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Late Carboniferous–Early Permian palynology of Baode (Pao‐te‐chou) in Shanxi Province, North China
Author(s) -
Feng Liu,
Huaicheng Zhu,
Shu Ouyang
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
geological journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.721
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1099-1034
pISSN - 0072-1050
DOI - 10.1002/gj.1121
Subject(s) - palynology , permian , carboniferous , paleontology , geology , ecological succession , assemblage (archaeology) , westphalian sovereignty , early triassic , biostratigraphy , ecology , biology , pollen , structural basin
The Late Carboniferous–Early Permian strata cropping out in northern Shanxi Province, China contain a continuous and varied fossil record, making this succession a classical locality for the study of palynology during that interval in North China. Abundant, diverse and well‐preserved miospores are recorded and illustrated from the Penchi Formation to the Shansi Formation, comprising 191 species assigned to 67 genera, as well as some scolecodonts. Three new species ( Neoraistrickia leiclavatus sp. nov., Indospora verrucatus sp. nov., Balteosporites tomentosus sp. nov.) are proposed. According to the first appearance of a few selected species and the changes of palynological abundance in the succession, four miospore assemblage zones have been recognized in ascending order, viz., the Torispora securis – Torispora laevigata (SL) Assemblage Zone, the Torispora verrucosa – Pachetisporites kaipingensis (VK) Assemblage Zone, the Thymospora thiessenii – Striatosporites heyleri (TH) Assemblage Zone and Platysaccus minus – Gulisporites cochlearius (MC) Assemblage Zone. With evidence from microfossils (mainly fusulinids and conodonts), the age of these assemblage zones can be determined approximately. The SL Zone described here is roughly equivalent to the SL Zone established by Clayton et al . (1977) in Western Europe, indicating an age of Westphalian C‐D (Moscovian). The VK Zone ranges from Stephanian A‐Autunian (Kasimovian‐late Gzhelian); however, it only includes the elements of the OT Zone (Clayton et al . 1977) which usually occur from Westphalian D to Stephanian A (late Moscovian‐early Kasimovian) in Europe. Microfaunal evidence also shows that the age of the TH and MC zones should be Early Permian, but their components are evidently different from those derived from other coeval assemblage zones around the world. This discrepancy can be explained by environmental differences occurring during that interval, which were brought about by the Hercynian tectonic event. Using biostratigraphical zonations of other microfossil groups, a palynological Carboniferous–Permian boundary in N. China can be located within the miospore succession. The miospore assemblage zones proposed in this paper are also compared with zonations proposed by earlier studies in N. China and other parts of the world. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.