Middle Permian radiolarians from Anmenkou, Chaohu, Northeastern Yangtze platform, China

The biostratigraphy of the Middle Permian Gufeng Formation in the northeastern Yangtze platform is examined based on radiolarians. This study is concentrated on the Anmenkou section in the Chaohu area of Anhui Province, China. The Gufeng Formation is divided into the Phosphate Nodule-bearing Mudstone Member (PNMM) and the Siliceous Rock Member (SRM) in ascending order. The former primarily consists of mudstone including abundant phosphate nodules, and the latter consists mainly of alternating beds of chert, siliceous mudstone and mudstone, with intercalations of porous chert. Ammonoids in the mudstone of the lower PNMM are Wordian. Chert, siliceous mudstone and mudstone of the SRM include abundant radiolarians with sponge spicule assemblages suggestive of the Wordian–Capitanian. Albaillellaria are predominant in the lower SRM, while Entactinaria and Spumellaria are predominant in the middle and upper SRM. These radiolarians correspond to three radiolarian assemblage zones: Pseudoalbaillella longtanensis – Pseudoalbaillella fusiformis , Follicucullus monacanthus , and Follicucullus scholasticus – Ruzhencevispongus uralicus . The assemblage of radiolarians and sponge spicule fauna suggests a depositional depth of 150–500 m. The radiolarian fauna of the Gufeng Formation is considered to be representative of the relatively shallow, tropical radiolarian fauna of the Middle Permian eastern Paleotethys.     

Depositional model of Early Permian reef-island ocean in Eastern Kunlun

Many fusulinid fossils have been found in thin- to middle-bedded limestones which are distributed between the Early Permian limestone hills and formerly considered as Early Triassic. The fusulinid fossils, identified asNeoshwagerina sp.,Verbeekina sp. andSchwagerina sp., can also be found in massive limestone hills. At the same time, Early Permian radiolarian chert of deep basin facies was discovered in Animaqing. All the above show that the massive limestone hills, thin- to middle-bedded limestones and radiolarian chert belong to syndeposits in Early Permian ocean. The sediments in the study area can roughly be divided into three types: shallow facies, basin facies and transitional facies. The carbonate buildup can be subdivided into massive bioclastic limestone and reef framestone. Basin facies contains thin- or middle-bedded limestone, abyssal red mudstone or ooze, blue-green mudstone and radiolarian chert. Transitional facies includes reef talus and platformal skirt facies. The Early Permian ocean in Eastern Kunlun is recognized as a kind of reef-island ocean environment according to distribution and composition of different facies. The reef-island ocean in Eastern Kunlun is characterized by reef islands (or carbonate buildups) alternating with basins, complicated sea-floor topography, sharp facial change and well-developed reefs.     

Sequence-stratigraphic frameworks and their palaeogeographic patterns for the Permian Lopingian of the Dianqiangui Basin and its adjacent areas of Southwestern China

The Permian Lopingian in the Dianqiangui Basin and its adjacent areas is marked by the coal measures of the Wuchiapingian and the carbonate strata of the Changhsingian stages. For the Lopingian of the Dianqiangui Basin and its adjacent areas,the diversity of sedimentary facies and the obviousness of facies change provide an advantaged condition on a study of sequence stratigraphy. Approximately,the Wuchiapingian stage constitutes a third-order sequence and the Changhsingian stage forms an-other. For the Wuchiapingian stage in the study area,coal-measures were developed on the attached platform and,in addition,a special coal-measure that is composed of both limestone beds and coal beds was also developed in the central part of some isolated platforms. Grain-bank grainstones and packstones were formed on the margin of the attached platform as well as in the windward part of iso-lated platforms. For the Changhsingian stage in the study area,open-platform limestones were formed on the attached platform,while sponge-reef limestones were developed both on the margin of the at-tached platform and on the isolated platforms. The Lopingian Series is a set of basin-facies muddy shales with interbeds of silicalites in the inter-platform basin,which appears a set of the large-thick coarse clastic strata of molasses covering direct the deep-water strata from the Devonian to the Per-mian Yangsingian in the Qinzhou-Fangcheng region in the southern part of the study area. All of these features indicate the complexity of temporal-spatial facies-changes. Sequence-stratigraphic frame-works could be established,which would illustrate two types of facies-changing surfaces and dia-chronisms in the stratigraphic records,based on the combination of both biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic materials and the regularity reflected by temporal evolutionary succession of sediments as well as spatial distributional patterns of sedimentary facies. Ultimately,features of sedi-mentary succession and palaeogeographical evolution of the Permian Lopingian in the study area are revealed clearly in a series of the panel diagrams of sequence-stratigraphic frameworks and the outline maps showing the sedimentary-facies and palaeogeography. The Permian Lopingian formed by two third-order sequences differs from the stratigraphy of the same era characterized by the constant re-gression along Euramerica. Most specially,if the end-Guadalupian mass-extinction event is genetically related to a regressive event represented by the unconformity of the first episode of the Dongwumovement in the study area,the mass-extinction event at the turn from the Permian to the Triassic is genetically related to a rapid transgressive event re-flected by the drowning unconformity in the study area. These phenomena might reveal a complex rela-tionship between mass-extinction events and trans-gressive-regressive events.     

Permian radiolarians,chert and basalt from the Daxinshan Formation in Lancangjiang belt of southwestern Yunnan,China

The stratigraphical sequences composed of chert and basalt were found in the Daxinshan area of Simao and the Manbie area of Jinghong, southwestern Yunnan. The Middle Permian to ealiest Late Permian radiolarians, such as Follicucullus and Pseudoalbaillella, have been identified from the chert. The chert from the Manbie area of Jinghong is characterized by high SiO₂content (over 92%), large ratios of MnO/TiO₂ (2.15) and low ratios of Al/(Al+Fe+Mn) (≤0.1) and Ce/Ce*(0.4), which indicate that the chert was deposited in pelagic basin. The chert from the Daxinshan area of Simao, however, is characterized by low SiO₂ content, low ratios of MnO/TiO₂ (0.27) and high ratios of Al/(Al+Fe+Mn) (0.49) and Ce/Ce*(0.88), which imply that the chert was deposited in continental margin basin. The basalts from the both areas belong to tholeiite series, and the chemical compositions of their major, rare earth and trace elements show the characteristics of MORB. These results evidence that there are volcanic rocks and chert sequences representing pelagic basin and oceanic basin near continent. These sequences and the formerly reported island-arc volcanic rock sequences imply that the Daxinshan Formation in the Lancangjiang belt represents a sedimentary assemblage formed in active continental margin basin.     

Cretaceous radiolarian fauna from the Kiselyovsky subterrane, the youngest accretionary complex of the Russian continental far east: Paleotectonic and paleogeographic implications

Abstract The Kiselyovsky subterrane is the northeastern section of the Kiselyovsko-Manominsky terrane, a distinguishable tectonic unit in the north of the Sikhote-Alin Range. The terrane has been treated as part of the accretionary wedge belonging to the Khingan-Okhotsk active continental margin, but its structure and stratigraphy have been poorly understood. This paper presents new data on the subterrane structure, lithology and radiolarian biostratigraphy. The following lithostratigraphic units are established in the terrane: a ribbon chert unit, a siliceous mudstone unit and a elastics unit. Abundant Valanginian to late Hauterivian-early Barremian radiolarian assemblages are obtained from the upper part of the chert unit in addition to the known Jurassic radiolarians. The radiolarian age of the lower part of the siliceous mudstone unit (red siliceous mudstone) is determined as early Hauterivian-early Aptian. The unit's upper part (greenish-gray siliceous mudstone and dark-gray silicified mudstone) and the clastics unit contain Albian-Cenomanian assemblages. The arrangement of the units is treated as a chert-elastics sequence, whose vertical lithologic variations indicate environmental changes from a remote ocean to a convergent margin, reflecting an oceanic plate motion towards a subduction zone. The subterrane structure is a stack of imbricated slabs composed of various lithostratigraphic units, and is complicated by folding. The structure's origin is related to subduction-accretion, which occurred in the Albian-Cenomanian. The data presented provide a unique basis for accretionary wedge terranes correlation in the circum-Japan Sea Region, and the Kiselyovsky subterrane is correlated in this study with the synchronous parts of the East Sakhalin, Hidaka and Shimanto terranes. The Albian-Cenomanian radiolarian assemblages were deposited in the Boreal realm, while Valanginian ones are Tethyan; this indicates a long oceanic plate travelling to the north. The former assemblages contain an admixture of older species, redeposited by bottom traction currents and turbidite flows in trench environments.     

Long-lived Paleotethyan pelagic remnant inside Shan-Thai Block: Evidence from radiolarian biostratigraphy

The Shan-Thai Block, regarded traditionally as awhole geotectonic unit by the geologists engaged inthe study of geotectonic evolution of Southeast Asia, issituated to the west of the Ailaoshan and Nan-UttaraditSutures and to the east of the Shan Boundary Faults,and covers southwestern Yunnan, eastern Myanmar,most of Thailand, northwestern Laos, western Malay-sia, and Sumatra[1,2] (fig. 1). However, recent researchshows that it consists of two continental terranes fromGondwana and Cathay…     

Evolutionary patterns of Productida (Brachiopoda) morphology during the Permian in South China

The evolutionary patterns of Productida (brachiopod) morphology throughout the Permian show that while the percentage proportion of Productida (brachiopod) with strongly concentric and radial ornamentation declined from the Cisuralian to the Guadalupian, and then increased towards the Changhsingian via Wuchiapingian, the percentage proportion of Productida (brachiopod) with fine concentric and radial ornamentation distinctly increased from the Cisuralian to the Guadalupian, slightly declined towards the Wuchiapingian, and then increased towards the Changhsingian. From the Cisuralian to the Changhsingian, the percentage proportion of brachiopods with spinose ornamentation shows a persistent declining trend. The shell size generally indicates a miniaturization trend at species level during the Wuchiapingian to Changhsingian (including the transitional bed). These evolutionary patterns of brachiopod ornamentation and size are possibly related to the anoxia, food shortage, sea-level fluctuation, and change of substrate in the Permian (including the Permian-Triassic transitional interval) in South China.     

Off-scraped Permian-Jurassic bedded chert thrust on Jurassic-early Cretaceous accretionary prism: Radiolarian evidence from le Island, central Ryukyu Island Arc

Abstract The pre-Neogene basement of the central Ryukyu Island Arc shows zonal structures analogous to those of the outer belt of southwest Japan. The innermost terrane (Iheya Zone) consists of isoclinally folded beds dipping northwestward; the anticlinal cores are composed mainly of Permian chert, whereas the synclinal parts are represented by Jurassic to Cretaceous sandstone-rich alternating siliceous shale and chert, bearing appropriate radiolarian fossils. At the east-central area of Ie Island, the basement rocks are exposed as a 172 m high peak, Tattyu. The flank area of Tattyu is composed of latest Jurassic to Berriasian siliceous shale and chert as part of an accretionary prism, while most of Tattyu is composed of a continuous and very compact sequence of Norian through Kimmeridgian (?) bedded chert which is rather gently inclined. Beyond an unexposed part below the Norian chert, Guadalupian chert is recognized. It is inferred that this pelagic chert (Tattyu sequence) was off-scraped and thrust on to the accretionary prism which developed on its flank area in an accretion process after the Early Cretaceous.     

Lopingian (Late Permian) foraminiferal faunal succession of a Paleo-Tethyan mid-oceanic carbonate buildup: Shifodong Formation in the Changning–Menglian Belt, West Yunnan, Southwest China

This paper deals with a Lopingian (Late Permian) foraminiferal faunal succession of the Shifodong Formation in the Changning–Menglian Belt, West Yunnan, Southwest China, which has been geologically interpreted as one of the closed remnants in East Asia of the Paleo‐Tethys Ocean. The Shifodong Formation is the uppermost stratigraphic unit in thick Carboniferous–Permian carbonates of the belt. These carbonates rest upon bases consisting of oceanic island basalt and are widely accepted as having a Paleo‐Tethyan mid‐oceanic (seamount‐ or oceanic plateau‐top) origin. Sixteen taxa of fusuline foraminifers and 37 taxa of smaller (non‐fusuline) foraminifers are recognized from the type section of the Shifodong Formation located in the Gengma area of the northern part of the Changning–Menglian Belt. Based on their stratigraphic distribution, three fusuline zones can be established in this section: they are, in ascending order, the Codonofusiella cf. C. kwangsiana Zone, Palaeofusulina minima Zone, and Palaeofusulina sinensis Zone. These three biozones are respectively referable to the Wuchiapingian, early Changhsingian, and late Changhsingian, of which the Wuchiapingian is first recognized in this study in the Changning–Menglian mid‐oceanic carbonates. The present study clearly demonstrates that the foraminiferal fauna in a Paleo‐Tethyan pelagic shallow‐marine environment still maintained high faunal diversity throughout the almost entire Lopingian, although the very latest Permian fauna in the upper part of the Palaeofusulina sinensis Zone of the Shifodong section records a sudden decrease in both faunal diversity and abundance. Moreover, the Shifodong faunas are comparable in diversity with those observed in circum‐Tethyan shelves such as South China. The present Paleo‐Tethyan mid‐oceanic foraminiferal faunas are definitely more diversified than coeval mid‐oceanic Panthalassan faunas, which are typically represented by those from the Kamura Limestone in a Jurassic accretionary complex of Southwest Japan. It is suggestive that the Paleo‐Tethyan mid‐oceanic buildups presumably supplied a peculiarly hospitable habitat for foraminiferal faunal development in a pelagic paleo‐equatorial condition.     

Melilite-derived mineral inclusions in chromite from the Gaositai complex: Implications for an extensional tectonic setting in Early Permian at the north North China Craton

The Early Permian mafic-ultramafic concentrically zoned Gaositai intrusion at Chengde, on the northern margin of the North China Craton (NCC), is a cumulative complex emplaced along a giant fracture that penetrates deeply into the continental lithosphere. Melt inclusions are present in chromite crystals from the inner dunite and chromitite zones of the Gaositai complex. The melt inclusions have experienced post-trap crystallization and resulted in multiple mineral phases, including melilite, garnet, phlogopite, magnesite and apatite, which can indicate the liquidus minerals of the primitive magma. The characteristics of the melilite+melanite+clinopyxene assemblage indicate that the primary parental magma was highly undersaturated and derived from an alkali-rich mantle source. The crystallization of phlogopite, magnesite and apatite suggests a primary magma rich in K, H₂O and CO₂. When compared with experimental data, the primary magma of the Gaositai intrusion is concordant with a kamafugite magma originating from partial melting of enriched mantle with H₂O and CO₂ at pressures greater than 2.7 GPa. This magmatic process would have been related to extensional thinning of the continental lithosphere. The Gaositai primary magmas have high Nb/La ratios, which are similar to those of ocean island basalts, but different from arc-related magmas. This suggests that the northern margin of the NCC was not an active continental margin of the Paleo-Asian Ocean subduction zone during the Early Permian: an extensional tectonic setting during the emplacement of the Gaositai intrusion is more likely.     

Detrital anisotropic grandite garnet as an indicator of denudation level of Permian volcanic arc in the provenance of the South Kitakami Belt,Northeast Japan

In this study, the chemical and optical features of detrital garnets from the Middle Permian to Upper Triassic sandstones in the South Kitakami Belt, Northeast Japan, were examined to reveal the tectonic movement in the provenance. The sandstones contain a large amount of detrital grandite garnet grains with a wide range of andradite content. Among them, some grandite garnet grains show optically anisotropic features and rarely oscillatory zoning and sector twinning. The proportion of the detrital anisotropic grandite garnet increases from the Permian to the Middle Triassic and decreases in the Late Triassic. Such grandite garnets with various andradite contents occur in skarn deposits. Isotropic grandite garnets in the early stage of skarn evolution are distributed widely around a pluton, which affects the thermal metamorphism of the surrounding strata. However, anisotropic grandite garnets are formed along veinlets and fractures in the middle to late hydrothermal stage as the pluton cools, and their distribution is limited to a narrower area near the pluton compared to the metamorphic aureoles formed in the early stage. Changes in the chemical and optical features of the detrital garnets indicate a progressive denudation of the plutonic body accompanying skarn deposits in the provenance. The proportion of detrital anisotropic grandite garnet grains among all of the detrital grandite garnet is considered to be a sensitive indicator of the denudation level in a deeper part of the volcanic arc in association with skarn deposits, together with traditional sandstone composition datasets. This newly proposed method should be useful for clarifying the paleogeography during the Permian to Triassic in the East Asian continental margin, associated with uplift and denudation of the Permian volcanic arc, which seems to have been induced by the collision of the North China and South China Blocks.     

Depositional model of Permian Luodianian volcanic island and its impact on the distribution of fusulinid assemblage in southern Qinghai, Northwest China

Pan-riftizational tectonic activity reached climax at Luodianian (Permian) in the East Tethyan Domain, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Because of eruptive volcanics and influence of terrigenous materials, a complex volcanic-sedimentary landform formed on the sea floor in southern Qinghai. Four sedimentary facies types were recognized based on detailed field mapping. Spatially, platform facies volcanic-limestone type was located at the center belt approximately trending NWW, surrounded by shallow water slope facies tuff/tuffite type at the two flanks and deep water slope facies breccia/calcirudite at the most outside. The depression facies sandstone-mudstone type, which comprised mainly mudstone, de-posited between volcanic islands (platform facies volcanic-limestone type). Based on the field map-ping and stratigraphic section data, seven rift-related sedimentary facies were recognized and a depo-sitional model for volcanic island was proposed. It is revealed that some volcanic island chain formed quickly and intermittently in the Qamdo Block during violent eruption, and small carbonate reef, shoal, platform occurred above or on edge of volcanic island, and some slope sedimentary facies surrounded volcano island chain during dormant period of volcanic activities. Three types of fusulinid assemblages were distinguished in the carbonate rocks, which deposited in varied positions of a palaeo-volcanic island: (1) Misellina-Schwagerina assemblage occurred above or on edge of volcanic island, (2) Para-fusulina assemblage was located at restricted depression facies among volcanic islands or carbonate platform, and (3) the reworked Pseudofusulina-Schwagerina assemblage occurred at slope facies near margin of volcanic island, which originally deposited in the shallow-water carbonate platform, then collapsed along the volcanic island margin with fusulinid-bearing grain-supported carbonate con-glomerate or calcirudite, and finally re-deposited on the deeper slope. The sedimentary sequence re-sulting from calm shallow water was deposited at the interior of the Qamdo Block from the Devonian to early Early Permian. At the beginning of the peak period of activity of pan-riftzation (Luodianian), al-ternate volcanic island and shallow marine environment within continent crust came into being. Uni-form and stable shallow-water carbonate platform was formed during the Xiangboan. This suggested that the activity of rift basin was evidently weakened. Subsequently the instability of the basin appre-ciably increased with the occurrence of basalt in late Kuhfengian. At last the whole Qamdo Block turned into the closure period of rift during the Late Permian.     

Lithophile elements in Huronian low-Ti continental tholeiites from Canada, and evolution of the Precambrian mantle

Huronian basalts from central Ontario, Canada, dated at about 2450 Ma and associated with an early rifting episode, are classified as siliceous, low-TiNb tholeiites. They display strong enrichment in large-ion lithophile (LILE) and light rare earth (LREE) elements compared to modern oceanic lavas. The tectonic setting and geochemistry resemble Mesozoic rift-related low-Ti flood basalts, including the Ferrar Group of Antarctica, and the Parana and equivalent Etendeka volcanics of south Brazil and Namibia, respectively. High LILE/LREE ratios are also similar to subduction-related island arc tholeiites, and it is suggested that enrichment of the Huronian lithospheric mantle source occurred through ancient subduction of crustal material, probably during formation and consolidation of the Archean continental crust.Melting models suggest that Huronian subcontinental mantle source compositions, derived from least contaminated, aphyric, mafic end-members, had already undergone a complex evolution, including withdrawal of Archean basalts and hydrous enrichment in incompatible components. Despite several subsequent melting episodes and a second, probably magmatic, enrichment event, however, many aspects of the Huronian source signature were preserved, and appeared in later basaltic products of this mantle mass. Keweenawan volcanics, for example, dated at about 1100 Ma, preserve low P, Zr, Ti and HREE abundances.     

Fusulinoidean faunal succession of a Paleo–Tethyan oceanic seamount in the Changning–Menglian Belt, West Yunnan, Southwest China: An overview

Abstract   Fusulinoidean faunal succession from Paleo–Tethyan seamount-type carbonates of the Yutangzhai section in the Central zone of the Changning–Menglian Belt of West Yunnan, Southwest China, is presented for the first time. The Changning–Menglian Belt is one of the orogenic belts that represent the closed main Paleo–Tethys in East Asia. The Yutangzhai section is represented by basalts and overlying carbonates, about 1100 m thick. It exhibits a continuous faunal succession composed of 17 fusulinoidean assemblages ranging from the Serpukhovian (late Mississippian/late Early Carboniferous) to Midian/Capitanian (late Middle Permian/late Guadalupian). No significant faunal break can be recognized in this section. The generic and some specific composition of the Yutangzhai assemblages indicates that the faunal succession is similar to those observed in Tethyan and Panthalassan areas and is of tropical Tethyan type although their generic diversity is definitely lower than those of Paleo–Tethyan shelves, such as South China, Indochina, and Central Asia. Throughout the Yutangzhai section, the carbonate rocks are essentially massive, very pure in composition, and devoid of terrigenous siliciclastic inputs. These lithologic characters are identical to those observed in accreted shallow-marine carbonate successions of seamount origin in Permian and Jurassic accretionary complexes of Japan, for example the Akiyoshi Limestone. This evidence further demonstrates the seamount origin of the basalt–limestone succession in the Central zone of the Changning–Menglian Belt from the viewpoint of lithofacies. In middle Mississippian (middle Early Carboniferous) time, oceanic submarine volcanism that was probably related to hot spot activities formed a number of seamounts and oceanic plateaus. It was active not only in the Panthalassa, but also in the Paleo–Tethys.     

Permian back‐arc extension in central Inner Mongolia,NE China: Elemental and Sr–Nd–Pb–Hf–O isotopic constraints from the Linxi high‐MgO diabase dikes

Early Permian (272 ± 2 Ma) diabase dikes from the Linxi area in central Inner Mongolia of NE China have high MgO (10.4 – 12.3 wt%), Cr (301 – 448 ppm) and Ni (167 – 233 ppm) concentrations, and show enrichments in large ion lithophile element (LILE) and light rare earth elements (REE) but depletions in high field strength element (HFSE, e.g., Nb and Ta), with depleted mantle‐type Sr [⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (i) = 0.70315 – 0.70362], Nd [ε_Nd (t) = +6.8 – +7.4], Pb [²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb (i) = 18.10 – 18.16] and zircon Hf [ε_Hf (t) = +14.7 – +19.1] isotopic compositions, but slightly higher zircon δ¹⁸O (5.2 – 6.0 ‰ with an average of 5.7 ‰) than normal mantle. The combined geochemical data indicate their derivation from a depleted mantle metasomatized by recycled crustal component. Elemental and isotopic modeling results suggest that the primary magma was produced through 5 % to 10 % melting of a depleted mantle, which contained approximately 1 % sediment fluid released from the subducted paleo‐Asian Ocean. Considering the widespread distribution of contemporaneous mafic rocks across the central Inner Mongolia, which show REE patterns from E‐MORBs to normal MORBs, we propose a petrogenetic link between the Early Permian mafic magmatism and a back‐arc extension in response to northward subduction of the paleo‐Asian Ocean. The Permian mafic magmatism and the new age constraints from the metamorphic and sedimentary records in this area tend to indicate the ultimate closure of the paleo‐Asian Ocean by the end of Paleozoic.     

New data on the geology and age of the Koreyskaya River area (south Sikhote-Alin)

Abstract The geological structure of the Koreyskaya River area exhibits a complex combination of turbidite—olistostrome deposits making up a matrix and synsedimentary tectonic enclosures represented by allochthons of formations different in age and genesis. Three tectono-stratigraphic units can be distinguished, that have been combined into a single section by accretion. New data on radiolarians have been used to date the tectonic enclosures and matrix. Abundant Mesozoic radiolarians (from Triassic to Late Jurassic) and also Late Permian radiolarians were found in cherty and siliceous mudstone olistoliths and cherty allochthons.     

Lower Permian glacially influenced deposits in Phuket and adjacent islands, peninsular Thailand

It has previously been proposed that the Sibumasu block of Southeast Asia, which contains glaciomarine deposits, became detached from the Gondwana margin during the Early Permian. A combination of facies analysis and the identification of dropstones and dump structures from a Lower Permian diamictite-bearing sequence at Phuket, Thailand, and adjacent islands suggests that the sediments originated as glaciomarine and debris-flow deposits. The Lower Permian diamictite-bearing sequence in the study area corresponds to the Ko Sire and Ko He Formations, both of which consist of three principal lithofacies: diamictite, sandstone, and fine-grained facies. The low-lying Ko Sire Formation is up to 400 m thick and is characterized by laminated mudstone; the presence of dropstones and dump structures associated with Cruziana ichnofacies indicates ice-rafted sedimentation in a glacially influenced offshore area. The Ko Sire Formation is overlain by a diamictite sequence of the Ko He Formation (up to 400 m thick). Poorly and well-stratified diamictites with tabular and lensoidal geometries, in combination with resedimentation textures, indicate that the diamictites within the Ko He Formation are debris-flow deposits. The similar lithology of clasts in the diamictites and dropstones possibly suggests that the debris-flow diamictite was presumably remobilized from pre-existing glacial deposits. The evidence of a glacially influenced offshore environment supports a previously proposed paleogeographic interpretation in which the Sibumasu block was most likely located at the Northwest Australian margin of Gondwana.     

Sedimentary facies of Carboniferous–Permian mid-oceanic carbonates in the Changning–Menglian Belt, West Yunnan, Southwest China: Origin and depositional process

Huge carbonate rock bodies ranging in age from the Visean (Middle Mississippian/Early Carboniferous) to the Changhsingian (Lopingian/Late Permian) overlie a basaltic basement in the Changning–Menglian Belt, West Yunnan, Southwest China. These carbonates lack intercalations of terrigenous siliciclastic material throughout. These lines of evidence indicate that they formed upon an isolated and continuously subsiding mid-oceanic island (or plateau), probably of hotspot origin. The carbonates are grouped into a shallow-water carbonate platform facies regime observed in the Yutangzhai section and a relatively deep-water carbonate slope facies regime typically represented in the Longdong section. These two facies regimes developed contemporaneously as parts of a carbonate depositional system on and around a mid-oceanic volcanic edifice. The carbonate platform is subdivided into four facies, including platform-margin, shoal, lagoon, and peritidal facies. Along the measured Yutangzhai section of the platform facies regime, the vertical facies succession from the platform-margin facies into inner-platform facies such as the shoal and lagoon facies is recognized. This facies succession is explained as resulting from the progradation of the carbonate platform. Worm tubes occur as a main reef builder in platform-margin facies of the Mississippian. Their occurrence as major constituents in a high-wave-energy reef is peculiar to Carboniferous reef distributions of the world. The occurrences of other reef- and/or mound-building organisms and peritidal dolo-mudstone are almost consistent in timing with those of Panthalassan counterparts such as the Akiyoshi and Omi limestones of Japan, and probably exhibit the worldwide trend.     

Correlation between the bedded chert sequence of southwest Japan and δ13C excursion of carbonate sequence, and its significance to the Permian-Triassic mass extinction

Abstract Stratigraphic productivity variations of radiolarians below the Permian-Triassic boundary are examined with Ishiga Diagrams in bedded chert sequences of southwest Japan. The diagrams of two different outcrops, drawn from the thickness variation of chert beds, show common stratigraphic variation, which indicates the diagram is a useful tool for correlation of bedded chert sequence. The common stratigraphic productivity variation is also well correlated to a compiled δ¹³C excursion of shallow carbonate sequences. Bedded chert records a dramatic extinction event in a shallow surface zone of oceans below the Permian-Triassic boundary. The Permian-Triassic mass extinction is divided into three intervals based on the Ishiga Diagrams, the stratigraphic lithological variation of bedded chert sequences, and the δ¹³C curve. The preceding extinction interval in the late Djulfian stage was not as serious an event and the biosphere soon recovered. The event of the main extinction interval commenced in the Dorashamian stage and caused a serious destruction of the biosphere. An event of the aftermath interval during the Early Triassic caused a delay in the recovery from the main extinction interval.     

Earthquake-controlled event deposits and its tectonic significance from the Middle Permian Wandrawandian Siltstone in the Sydney Basin,Australia

Earthquake is a disaster event resulting from rapid and intensive crustal vibration caused by fault activity, volcanic eruption, or block dilapidation. Heezen and Ewing[1] and Heezen and Dyke[2] were the first to note earthquake-related mass movement and associated deposits in connection to the turbidity currents and submarine slumps triggered by the Grand Bank Earthquake in 1929. Seilacher[3] defined redeposited sedimentary beds, disturbed and modified by earth- quakes, as seismite. Since t…