylogenetic relationships of non‐teleostean Actinopterygii

A new scanilepiform, Beishanichthys brevicaudalis gen. et sp. nov. , is named and described based on fossils from the Lower Triassic lake deposits exposed in Beishan area, Gansu Province, China. The discovery documents a new record of this group, which is significantly older than other known scanilepiforms from China, and is slightly younger than Evenkia from the Lowest Triassic of Central Siberia. Although the Beishan beds were previously interpreted as Late Permian in age, based on megaplant fossils, this new discovery supports the reinterpretation of the deposits as Early Triassic in age, based on vertebrate fossils from the same locality and horizon. Phylogenetic analysis was conducted to resolve the relationships of Scanilepiformes with other actinopterygian clades, and the inter‐relationships within Scanilepiformes. Contrary to previous thought that scanilepiforms are closely related to the Amiidae, the phylogenetic results of this study recognize the Scanilepiformes as stem‐group neopterygians. Relationships of the Scanilepiformes and Australosomus with other neopterygians remain unresolved. With a characteristic long‐based dorsal fin, scanilepiforms represent a small group that emerged in Early Triassic freshwater environments, inhabited Eurasia and North America during the Middle–Late Triassic, briefly invaded the marine environment by the Late Triassic in Europe, and became extinct at the end of Triassic. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 161 , 595–612.     

Middle and Late Triassic radiolarians from northern Tibet: Implications for the Bayan Har Basin evolution

During the Triassic, the Bayan Har Basin is a huge triangular basin surrounded by the North China Platform, South China Platform and Qingtang Terrane. It is filled by a Triassic turbidite sequence, the Bayan Har Group. For a long time, the series of Bayan Har Group in the eastern part of the basin were considered to be a Lower to Upper Triassic sequence, and in the western part, was attributed to the Upper Triassic. A well-preserved diversified radiolarian fauna was recovered from radiolarian chert and tuffite interbeds of the Bayan Har Group turbidites and adjacent stratigraphic units in the Hoh Xil area, northern Tibet. Sixty-seven species are identified and subdivided into two assemblages: late Anisian and early Carnian. Combined with the discovery of the Late Permian and Early Triassic turbidite in the Bayan Har Group in this area by Huang et al., it proves that all the Triassic is also present in the Bayan Har Group sequence in the western part. The evolution of the Bayan Har Basin may be traced back to the Late Permian. The massive sequence of the Bayan Har Group and its provenance indicate that the Kunlun and Qinling orogenic belts rapidly rise during the Middle-Late Triassic. The basin extended to the end of the Triassic, possibly locally to the Jurassic.     

The Triassic fish faunas of the Cuyana Basin,Western Argentina

Abstract: The continental deposits of the Cuyana Basin, western Argentina, have yielded the most diverse, but so far almost unstudied, Triassic ichthyofaunas of South America. Here, we review these faunas and show that only eight of the 29 named taxa can be considered valid, including the chondrostean Neochallaia, the acrolepid Challaia, Guaymayenia, a taxon of uncertain affinities, and five species of the perleidiform family Pseudobeaconiidae. The first three taxa most probably come from Middle Triassic sediments, while the pseudobeaconiids are of Late Triassic age. Other material, although not diagnostic, probably represents other species, and thus, the diversity of actinopterygians in the Cuyana basin is certainly higher than currently recognized. For the Late Triassic fish fauna, the absence of crown‐group neopterygians and a single record of a sarcopterygian is noteworthy and probably indicates some degree of endemism in this fauna, also supported by the high abundance of pseudobeaconiids, which are unknown from other areas. Furthermore, on the basis of the age indicated by the fishes and the available geological information, we discuss the age of the local fauna of the Cerro Bayo, close to the city of Mendoza, and the Agua de la Zorra Formation, Uspallata.     

Le Plio-Pléistocène de Camerota(Italie méridionale): Géomorphologie et Paléoflores

Geomorphological investigations have been carried out in Camerota surroundings where marine microfaunas have been discovered. So, we can separate the Late Pliocene deposits from Calabrian and post-Calabrian levels. Preliminary palynological results show a vegetational evolution in relation with the climate. Leaf-remains give informations on the structure of the vegetation.     

贵州关岭上三叠统的楯齿龙类化石

记述的新铺中国豆齿龙（Sinocyamodus xinpuensis gen. et sp. nov.）代表了齿龙目的一新属。这是齿龙类化石在我国的首次发现,也是这类特殊的海生爬行动物在欧洲、北非和中东以外地区的首次记录。标本产自贵州关岭晚三叠世瓦窑组一段的泥晶灰岩中,与鱼龙类、幻龙类及海龙类等多种海生爬行类同时产出。这一化石组合表明,贵州关岭三叠纪海生爬行动物群的性质与西特提斯动物群（wstern-Tethyan fauna）的性质极为相似,这两个地区在晚三叠世早期有广泛的动物交流。     

Second occurrence of the dinosauriform ichnogenus Atreipus in the western United States,Upper Triassic Chinle Group of Eastern Utah

Abstract

A newly discovered track in the Chinle Group north of Moab, Utah, is attributable to the ichnogenus Atreipus, an ichnotaxon that is relatively common in eastern North America (Newark Supergroup) but very rare in the Late Triassic of the western part of the continent. This is only the second report of the genus from the Chinle Group. Atreipus has been attributed to a silesaurid dinosauriform, and dinosauriform taxa are relatively abundant by skeletal material in the Late Triassic of western North America, but track evidence in the same units is dominated by ichnotaxa attributed to dinosaurs. The rarity of Atreipus is currently an anomaly in the region.     

Microfloristic provincialism in the Upper Triassic Circum-Mediterranean area and palaeogeographic implication

This study represents a contribution to the developing knowledge about the microfloristic provincialism affecting Upper Triassic palynoflora. The compositional differences existing between the Onslow and the Ipswich microfloras are mainly based on the presence, in the Onslow microflora, of a diverse and more varied group of gymnosperm pollen grains, including typical European elements. In this study, the palynological assemblages recovered from Carnian successions of the western Tethyan margin (Sicily, Tunisia, Albany, Libya and Israel) are compared with those of West Timor microfloral assemblages, which have been referred to the Onslow microflora of southern hemisphere. They contain several common taxa, mainly consisting of conifer miospores widely recorded in Carnian European successions and less frequently recovered in the Carnian of western and eastern Australia. The number of Circum-Mediterranean sporomorphs in the Onslow microflora assemblages is wider than previously thought, providing new evidences to extend the distribution of the Onslow microflora to include Carnian associations formerly assigned to the Circum-Mediterranean assemblages. These broad microfloral affinities seem to indicate the existence of a homogeneous microflora that maintains, with minor variations, its composition from western Tethys coasts to the northern Australian margin (West Timor). The parent plant community grew in a coastal environment, along the continental margins; the establishment of an equable climatic regime influenced by warm equatorial currents and suitable humid conditions probably conditioned its diffusion. It has long been recognised that the strong floral provinciality which characterised the Late Triassic world gave way to a more homogeneous flora in the Early Jurassic. The decrease in macrofloral diversity is associated with a less pronounced microfloristic provincialism, which in turn coincides with the rise, to strong dominance, of cheirolepidiaceous conifers (Circumpolles producers). This important microfloristic event occurs in the southern hemisphere during the Early Jurassic, however this study reveals their incipient diffusion during the Norian.     

中国陆相上三叠统第一个初龙形类动物(英文)

初步研究了山西省永和县桑壁镇铜川组二段产出的两件初龙形类化石标本 (IVPPV1 2 3 78,V 1 2 3 79) ,在此基础上建立了一新属新种———桑壁永和鳄 (Yonghesuchussangbiensisgen .etsp .nov .)。它以下列共存的衍生特征区别于其他初龙形类 (archosauriforms) :1 )吻部前端尖削 ;2 )眶前窝前部具一凹陷 ;3 )眶前窝与外鼻孔间宽 ;4)眶后骨下降突的后 2 / 3宽且深凹 ;5 )基蝶骨腹面有两个凹陷 ;6 )齿骨后背突相当长 ;7)关节骨的反关节区有明显的背脊 ,有穿孔的翼状的内侧突 ,以及指向前内侧向和背向的十分显著的后内侧突。由于缺乏跗骨的形态信息 ,目前很难通过支序分析建立永和鳄的系统发育关系。但可以通过头骨形态来推测永和鳄在初龙形类中的系统位置。永和鳄有翼骨齿 ,这表明它不属于狭义的初龙类 (archosaurians)。其通过内颈动脉脑支的孔位于基蝶骨的前侧面而不是腹面 ,在这点上永和鳄比原鳄龙科 (Proterochampsidae)更进步 ,这表明与后者相比永和鳄和狭义的初龙类的关系可能更近。在中国早期的初龙形类中 ,达坂吐鲁番鳄 (Turfanosuchusdabanensis)与桑壁永和鳄最接近 ,但前者由于内颈动脉脑支的孔腹位而比后者更为原始。根据以上头骨特征以及枢后椎椎体之间间椎体的存在与否 ,推测派克鳄 (Euparkeri     

CHILBINIA GEN. NOV., AN ARCHAIC SEED FERN IN THE LATE TRIASSIC CHINLE FORMATION OF ARIZONA, USA

Abstract:  A seed-bearing pinnate leaf found in the Chinle Formation of Late Triassic age in Arizona appears to be an archaic seed fern that more closely resembles typical Carboniferous–Permian seed fern leaves than any younger form. The fossil, which is described here as Chilbinia lichii gen. et sp. nov., incorporates characters of several Palaeozoic taxa. These characters include pinnules that have reticulate venation resembling that in some species of Lonchopteris , cordate bases similar to those found in many species of Sphenopteris , and, except for a significant difference in size, linear ovate seeds that resemble the radially symmetrical seeds found attached to a species of Alethopteris in the Permian of China. The presence of this fossil in strata of Late Triassic age is further evidence that plant extinctions after the Permian–Triassic ecological crisis followed a stepwise pattern and apparently continued for at least 20–25 myr after the end of the Permian in western parts of the Triassic paratropical belt.     

Late Devonian and early Carboniferous microfloras from the Hakkarı Province of southeastern Turkey

Late Devonian and early Carboniferous miospore and microphytoplankton assemblages are described for the first time from southeastern Turkey. The preliminary data show that assemblages recorded from the upper part of the Yiginli Formation are late Famennian in age and can be correlated with the VH, LL, LE Miospore biozones of western Europe, whilst assemblages from the overlying Köprülü Formation are considered to be middle to late Tournaisian in age and are tentatively assigned to the PC Miospore biozone of western Europe. Regional palynological correlations with other sections in North Africa and the Middle East are proposed. A new species, Verruciretusispora loboziakii is described.     

New Late Triassic gastropods from the wallowa Terrane (Idaho) and their biogeographic significance

Summary Two characteristic new species and one new genus are described from the Late Triassic of Idaho (Wallowa Terrane):Brochidiella idahoensis n. gen., n. sp. andPtychostoma ornata n. sp.Brochidiella is only known from western North America.Ptychostoma is present in the Carnian of the European Alps (Tethys) and is widespread in the western part of the North American continent (Panthalassa). Late Triassic gastropod faunas from the accreted terranes of North America are poorly known but hold a great potential for future palaeobiogeographic reconstructions.     

Late Triassic (Late Norian) gastropods from the Wallowa Terrane (Idaho,USA)

A diverse Late Triassic (Late Norian) gastropod fauna is described from the Mission Creek Limestone of the Wallowa terrane (Idaho, USA). Sample standardization by rarefaction analysis indicates that the fauna is even more diverse than the Late Triassic gastropod fauna from the Pucara Formation (Peru) which represents the most diverse gastropod fauna from South America. The gastropod fauna consists of 66 species; several genera are reported for the first time from North America. A high percentage of the species are highly ornamented and several have distinct siphonal canals. This suggests that the appearance of truly Mesozoic elements among the gastropods began before the Mesozoic Marine Revolution in other clades. The fauna is dominated by high-spired strongly ornamented procerithiids, a group more characteristic for the Jurassic. Comparison of the present fauna and the Iranian Nayband Formation gastropod fauna show that the procerithiids underwent a first global radiation in the Late Triassic. The high number of new species in this fauna suggests that sampling of Late Triassic gastropod faunas is still incomplete and hinders palaeobiogeographic considerations. Previous suggesions that gastropod faunas from the Wallowa and Wrangellia terranes resemble each other and are distinct from those of Alexander, Chulitna, and Farewell terranes are basically corroborated. The gastropod fauna of the Mission Creek Limestone differs considerably from that of the western and central Tethys but shares several taxa with the Late Triassic gastropod fauna of the Pucara Formation in Peru. Thus, the Hispanic corridor was probably not present in the Norian but opened only in the Early Jurassic. The subfamily Andangulariinae is introduced and placed in the Zygopleuridae. The generaSpiniomphalus, Nodoconus, Gudrunella, Blodgettella, Idahospira, andSiphonilda and the subgenusCryptaulax (Wallowax) are introduced. 27 species are erected. A lectotype is designated forCryptaulax rhabdocolpoides Haas, 1953.      

Earliest Triassic microbialites in the South China block and other areas: controls on their growth and distribution

Earliest Triassic microbialites (ETMs) and inorganic carbonate crystal fans formed after the end-Permian mass extinction (ca. 251.4 Ma) within the basal Triassic Hindeodus parvus conodont zone. ETMs are distinguished from rarer, and more regional, subsequent Triassic microbialites. Large differences in ETMs between northern and southern areas of the South China block suggest geographic provinces, and ETMs are most abundant throughout the equatorial Tethys Ocean with further geographic variation. ETMs occur in shallow-marine shelves in a superanoxic stratified ocean and form the only widespread Phanerozoic microbialites with structures similar to those of the Cambro-Ordovician, and briefly after the latest Ordovician, Late Silurian and Late Devonian extinctions. ETMs disappeared long before the mid-Triassic biotic recovery, but it is not clear why, if they are interpreted as disaster taxa. In general, ETM occurrence suggests that microbially mediated calcification occurred where upwelled carbonate-rich anoxic waters mixed with warm aerated surface waters, forming regional dysoxia, so that extreme carbonate supersaturation and dysoxic conditions were both required for their growth. Long-term oceanic and atmospheric changes may have contributed to a trigger for ETM formation. In equatorial western Pangea, the earliest microbialites are late Early Triassic, but it is possible that ETMs could exist in western Pangea, if well-preserved earliest Triassic facies are discovered in future work.