The paleobiogeographical significance of the Silurian and Devonian trilobites of Japan

Six major groups of trilobites from the Silurian and Devonian of Japan are evaluated for their paleobiogeographical signature. Silurian illaenids and scutelluids show four generic‐level and at least two species‐level links with the Australian segment of the Gondwana paleocontinent; encrinurids also indicate two generic‐level links with Australia and also the South China paleocontinent; whilst Devonian phacopids, and possibly proetids, suggest at least two generic‐level links with the North China paleocontinent. These different patterns may reflect the fragmentary biostratigraphical record of Japanese trilobites, but they also appear to reflect paleoenvironmental parameters associated with lithofacies, and paleoecology. Thus, Japanese assemblages of proetids and phacopids occurring in deep‐water clastic lithofacies have counterparts in similar settings in North China, and Japanese scutelluids and illaenids are strongly associated with shallow marine carbonate lithofacies that are similar to those of their occurrences in Australia. Japanese encrinurids occur in carbonate rocks indicative of shallow marine settings in the Kurosegawa Terrane, and they demonstrate a consistent paleobiogeographical affinity with Australia and South China. Larval ecology cannot be directly assessed for Japanese trilobite groups. However, proetids have consistently been shown to have planktonic protaspides, whereas illaenids, scutelluids, and encrinurids have benthic protaspides. Planktonic protaspides would have a greater propensity for distribution in ocean currents than benthic ones, and therefore may be of more limited paleobiogeographical utility. The combined data from the six different groups indicates that the complex paleobiogeographical patterns of the Japanese trilobite assemblages need to be interpreted with caution, and similarity of taxa does not necessarily denote paleogeographical proximity to other regions.     

An abnormal pygidium of the trilobite Brachymetopus ornatus Woodward from the Lower Carboniferous of Derbyshire

A pygidium of Brachymetopus ornatus Woodward shows an abnormally developed left side affecting the whole of the pleural area and its rib development. Such an extensive abnormality, which does not extend beyond the axial furrow and shows none of the signs of resulting from injury, is currently unique. It is interpreted as a teratological condition in which a genetic or developmental malfunction resulted in the partial mimicking of thoracic pleurae rather than the construction of the normal pygidial pleural ribs. The effects of this are progressively greater from the posterior to the anterior parts of the affected pleural region. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

辽东半岛早及中寒武世早期生物地层

辽东半岛寒武系发育良好,化石丰富,是研究寒武纪地层和三叶虫动物群的理想地区。笔者将下寒武统及中寒武统毛庄阶划分了7个生物带,其中新建立生物带1个,新划分出生物带2个,并与国内外有关地区进行对比。三叶虫动物群包括34个种,分属19个属和3个亚属。由于篇幅所限,本文只简要描述了带化石,新属、新种另文发表。     

滇西保山地块中部寒武纪双地麦群的特征 及其时代重新厘定

在进行云南l∶5万板桥幅区域地质调查的过程中,对该区保山地块中前人划分的双麦地群进行了详细研究。结果发现,该区的双麦地群实为一套细碎屑板岩夹大理岩和安山质、玄武质火山岩组合,并在其中首次发现了晚寒武世崮山期Blackwelderia带的三叶虫化石分子Blackwelderia baoshanensis Luo,Blackwelderia sp.,Parashengia elongata Luo等,且具明显的底栖-浮游的混生现象,从而确定该套地层应属寒武系上统核桃坪组,而非寒武系下—中统双麦地群。该套地层岩石组合及其时代的确定,为进一步深入了解保山地块的构造属性、构造单元划分和发展演化提供了新的证据。     

Ambiguous biogeographical patterns mask a more complete understanding of the Ordovician to Devonian evolution of Japan

Fossil assemblages of the Ordovician to Devonian successions of Japan suggest complex temporal, environmental and geographical controls on their biogeographical signature. Thus, limited similarity at the species‐level between the trilobite, brachiopod and ostracod faunas of the South Kitakami, Hida‐Gaien and Kurosegawa terranes in part reflects the sporadic stratigraphic distribution of shelly fauna within these terranes. As a result, and with the exception of corals and pan‐tropical radiolarians, species‐level similarities are greater with other regions of East Asia and Australia than amongst the Japanese terranes. The Silurian faunas of the South Kitakami Terrane have affinities with North America, Europe, Central Asia and Australia, but there is no overriding signature to support proximity either to South China or Gondwana. Notably, brachiopod and trilobite faunas of the Middle Devonian suggest strong connections with North China. Trilobite, coral and ostracod faunas of the Hida‐Gaien Terrane show affinity, including at species level, with Siluro‐Devonian faunas from westerly‐situated palaeocontinents, especially those of Central Asian and European affinity, suggesting a continuation of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, or of its associated lithofacies. Greater diversity of groups such as ostracods and trilobites in this terrane may signal closer links with continental shelf faunas of East Asia. The dominant biogeographical signature of the Kurosegawa Terrane is from corals and trilobites, suggesting links with the Siluro‐Devonian of Central Asia, Australia and South China. The variable biogeographic signal of the Japanese faunas may reflect the lifestyles of organisms with different physiologies and larval dispersal mechanisms, as well as the relative incompleteness of the Japanese fossil record. The present state of knowledge of the faunas cautions against placing Japan in relative proximity to the North or South China plates, or of presenting the Japanese terranes as a unified island arc to the north of the South China Plate during the Early Palaeozoic.     

Evolution of the Taebaeksan Basin,Korea: I,early Paleozoic sedimentation in an epeiric sea and break‐up of the Sino‐Korean Craton from Gondwana

The Taebaeksan Basin is located in the mid‐eastern part of the southern Korean Peninsula and tectonically belonged to the Sino‐Korean Craton (SKC). It comprises largely the lower Paleozoic Joseon Supergroup and the upper Paleozoic Pyeongan Supergroup which are separated by a disconformity representing a 140 myr?long hiatus. This paper explores the early Paleozoic paleogeographical and tectonic evolution of the Taebaeksan Basin on the basis of updated stratigraphy, trilobite faunal assemblages, and detrital zircon U–Pb ages of the Joseon Supergroup. The Joseon Supergroup is a shallow marine siliciclastic‐carbonate succession ranging in age from the Cambrian Series 2 to Middle Ordovician. The Ongnyeobong Formation is the sole Upper Ordovician volcanic succession documented in the Taebaeksan Basin. It is suggested that in the early Paleozoic the Taebaeksan Basin was a part of an epeiric sea, the Joseon Sea, in east Gondwana. The Joseon Sea was the depositional site for lower Paleozoic successions of the SKC. Early Paleozoic sedimentation in the Joseon Sea commenced during the Cambrian Stage 3 (～ 520 Ma) and ceased by the end of the Darriwilian (～ 460 Ma). In the early Paleozoic, the SKC was located at the margin of east Gondwana and was separated from the South China Craton by an oceanic basin with incipient oceanic ridges, the Helan Trough. The spreading oceanic ridges and associated transform faults possibly promoted the uplift of the Joseon Sea, which resulted in cessation of sedimentation and break‐up of the SKC from core Gondwana by the end of the Ordovician.     

滇西保山地块中部寒武纪双地麦群的特征及其时代重新厘定

在进行云南l∶5万板桥幅区域地质调查的过程中,对该区保山地块中前人划分的双麦地群进行了详细研究。结果发现,该区的双麦地群实为一套细碎屑板岩夹大理岩和安山质、玄武质火山岩组合,并在其中首次发现了晚寒武世崮山期Blackwelderia带的三叶虫化石分子Blackwelderia baoshanensis Luo,Blackwelderia sp.,Parashengia elongata Luo等,且具明显的底栖-浮游的混生现象,从而确定该套地层应属寒武系上统核桃坪组,而非寒武系下—中统双麦地群。该套地层岩石组合及其时代的确定,为进一步深入了解保山地块的构造属性、构造单元划分和发展演化提供了新的证据。     

Occurrence and significance of Ischadites Murchison in Ordovician Limestones at Bowan Park,New South Wales

Ischadites lindstroemi Hinde 1884 is described from the Ordovician Daylesford Formation (lower part of the Bowan Park Group) of central western New South Wales. The species characterises a distinctive unit in the formation, occurring in bands throughout the unit. From a study of the associated lithofacies and their stratigraphic distribution in the limestones, an interpretation of the environment in which the species lived is presented. The species is considered to have inhabited a shallow‐water, lime‐mud environment, which was off‐shore and marginal to calcarenite shoals.     

Geological significance of middle Cambrian trilobites from near Melba Flats,western Tasmania

In western Tasmania, near Melba Flats, a basalt within the Serpentine Hill Complex is overlain unconformably by Dundas Group sediments (Hodge Slate). About 32 m above the unconformity, a siltstone contains agnostoid and polymerid trilobites that indicate correlation with the middle Cambrian Ptychagnostus punctuosus Zone (Drumian Stage of unnamed Epoch 3 of the Cambrian). This provides an upper limit of about 505.2–504.5 Ma to the emplacement of ultramafic allochthons in western Tasmania. Other fossils present include dendroids, inarticulate brachiopods, hyolithids, helcionellids and sponges. The widespread agnostoid trilobite Ptychagnostus affinis (Brøgger 1878) and the holocephalinid trilobites Meneviella and Holocephalina are recorded for the first time in Tasmania.