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Permo‐Carboniferous Radiolarians from the Wupata'erkan Group, Western South Tianshan, Xinjiang, China
Author(s) -
Yuejun LI,
Longde SUN,
Haoruo WU,
Guangya ZHANG,
Guolin WANG,
Zhibin HUANG
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
acta geologica sinica ‐ english edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1755-6724
pISSN - 1000-9515
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-6724.2005.tb00863.x
Subject(s) - permian , geology , carboniferous , paleontology , devonian , late devonian extinction , group (periodic table) , volcanic rock , clastic rock , paleozoic , structural basin , volcano , chemistry , organic chemistry
The Wupata'erkan Group, also called Wupata'erkan Formation, distributed in the South Tianshan, Xinjiang, China, mainly consists of gray and dark gray fine‐grained clastic rocks, interlayered with volcanic rocks, carbonates and cherts. Some ultra‐basic rocks (blocks) punctuate the formation. The formation was variously assigned to Silurian‐Middle Devonian, Silurian‐Lower Devonian, and pre‐Devonian, mainly based on Atrypa bodini Mansuy, Hypothyridina parallelepipedia (Brour.) and Prismatophyllum hexagonum Yoh collected from the limestone interlayers, respectively. However, radiolarian fossils obtained from 24 chert specimens of the Wupata'erkan Group, mainly include Albaillella sp. cf. A. undulata Deflandre, Albaillella sp. cf. A. paradoxa Deflandre, Albaillella cf. A. deflandrei Gourmelon, Albaillella sp. cf. A. indensis Won, Albaillella sp. cf. A. excelsa Ishiga, Kito and Imoto, Albaillella sp. and Latentifistulidae gen. et. sp. indet., are earliest Carboniferous and Late Permian. The earliest Carboniferous assemblage is characterized by Albaillella sp. cf. A. undulata Deflandre, Albaillella sp. cf. A. paradoxa Deflandre, Albaillella cf. A. deflandrei Gourmelon and Albaillella sp. cf. A. indensis Won, and the Late Permian assemblage by Albaillella sp. cf. A. excelsa Ishiga, Kito and Imoto. This new stratigraphic evidence indicates that the Wupata'erkan Group is possibly composed of rocks with different ages from Silurian to Permian, and therefore, it is probably an ophiolite mélange. The discovery of Late Permian Albaillella sp. cf. A. excelsa provides more reliable evidence supporting the existence of a Permian relic ancient oceanic basin in the western part of Xinjiang South Tianshan.