Refinements in the Upper Permian to Lower Jurassic stratigraphy of Karakorum, Pakistan

New sampling on critical intervals of the uppermost Permian and Triassic successions of the Northern Karakorum Terrain in the Karakorum Range (Pakistan) has refined the stratigraphy. Two types of successions may be distinguished in the Karakorum Range: a carbonate platform succession, spanning the whole interval from Upper Permian to Upper Triassic, possibly with several gaps; and a basinal succession, deposited from the Middle Permian to Early Carnian (Late Triassic), when the carbonate platform prograded into the basin. With the approaching and later docking of the Karakorum Block against the Asian margin closing the Paleo-Tethys, a portion of Karakorum emerged while another part subsided as a fore-deep, receiving clastics from the emerging Cimmerian Range. Molassic sediments filled the basin, whilst shallow-water carbonates transgressed over the emerged carbonate platform sometime between the latest Triassic and the Pliensbachian (Early Jurassic), with Cimmerian deformation occurring to the north. The age control is provided by conodonts, with assemblages of late Wuchiapingian, Changhsingian, Induan (Griesbachian and Dienerian), late Olenekian, early Anisian, late Ladinian, and early Carnian ages, respectively. Some information on the section around the P/T boundary is provided by palynology and isotopic C¹³ values. The dating of the Norian/Rhaetian platform is provided by foraminifers.     

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.     

鄂尔多斯盆地西南部甘肃西峰地区延长组孢粉组合及古气候研究

鄂尔多斯盆地西南部西峰油田中上三叠统延长组长8段和长7段钻井岩心中发现丰富的孢粉化石,分别命名为Aratisporites-Punctatisporites组合和Asseretospora-Walchiites组合,组合特征分别与盆地东南部发现的铜川组孢粉组合和延长组孢粉组合相似,地质时代分别为中三叠世晚期Ladinian期与晚三叠世早期Carnian期。通过孢粉植物群类型地层分布特征及其生态环境讨论,推测盆地区中晚三叠世气候温暖潮湿,雨量充沛,植被茂盛。孢粉植物群所反映的古气候为温带—亚热带暖湿或湿热气候。这是由于本地区当时处于较低的纬度,且濒临大型湖泊,而长8—长7段沉积时期正处于湖泊扩张的鼎盛期。     

Permian and Triassic Radiolaria from Northwest Thailand: paleogeographical implications

Well-preserved radiolarians were recovered from seven sections in the Mae Hong Son-Mae Sariang area, northwestern Thailand. 51 species assigned to 34 genera are identified, including 1 new species (Triassospongosphaera erici Feng sp. nov.) and 19 unidentified species. They are divided into the Late Permian, late Ladinian and middle Carnian radiolarian assemblages. Newly identified radiolarian assemblages, together with the published radiolarian biostratigraphic data from this region, indicate that there was a pelagic basin during the Late Paleozoic and Triassic. This basin was joined to the Chiang Dao and Changning-Menglian oceanic basins, and they represent the main oceanic basin of the Paleotethyan Archipelago Ocean. This main oceanic basin was situated in the traditional “Shan-Thai Block”. Therefore, “the Shan-Thai Block” was not a single block during that stage, but composed of the Paleotethyan Ocean and two continental terranes that were affiliated with the Gondwana and Cathaysian domains, respectively.     

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.     

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.     

广西南部二叠纪长兴期放射虫动物群

广西南宁南部柳桥区的长兴组上部硅质岩中存着精美的长兴期晚期放射虫动物群,共有24属39例,其中3个新种,其中以Latentifistularia最为常见,其次是Albaillllidae和Entactiniidae,属于二叠纪晚期的Neoalbaillella optima组合。半生生物有有孔虫、海绵骨针、腕足动物等。多数属在接近二叠纪－三叠世界线附近消失,但生物群中已出现少量三叠纪分子。     

Facies and biota of Anisian to Carnian carbonate platforms in the Northern Calcareous Alps (Tyrol and Bavaria)

Summary During the Middle and early Late Triassic carbonate ramps and rimmed platforms developed at the northwestern margin of the Tethys ocean. In the Northern Calcareous Alps, Anisian stacked homoclinal ramps evolved through a transitional stage with distally steepened ramps to huge rimmed platforms of Late Ladinian to Early Carnian age. Middle Triassic to early Late Triassic facies and biota of basin, slope and platform depositional systems are described. Special emphasis is given to foraminifers, sponges, microproblematic organisms and algae. The Ladinian to early Carnian reef associations are characterized by the abundance of segmented sponges, microproblematica, biogenic crusts and synsedimentary cements. Among the foraminifers, recifal forms likeHydrania dulloi andCucurbita infundibuliformis (Carnian in age) are reported from the Northern Calcareous Alps for the first time. Some sphinctozoid sponges likeParavesicocaulis concentricus were known until now only from the Hungarian and Russian Triassic.     

天津张贵庄晚二叠世孢粉植物群

天津张贵庄SR13号钻孔原归为石盒子组的地层近顶部发现了丰富的孢粉化石,这一组合兼具上石盒子组和孙家沟组孢粉组合的特征。一方面,它与上石盒子组（特别是其上部）组合有不少共同分子,在蕨类孢子和裸子植物花粉（包括具肋花粉）的含量比例上也可以与之对比,但缺乏一些标志分子。另一方面,在属种组成上,当前组合与已知的孙家沟组合也颇可比较,而且出现了一些中生代色彩的分子。这一组合的揭示与研究有助于提高人们对华北晚二叠世晚期孢粉植物群特征的认识。依据当前组合与已知相关孢粉组合的对比讨论,将其时代定为晚二叠世,并倾向于晚二叠世晚期（对应于孙家沟组）。     

Record of the Carnian Pluvial Episode in the Polish microflora

The dry climate that prevailed during the Triassic period in the eastern part of the Central European Basin was interrupted by several humid episodes of varying durations. One of them was the Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE), which took place in the late Julian (early Carnian age) and is confined to Camerosporites secatus and Aulisporites astigmosus palynological zones. CPE is marked by a significant change in the qualitative and quantitative composition of spore-pollen assemblages from mostly xerophytic species preserved in the upper part of the Grabfeld Formation (“Lower Gipskeuper”) to hygrophytic forms, which dominate in the Stuttgart Formation (“Schilfsandstein”). Changes in climate towards more humid conditions have been documented palynologically and sedimentologically, and analyzed utilizing quantitative spore-pollen analysis and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of miospores occurring in core material from Poland. In all the studied boreholes, a shift from dry to wet climate is observed at the boundary between the Grabfeld Formation and the Stuttgart Formation, which matches the data from other European regions.     

Middle Triassic Xingyi Fauna: Showing turnover of marine reptiles from coastal to oceanic environments

The late Ladinian (Middle Triassic) Xingyi Fauna from the Zhuganpo Member of the Falang Formation yields abundant and well-preserved marine reptiles. Bed-by-bed excavation at Wusha in Xingyi of Guizhou Province reveals two marine vertebrate assemblages in a fossiliferous horizons that span 5.1 m in total thickness. The lower assemblage is marked by the near-shore sauropterygians, including the pachypleurosaur Keichousaurus, the nothosaurians Nothosaurus and Lariosaurus, with a strong paleobiogeographic affinity to western Tethys. The upper assemblage consists of oceanic ichthyosaurs and pistosaurs, including the large shastasaurid ichthyosaur Guizhouichthyosaurus, the euichthyosaur Qianichthyosaurus, pistosaurs Yunguisaurus and Wangosaurus, and the thalattosaur Xinpusaurus, with a closer paleobiogeographic affinity to North America. The coastal pachypleurosaur and nothosaurid sauropterygians disappeared in the upper assemblage, suggesting that they were replaced by an oceanic marine reptile community that emerged. The reptilian composition of the upper assemblage is similar to that of the Guanling Biota, which is of the Early Carnian (Late Triassic) in age and thus somewhat younger than the Xingyi Fauna. The ecological turnover of marine reptiles from near-shore to the open ocean community corresponds to the paleoenvironmental changes indicated by lithofacies analysis, δ¹³C and the global sea level changes.     

广西凤山、西林等地中三叠统上部双壳类分带研究*

讨论广西西部中三叠统上部的双壳类生物地层序列,建立5个化石带;并附述黔南和滇东南晚三叠世1个双壳类带.这些带自下而上为:(1) Daonella (Longidaonella) producta-D. americana 带,属晚安尼早中期;(2) D. moussoni 高峰带,属晚安尼晚期;(3) D. rieberi-D. indica 带,属早拉丁期;(4) D. kotoi-D. jilongensis 带,属晚拉丁早期;(5) Halobia subcomata-D. varifurcata带,属晚拉丁晚期;(6) H. rugosoides-H. bifurcata 带,属早卡尼期.文内简要描述了各带的主要标志化石23种.     

A sequence stratigraphic approach to a Middle Triassic shelf-slope complex of the Ligurian Alps (Ligurian Briançonnais,Monte Carmo-Rialto unit,Italy)

The Mesozoic sedimentary cover belonging to the Monte Carmo-Rialto unit of the Ligurian Briançonnais domain is composed of Scythian clastics and Anisian to Carnian carbonate rocks over 300 m thick. This paper focuses on the stratigraphy of this carbonate complex, its environmental significance, and its evolution in light of dynamic stratigraphy. Our facies analysis of limestones and dolomites of the Triassic complex allowed us to reconstruct an environmental model. Data support a distally steepened carbonate ramp of Anisian age evolving to a more diversified Ladinian platform with an oolitic sand-bar belt separating the lagoon from the slope. The Monte Carmo-Rialto slope facies are the only witnesses of deep sedimentation in the Triassic terrains of the Ligurian Briançonnais domain, otherwise represented by shallow-water carbonate deposits. On the basis of facies succession, we have identified nine medium-scale cycles (third-order sequences) in the study area, comparable to those evidenced in the Briançonnais s.s. domain by the French authors. Small-scale cycles analysis evidenced mainly shallowing-upward trends in the examined sequences; although a few evidences of transgression-related deposits (deepening upward cycles) have been found at the base three sequences, they have been mostly obliterated by dolomitization and masked by local tectonics. For this reason, we can undoubtedly distinguish only the part of each sequence belonging to HST, while the TST, though present, still remains a partition that cannot be precisely characterized. In the same way, LSTs are not present in the Monte Carmo-Rialto unit, due to the original relative landward position of the examined area. Sequence stratigraphy analysis indicates different long-term dynamics for the two evolutionary stages of the Triassic Ligurian platform: a general landward backstepping to moderate progradation during the Early Anisian and true progradation during the latest Anisian and Ladinian. In addition, a good fit with the sequences proposed by the SEPM chart has been found, indicating a correspondence for the third-order sequences of the Middle Triassic.     

Taxonomical and palaeoecological investigations of the chondrichthyan and osteichthyan fish remains from the Middle-Late Triassic deposits of the Villány Hills (Southern Hungary)

Two sites in the Villány Hills, Hungary, have yielded rich fish assemblages from Middle to Late Triassic shallow marine deposits. The collected material comes from the Ladinian Templomhegy Dolomite Member and from the Carnian Mészhegy Sandstone Formation. The ichthyofauna is composed of both chondrichthyans (Hybodontidae indet., Palaeobates angustissimus, ‘Polyacrodus’ sp., ?Lissodus sp.) and osteichthyans (Gyrolepis sp., Birgeria sp., and further indeterminate actinopterygians). Despite the large sample size, no remains of neoselachians have been found. The Ladinian Templomhegy Dolomite is dominated by durophagous hybodontiforms (Palaeobates angustissimus, ?Lissodus sp.), but the piscivorous hybodontid and the generalist ‘Polyacrodus’ sp. are missing, while in the fish fauna collected from the Carnian Mészhegy Formation indeterminate piscivorous hybodontids are the most common elements and durophagous forms are much less abundant. The dominance of piscivorous hybodontids in the Carnian Mészhegy Sandstone could be related to the global decrease of diversity of marine fish-eating reptiles (e.g., nothosaurs) or to a change of paleoenvironmental conditions. The present study improves our knowledge on the poorly known Triassic vertebrate faunas of the Tisza Mega-unit, which formed a segment of the passive Neotethys margin of the European Plate and shows an important example of a potential vertebrate faunal shift during the Middle to Late Triassic.     

Early Triassic Archosaur-Dominated Footprint Assemblage from the Argana Basin (Western High Atlas,Morocco)

An assemblage of abundant and well-preserved tetrapod footprints has been discovered in the Tanamert Member (T3) of the Triassic Timezgadiouine Formation (Argana basin, western High Atlas, Morocco). It is the first fossil record from T3. Surfaces from different localities show a uniform tetrapod ichnofauna that consists of chirotherian and small lacertoid forms. The chirotherians are assigned to the plexus Protochirotherium—Synaptichnium, their trackmakers interpreted as basal archosaurs. The lacertoid imprints show close affinities with Rhynchosauroides and may reflect archosauromorphs or lepidosauromorphs. Protochirotherium—Synaptichnium assemblages are characteristic of the Early Triassic and were known previously only from units of this age in central Europe. Biostratigraphically, the European record implies a wide-spread pre-Anisian Protochirotherium—Synaptichnium dominated assemblage preceding the first appearance of Chirotherium barthii near the Olenekian-Anisian boundary. The stratigraphic position of T3 between Late Permian (uppermost T2) and Middle Triassic (T4) and the European correlatives suggest an Early Triassic age of this unit. It is the first record of Early Triassic continental deposits in Morocco. The surfaces from T3 open up perspectives for further contributions to ecology, biogeography and locomotion of early archosaurs. Furthermore, excellent outcrops and quality of footprint preservation in the Argana basin offer a potential for clarification of ichnotaxonomic and biostratigraphic issues.     

Middle Triassic Palynological assemblage in the Wangjiashan Basin of Jingyuan,Gansu and Its Stratigraphical Significance

The sediments, overlain by the Middle Jurassic strata in the Wangjia-shan Basin, are a sequence of grey-green sandstones and mudstones and sum more than700 m. It was originally refered to Late Triassic in age. The palynomorph-bearingsamples were collected from the upper part of the sequence in a bore hole. Three sam-ples yielded a, bundant plant microfossils. The sporepollen assemblage consists of 63 species (types) and 51 genera, including 3 new species, namely, Cyclogranisporites callosus, Verrucosisporites wangjiashanensis and Longdongspora jingyuanensis. The component and constituent percentages of palynological assemblage are listedin Tab. 1, in which Pteridophytic spores hold predominant place (67.1%), Gymnospermous pollen reach 32.9%. Among the Pteridophytic spares Punctatisporites (8 forms)plays an important role in assemblage up to 32.3%, followed by Verrucosisporites, Calamospora, Duplexisporites and Apiculatisporis. Besides, Lundbladispora, Kraeuselis-porites and Aratrisporites are represented only by individual specimens. In Gymnospe-rmous pollen Disaccites hold 11.3%, Disaccite striatiti 13.1%, by amplification of Tae-niaesporites reaching 7.2%,others are Piceites, Protoconiferus and Parataeniaesporites.Angustisulcites and Chordasporites are a few in the assemblage. The present assemblage is quite different from the early and upper Triassic paly-nological assemblages of Shan-Gan-Ning Basin, (Qu Li-fan, 1980, 1982) but rather similar to that of the middle Triassic Tongchuan Formation. (Qu Li-fan, 1980; Liu Zhao-sheng et al, 1981) There are 33 genera and 18 species in common between the present assemblage and that of the Tongchuan Formation. Therefore, the present assemblage maybe assigned to the younger age of Middle Triassic. The bearingbed of the spore-pollen assemblage is called the Nanyinger Group. Thisgroup was compared originally with the Yanchang Group of Shan-Gan-Ning Basin, referring to Late Triassic. Based on present data, the Nanyinger Group may include se-diments of younger age of Middle Triassic.     

The statistical analysis of palynofacies of the Ladinian strata of the South east Massif central, France

The area studied corresponds to the western margin of the Triassic intracratonic basin of southeastern France partly revealed in the French Central Massif. During this period, the sedimentation took place in an intermediate environment between the continental domain and the maritime domain. Analyses were carried out on samples taken in the departments of the Rhone (valley of Azergues), of Ardèche (site of Crussol), and of the Gard (sites of Serre and Seyras), places where Triassic rocks out crop well. These are Ladinian in age according to our biostratigraphical results, whereas they were previously considered Late Carnian in age in the valley of Azergues, and Late Ladinian-Early Carnian in the Gard district. The palynofacies are composed of phytoclasts and a spore and pollen assemblage that is dominated by Triadispora. The principal component analysis applied to the phytoclasts, using the terminology and ameliorated classification of Whitaker, shows a particular arrangement of the phytodetrital particles. In order of increasing buoyancy the arrangement of palynomaceral groups is PM1E, PM1T, PM2, PM4E and PM4T. Axis 1, which includes the phytoparticles, is assumed to be the buoyancy axis. The maxima of PM4T particles are associated with low-energy conditions and are delivered by black marls. The maxima of PM1E and PM2 particles are associated with high-energy conditions and delivered by siltstones and sandstones. In this depositional system the buoyancy axis 1 would also correspond to the energy axis.     

A CYAMODONTID PLACODONT (REPTILIA: SAUROPTERYGIA) FROM THE TRIASSIC OF SLOVENIA

Abstract: An isolated dentary bone from the Triassic of To?ko ?elo, near Ljubljana (Slovenia) is referred to the genus Cyamodus. It is the first record of a placodont from Slovenia. The specimen is late Ladinian or early Carnian in age, and is thus among the latest known representatives of the genus Cyamodus. The late survival of Cyamodus in the southern Alpine domain, while it disappeared from the Germanic Basin in the early Ladinian, is probably linked to the persistence of fully marine conditions in the southern part of its range, after environments had become less favourable to placodonts in the Germanic Basin with the advent of the Keuper facies.     

Latest Permian palynomorphs from Jharia Coalfield,Damodar Basin,India and their potential for biostratigraphic correlation

The objective of the present work is to palynologically date the samples collected from Jharia Coalfield. The samples have been collected from an outcrop section exposed across the Damodar river near NH 32 enroute from Bokaro to Dhanbad (23° 43′06.93″N and 86° 12′06.90″E) near Jharia Coalfield of Damodar Basin. Palynological analysis of the samples has revealed that the palynomorph assemblage is characterized by high incidence of Densipollenites spp. in association with dominance of striate bisaccates chiefly Striatopodocarpites spp. and Faunipollenites spp. The other stratigraphically significant taxa recorded in the section are Guttulapollenites hannonicus, Klausipollenites schaubergeri, Alisporites spp. Falcisporites spp. and Lunatisporites spp. On the basis of the palynocomposition the section has been assigned a latest Permian age. Age determination for the section has been inferred by comparison with coeval assemblages from previous Gondwana studies from India and across Gondwana which were compared to the biostratigraphically dated palynological records from Australia (oldest APP6 Zone) as it is one of the few areas in Gondwana where the palynological records have been calibrated against adequately dated marine invertebrate zones. However, comparison with the westernmost portion of Gondwana was difficult due to its mid latitudinal position (c. 20°S) during the Lopingian (late Permian) which lead to an early transition from coal-bearing strata to red-bed and evaporitic deposits in some parts.