Chadian faunas and flora from dyserth: Depositional environments and palaeogeographic setting of Viséan strata in northeast wales

New floral and faunal data from the oldest Dinantian limestones (Foel Formation) in the Dyserth area, suggest that these sediments are of Chadian age, rather than the Asbian age concluded by earlier workers. The basal late Chadian limestones rest conformably on Dinantian Basement Beds of ?Chadian age or older. The initial inundation of St. George's Land occurred during Chadian times, when shallow-water marine limestones accumulated in the Dyserth area and further to the south, together with terrestrially derived siliciclastics, containing drifted plant fragments. Periodically, a restricted hypersaline lagoonal environment was established but an open marine, neritic environment with abundant stenohaline fauna prevailed in this area. These Chadian sediments accumulated on the proximal part of a carbonate ramp and are presumed to have passed laterally downslope into deeper water basinal facies with Waulsortian buildups of the Irish Sea Basin. In the later Arundian, a carbonate ramp–to–platform transition occurred, with widespread deposition of shallow-water carbonates. In the Asbian this platform developed a rimmed margin, with buildups forming a linear belt between platform and basin. An almost complete Chadian to Brigantian Lower Carboniferous sequence can now be recognized in North Wales. This succession is comparable with the shelf succession in south Cumbria on the northern margin of the Irish Sea Basin.     

Stratigraphy and sedimentology of lower carboniferous (Dinantian) boreholes from West Co. Meath,Ireland

The 2-km deep Athboy Borehole (1439/2) together with the lower part of boreholes EP30 and N915 form a standard type section for strata of Dinantian (Courceyan to Asbian) age in west Co. Meath. Above a thin basal red-bed siliciclastic sequence, the marine Courceyan shelf succession is almost 600 m thick. It comprises the Liscartan, Meath, and Moathill Formations of the Navan Group and the Slane Castle Formation of the succeeding Boyne Group. The shallow-water limestones include micrites, oolites, and sandy bioclastic packstones and grainstones with subordinate skeletal wackestones and shales. Lateral facies changes from north to south in the Navan area suggest deepening across a shelf towards a depocentre further to the south around Trim. The deeper-water Waulsortian Limestones of late Courceyan to Chadian age (Feltrim Formation, ca. 213 m thick) form a series of five sheet-like mudbanks, interbedded with generally thin units of nodular crinoidal limestones and shales. The mudbanks are formed of bryozoan-rich peloidal wackestones and lime-mudstones with phase C and D components. Rare soft-sediment breccias occur at the bottom and top of banks. The succeeding Fingal Group commences with a thin interval (3–20 m) of black shales, laminated packstones, and micritic limestones of Chadian age, the Tober Colleen Formation. This is followed by the Lucan Formation (Chadian to Asbian) predominantly of laminated and graded calciturbidites, laminated sandstones, cherts, and black shales, which is over 1300 m thick. Ten sedimentary units have been informally defined, based on lithofacies and facies associations. The oldest unit, the Tara Member, is characterized by proximal debris-flow breccia deposits and nodular mudstones. A thick bioturbated micrite and shale unit (Ardmulchan Member) in the middle of the formation is overlain directly by a coarse oolitic and crinoidal grainstone unit (Beauparc Member). Near the top of the formation is a distinctive unit of coarse-grained laminated sandstones and shales (Athboy Member). The highest rocks in the Borehole are clean thickly-bedded limestones of the Asbian Naul Formation (>90 m thick). The youngest Dinantian strata in the area, the Brigantian Loughshinny Formation, marks a return to shale-dominant basin sedimentation. The significance of this work lies in the fact that the Athboy borehole is the longest continuously cored borehole in the Carboniferous of Ireland and provides a continuous sedimentary and biostratigraphic record for the northern part of the Dublin Basin. Foraminiferal biozones (Cf2–Cf6) have been recognized in this and in borehole N915, and Stage boundaries identified, which can be applied throughout the Basin. The sedimentary record for the Lucan Formation indicates four tectonic pulses during the Viséan, in the late Chadian/early Arundian, mid-Arundian, Holkerian, and late Holkerian/early Asbian.     

Biostratigraphy of Dinantian limestones and associated volcanic rocks in the Limerick Syncline,Ireland

Rocks of Courceyan to Brigantian age are exposed in the Limerick Syncline. However, a complete Courceyan succession is known only from two boreholes which correlate closely, both faunally and lithologically, with a standard Limerick Province succession in the Pallaskenry Borehole on the Shannon estuary. This is followed by a thick Waulsortian sequence (the newly defined Limerick Limestone Formation) of late Courceyan to early Chadian age and overlying cherty micrites (the newly defined Lough Gur Formation) of early to late Chadian age, whose top is younger to the east. The Lough Gur Formation is succeeded by lavas and tuffs of the Knockroe Volcanic Formation whose upper part is interbedded with and overlain by shallow water oolites and algal-rich bioclastic limestones of the Herbertstown Limestone Formation. The higher part of the latter is in turn interbedded with lavas and tuffs of the Knockseefin Volcanic Formation. The Herbertstown Limestone has rich and diverse coral/brachiopod and foraminiferal assemblages of late Chadian to Asbian age. Its base is markedly diachronous: late Chadian in the west of the syncline and Holkerian in the east. Both the base and top of the Knockroe Volcanic Formation are thus shown to be markedly diachronous and volcanism extends from the Chadian to early Asbian. The Knockseefin Volcanic Formation is entirely of Asbian age. The highest limestones (Dromkeen Limestone Formation) have a diagnostic late Asbian–early Brigantian fauna and are overstepped by mid-Namurian shales.     

A reassessment of Arundian–Holkerian (Viséan) carbonates in South Cumbria,UK

Despite the importance of south Cumbrian sections for the Arundian–Holkerian (mid Viséan) boundary, beyond the stratotype proposed at Barker Scar in 1976, little else is known regionally about this boundary and its relationship to adjacent formations. We re-evaluate the Dalton Formation, making its upper and lower boundaries regionally more consistent and precisely-defined, in good quality outcrops with associated biostratigraphy. The Dalton Formation is formally divided into the Blackstone Member and overlying Raven's Member. Rich foraminiferal assemblages of the Cf4δ subzone are recognized in the Blackstone Member and the lower to mid Raven's Member in nine sections. The Cf4γ–Cf4δ boundary is recognized in the underlying Red Hill Limestone Formation in 3 sections. The upper part of the Raven's Member shows the first appearance of taxa assigned to the Cf5α and Cf5β subzones of the Holkerian in three of the sections. Bentonitic shales in the mid and upper-most part of the Raven's Member were evaluated for zircon and apatite geochronology, although only 4 out of 504 analyses yielded Carboniferous ages, indicating an almost entirely detrital source. This detritus was northerly or northeasterly-derived and predominantly from the Southern Uplands Terrane with subsidiary input from the Lewisian Complex or eastern Greenland sources. Petrographic analysis identified 13 microfacies indicating that the Dalton Formation represents the inner to outer part of a southward inclined shelf, in which east–west changes in microfacies were generated by synsedimentary faulting inherited from northwest–southeast aligned basement structures.     

Elucidating hydrological complexity and climate-influenced diagenesis during the early Carboniferous of South Wales

A revised age provided by conodonts from the Gilwern Oolite of the Clydach area of South Wales allows a clearer understanding of the palaeohydrology, palaeoclimatic history and diagenesis of previously correlated oolitic units. Earlier uncertainty over the apparent sub-regional differences in climate during the early Visean (Chadian—Arundian) lowstand is resolved. Previously a humid interval evidenced by prominent palaeo-epikarst capping the Gilwern Oolite along the northern outcrops of the South Wales synclinorium, was not recognized in what were regarded as correlative outcrops in the Chadian Gully Oolite in the southern part of the synclinorium. Conodont dating now shows that the Gilwern Oolite is much older (Courceyan) than the Chadian Gully Oolite, and during the prolonged exposure of the former there was an interval of weathering under a humid climate. This also explains the contrast between the diagenesis seen between the Gilwern and Gully oolites, which are no longer seen as correlatives.     

Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian) stratigraphy and structure of the Walterstown-Kentstown area,Co. Meath,Ireland

Stratigraphic units are defined and described for the Lower Carboniferous succession in the Walterstown-Kentstown area of Co. Meath, Ireland. A complete (unexposed) Courceyan succession from the terrestrial red bed facies of the Baronstown Formation to the Moathill Formation of the Navan Group has been penetrated in several boreholes. Although the lower part of the sequence is comparable with the Courceyan succession at Navan and Slane, the middle part of the sequence differs markedly in the Walterstown-Kentstown area and two new members, the Proudstown and Walterstown Members, are defined in the upper part of the Meath Formation. Syndepositional faulting was initiated during the Courceyan, probably in latest Pseudopolygnathus multistriatus or early Polygnathus mehli latus time. Movement on the ENE trending St. Patrick's Well Fault influenced the deposition of the Walterstown Member and the overlying Moathill Formation and was probably associated with the development of the East Midlands depocentre to the south of the area. A second episode of tectonism in the latest Courceyan or early Chadian resulted in uplift and erosion and the development of ‘block and basin’ sedimentation. Subsequent transgression of the uplifted block led to the establishment of the Kentstown Platform, bounded to the north, west and south by rocks of basinal facies. The Milverton Group (Chadian-Asbian), confined to this platform, unconformably overlies Courceyan or Lower Palaeozoic strata and is subdivided into three formations: Crufty Formation (late Chadian), Holmpatrick Formation (late Chadian-Arundian) and Mullaghfin Formation (late Arundian-Asbian). The Walterstown Fault controlled the western margin of the Kentstown Platform at this time. Contemporaneous basinal sediments of the Fingal Group (Lucan and Naul Formations) accumulated to the west of the Walterstown Fault and are much thicker than age-equivalent platform facies. Platform sedimentation ceased in latest Asbian to early Brigantian time with tectonically induced collapse and drowning of the platform; platform carbonates of the Mullaghfin Formation are onlapped northwards by coarse proximal basinal facies of the Loughshinny Formation. A distinct gravity anomaly in the Kentstown area suggests the presence of a granitoid body within the basement. The Kentstown Platform is therefore considered to have formed on a buoyant, granite-cored, footwall high analogous to the Askrigg and Alston Blocks of northern England.     

Biostratigraphy,microfacies and depositional environments of upper Viséan limestones from the Burren region,County Clare,Ireland

The Burren region in western Ireland contains an almost continuous record of Viséan (Middle Mississippian) carbonate deposition extending from Chadian to Brigantian times, represented by three formations: the Chadian to Holkerian Tubber Formation, the Asbian Burren Formation and the Brigantian Slievenaglasha Formation. The upper Viséan (Holkerian–Brigantian) platform carbonate succession of the Burren can be subdivided into six distinct depositional units outlined below. (1) An Holkerian to lower Asbian unit of skeletal peloidal and bryozoan bedded limestone. (2) Lower Asbian unit of massive light grey Koninckopora‐rich limestone, representing a shallower marine facies. (3) Upper Asbian terraced limestone unit with minor shallowing‐upward cycles of poorly bedded Kamaenella‐rich limestone with shell bands and palaeokarst features. This unit is very similar to other cyclic sequences of late Asbian age in southern Ireland and western Europe, suggesting a glacio‐eustatic origin for this fourth‐order cyclicity. (4) Lower Brigantian unit with cyclic alternations of crinoidal/bryozoan limestone and peloidal limestone with coral thickets. These cycles lack evidence of subaerial exposure. (5) Lower Brigantian bedded cherty dark grey limestone unit, deposited during the maximum transgressive phase of the Brigantian. (6) Lower to upper Brigantian unit mostly comprising cyclic bryozoan/crinoidal cherty limestone. In most areas this youngest unit is truncated and unconformably overlain by Serpukhovian siliciclastic rocks. Deepening enhanced by platform‐wide subsidence strongly influenced later Brigantian cycle development in Ireland, but localized rapid shallowing led to emergence at the end of the Brigantian. A Cf5 Zone (Holkerian) assemblage of microfossils is recorded from the Tubber Formation at Black Head, but in the Ballard Bridge section the top of the formation has Cf6 Zone (Asbian) foraminiferans. A typical upper Asbian Rugose Coral Assemblage G near the top of the Burren Formation is replaced by a lower Brigantian Rugose Coral Assemblage H in the Slievenaglasha Formation. A similar change in the foraminiferans and calcareous algae at this Asbian–Brigantian formation boundary is recognized by the presence of upper Asbian Cf6γ Subzone taxa in the Burren Formation including Cribrostomum lecomptei, Koskinobigenerina sp., Bradyina rotula and Howchinia bradyana, and in the Slievenaglasha Formation abundant Asteroarchaediscus spp., Neoarchaediscus spp. and Fasciella crustosa of the Brigantian Cf6δ Subzone. The uppermost beds of the Slievenaglasha Formation contain a rare and unusual foraminiferal assemblage containing evolved archaediscids close to tenuis stage indicating a late Brigantian age. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Controls on the evolution and demise of Lower Carboniferous carbonate platforms,northern margin of the Dublin Basin,Ireland

Shallow water platform limestones of the Chadian–Asbian Milverton Group are restricted to the north-eastern part of the Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian) Dublin Basin. Here, they are confined to two granite-cored fault blocks, the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks, known to have been active during the late Dinantian. Three areas of platform sedimentation are delimited (the Kentstown, Drogheda and Milverton areas), although in reality they probably formed part of a single carbonate platform. Resedimented submarine breccias and calciturbidites (Fingal Group) composed of shallow water allochems and intraclasts sourced from the platform accumulated, along with terrigenous muds, in the surrounding basinal areas. Sedimentological evidence suggests that the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks possessed tilt-block geometries and developed during an episode of basin-wide extensional faulting in late Chadian time. Rotation of the blocks during extension resulted in the erosion of previously deposited sequences in footwall areas and concomitant drowning of distal hangingwall sequences. Antithetic faults on the northern part of the Balbriggan Block aided the preferential subsidence of the Drogheda area and accounts for the anomously thick sequence of late Chadian platform sediments present there. Continued subsidence and/or sea-level rise in the late Chadian–early Arundian resulted in transgression of the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks; carbonate ramps developed on the hangingwall dip slopes and transgressed southward with time. Subsequent progradation and aggradation of shallow water sediments throughout the Arundian to Asbian led to the development of carbonate shelves. Several coarse conglomeratic intervals within the contemporaneous basinal sequences of the Fingal Group attest to periodic increases of sediment influx associated with the development of the shelves. Sedimentological processes controlled the development of the carbonate platforms on the hangingwall dip slopes of the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks, though periodic increases of sediment flux into the basinal areas may have been triggered by eustatic falls in sea level. In contrast, differential subsidence along the bounding faults of these blocks exerted a strong control on the margins of the late Dinantian shelves, maintaining relatively steep slopes and inhibiting the progradation of the shelves into the adjacent basins. Tectonically induced collapse and retreat of the platform margins occurred in the late Asbian–early Brigantian. Platform sediments are overlain by coarse-grained proximal basinal facies which fine upwards before passing into a thick shale sequence, indicating that by the late Brigantian carbonate production had almost stopped as the platforms were drowned.     

The lower carboniferous (dinantian) of the Swords area: Sedimentation and tectonics in the Dublin Basin,Ireland

The litho- and biostratigraphy of the Lower Dinantian succession in a deeper part of the Dublin Basin is described. The sub-Waulsortian Malahide Limestone Formation (emended) is described fully for the first time, and has proved to be very much thicker than was previously suspected, in excess of 1200 m. Succeeding the ‘Lower Limestone Shale’ unit, which is transitional from the underlying Old Red Sandstone facies, the following six new members are recognized: Turvey Micrite Member, Swords Argillaceous Bioclastic Member, St. Margaret's Banded Member, Huntstown Laminated Member, Dunsoghly Massive Crinoidal Member and Barberstown Nodular Member (top). The Malahide Limestone Formation is overlain by ‘Waulsortian’ limestones of the Feltrim Limestone Formation (new name) which form overlapping and isolated mudmounds with complex relationships with their enclosing non-mound facies. Though very much thicker, the Courceyan succession is comparable with that elsewhere on the south side of the Basin, and is part of the Kildare Province (Strogen and Somerville 1984). Isopach maps for the region show that this province and the North Midlands are separated by the deepest part of the Dublin Basin, named the ‘East Midlands Depocentre’, in which a shale-dominant facies is present. The top of the ‘Waulsortian’ is of early Chadian age. Formations younger than this are dominated by basinal calcareous shales (Tober Colleen Formation) and by storm deposits and calciturbidites with appreciable terrigenous input from the east (Rush Formation). The Courceyan main shelf conodont biozones are also greatly thickened in this area. The Pseudopolygnathus multistriatus Biozone (> 300 m thick) is succeeded by a very thick (> 900 m) Polygnathus mehli Biozone. The base of the Chadian is considered to occur below the top of the Feltrim Limestone Formation and, although equivocal, may be diagnosed in the Dublin Basin by the first appearance of the problematic microfossil Sphaerinvia piai and a primitive form of the calcareous alga Koninckopora. In the late Courceyan, the Swords area was part of a gently sloping shelf extending northwards into the basin. During deposition of the Feltrim Limestone Formation there was major deepening and there is evidence of initial break up of the Dublin Basin by faulting into separate blocks. By Chadian time the Basin was definitely subsiding by fault displacements and basinal limestones contain shallow water faunas and littoral sand and pebbles derived by turbidite flows from the margins of the higher blocks. The early subsidence was apparently by pure flexure, but in the Viséan the Dublin Basin was fault-controlled, differing from the adjacent Shannon Basin in having both margins strongly faulted.     

Lower Carboniferous peritidal carbonates and associated evaporites adjacent to the Leinster Massif,southeast Irish Midlands

Analysis of a 275 m‐thick section in the Milford Borehole, GSI‐91‐25, from County Carlow, Ireland, has revealed an unusual sequence of shallow subtidal, peritidal and sabkha facies in rocks of mid?‐late Chadian to late Holkerian (Viséan, Lower Carboniferous) age. Sedimentation occurred on an inner ramp setting, adjacent to the Leinster Massif. The lower part of the sequence (late Chadian age) above the basal subtidal bioclastic unit is dominated by oolite sand facies associations. These include a lower regressive dolomitized, oolitic peloidal mobile shoal, and an upper, probably transgressive, backshoal oolite sand. A 68 m‐thick, well‐developed peritidal sequence is present between the oolitic intervals. These rocks consist of alternating stromatolitic fenestral mudstone, dolomite and organic shale, with evaporite pseudomorphs and subaerial exposure horizons containing pedogenic features. In the succeeding Arundian–Holkerian strata, transgressive–regressive carbonate units are recognized. These comprise high‐energy, backshoal subtidal cycles of argillaceous skeletal packstones, bioclastic grainstones with minor oolites and algal wackestones to grainstones and infrequent algal stromatolite horizons. The study recognizes for the first time the peritidal and sabkha deposits in Chadian rocks adjacent to the Leinster Massif in the eastern Irish Midlands. These strata appear to be coeval with similar evaporite‐bearing rocks in County Wexford that are developed on the southern margin of this landmass, and similar depositional facies exist further to the east in the South Wales Platform, south of St. George's Land, and in Belgium, south of the Brabant Massif. The presence of evaporites in the peritidal facies suggests that dense brines may have formed adjacent to the Leinster Massif. These fluids may have been involved in regional dolomitization of Chadian and possibly underlying Courceyan strata. They may also have been a source of high salinity fluids associated with nearby base‐metal sulphide deposits. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Discovery of Arundian and Holkerian faunas from a Dinantian platform succession in North Wales

For the first time Arundian and Holkerian faunas have been recognized from the lower part of the Dinantian succession in North Wales. These limestones and sandstones, hitherto regarded as Asbian, have a macrofauna and microfauna confirming their older age, and this discovery' has necessitated a revision of the palaeogeography in the North Wales region. Biostratigraphical correlations have been made with contemporaneous platform successions in the Central, Northern, and Southwest Provinces of Britain. A new genus and species of foraminifer, Groessensella moldensis, is described.     

Late Dinantian (Lower Carboniferous) platform carbonate stratigraphy of the Buttevant area North Co. Cork,Ireland

A thick sequence of late Dinantian (Asbian–Brigantian) carbonates crop out in the Buttevant area, North Co. Cork, Ireland. A mud-mound unit of early Asbian age (the Hazelwood Formation) is the oldest unit described in this work. This formation is partly laterally equivalent to, and is overlain by, over 500 m of bedded platform carbonates which belong to the Ballyclogh and Liscarroll Limestone Formations. Four new lithostratigraphic units are described within the platform carbonates: (i) the early Asbian Cecilstown Member and (ii) the late Asbian Dromdowney Member in the Ballyclogh Limestone Formation; (iii) the Brigantian Templemary Member and (iv) the Coolbane Member in the Liscarroll Limestone Formation. The Cecilstown Member consists of cherty packstones and wackestones that are inferred to have been deposited below fair-weather wavebase. This unit overlies and is laterally equivalent to the mud-mound build-up facies of the Hazelwood Formation. The Dromdowney Member is typified by cyclic-bedded kamaenid-rich limestones possessing shell bands, capped by palaeokarst surfaces, with alveolar textures below and shales above these surfaces. The carbonates of this unit were deposited at or just below fair-weather wavebase, the top of each cycle culminated in subaerial emergence. The Templemary Member consists of cyclic alternations of subtidal crinoidal limestones capped by subtidal lagoonal crinoid-poor, peloidal limestones possessing coral thickets. Intraclastic cherty packstones and wackestones characterize the Coolbane Member, which is inferred to have been deposited below fair-weather wavebase but above storm wavebase. The early Asbian Cecilstown Member has a relatively sparse micro- and macrofauna, typified by scattered Siphonodendron thickets, archaediscids at angulatus stage and common Vissariotaxis. Conversely, macro- and microfauna is abundant in the late Asbian Dromdowney Member. Typical late Asbian macrofossils include the coral Dibunophyllum bipartitum and the brachiopod Davidsonina septosa. The base of the late Asbian (Cf6γ Subzone) is recognized by the first appearance of the foraminifers Cribrostomum lecompteii, Koskinobigenerina and the alga Ungdarella. The Cf6γ Subzone can be subdivided into two biostratigraphic divisions, Cf6γ1 and Cf6γ2, that can be correlated throughout Ireland. Relatively common gigantoproductid brachiopods and the coral Lonsdaleia duplicata occur in the Brigantian units. The base of the Brigantian stage (Cf6δ Subzone) is marked by an increase in the abundance of stellate archaediscids, the presence of Saccamminopsis-rich horizons, Loeblichia paraammonoides, Howchinia bradyana and the rarity of Koninckopora species. Changes in facies at the Cecilstown/Dromdowney Member and the Ballyclogh/Liscarroll Formation boundaries coincide closely with the changes in fossil assemblages that correspond to the early/late Asbian and the Asbian/Brigantian boundaries. These facies changes are believed to reflect major changes in relative sea-level on the Irish platforms. The sea-level variations that are inferred to have caused the facies changes at lithostratigraphic boundaries also brought in the new taxa that define biostratigraphic boundaries. Moreover, many of the Dinantian stage boundaries that are defined biostratigraphically in Great Britain, Belgium and the Russian Platform also coincide with major facies boundaries caused by regressive and transgressive episodes. The integration of detailed biostratigraphic analyses with facies studies will lead to better stratigraphic correlations of Dinantian rocks in northwest Europe. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

华北地区冶里-亮甲山期层序地层及其岩相古地理

华北地区的冶里-亮甲山期地层由两个层序组成,“冶里”层序包括冶里组和亮甲山组底部的地层,相当于牙形石Utahconus beimadaoensis-Monocostodus sevierensis带至Scalpellodus tersus带,“亮甲山”层序包括其余的亮甲山组地层,相当于Serratognathus bilobatus带至Paraserratognathus paltodiformis带。由于海水由东北向南侵入,北部地区以海侵体系域及高位体系域发育为特征,主要属开阔海沉积,而南部及西部地区基本为高位体系域,主要属潮坪及局限海沉积,介于两者之间的曲阳-五台一带常以滩相为特征。这种体系域展布格局与生物地层相吻合。在晋南及豫北地区,常缺失海侵体系域的化石带,此外,由于每个层序结束时海退由南向北,因而南部地区又往往缺失高位期晚期或最晚期的地层。华北最北部,如河北平泉、秦皇岛一带,亮甲山组顶部见有一段在华北大部地区缺失的地层(Jumudontus gananda-Scolopodus sunanensis带),它代表了下一层序低位期间的沉积。随着海水再次由北向南侵入,结果形成了下马家沟组底部由北向南的超覆,也就是说,南部的贾汪组可能相当于北部下马家沟组的中下部,而不是底部。     

Permian marine sedimentation in northern Chile: new paleontological evidence from the Juan de Morales Formation,and regional paleogeographic implications

Permian marine sedimentary rocks that crop out in northern Chile are closely related to the development of a Late Paleozoic magmatic arc. A study of Upper Paleozoic units east of Iquique (20°S) identified three members within the Juan de Morales Formation, each of which were deposited in a different sedimentary environment. A coarse-grained terrigenous basal member represents alluvial sedimentation from a local volcanic source. A mixed carbonate-terrigenous middle member represents coastal and proximal shallow marine sedimentation during a relative sea-level rise related with a global transgression. Preliminary foraminifer biostratigraphy of this middle member identified a late Early Permian (late Artinskian–Kungurian) highly impoverished nodosarid–geinitzinid assemblage lacking fusulines and algae, which is characteristic of temperate cold waters and/or disphotic zone. The upper fine-grained terrigenous member represents shallow marine siliciclastic sedimentation under storm influence. The Juan de Morales Formation consists of continental, coastal and shallow marine sediments deposited at the active western margin of Gondwana at mid to low latitudes. A revised late Early Permian age and similar paleogeography and sedimentary environments are also proposed for the Huentelauquén Formation and related units of northern and central Chile, Arizaro Formation of northwestern Argentina, and equivalent units of southernmost Peru.     

Quaternary coastal evolution and vegetation history of northern New South Wales, Australia, based on dinoflagellates and pollen

The Richmond River Valley of northern N.S.W. contains a late Pleistocene succession dating back to approximately 250,000 yr B.P. Dinoflagellate and spore-pollen assemblages from the lowest interval, the lower “Dungarubba Clay” of Drury (1982), indicate deposition in a restricted estuarine environment at approximately 250,000 yr. Deposition in the overlying interval, the upper “Dungarubba Clay” and “Gundurimba Clay”, at approximately 120,000 yr B.P., began in a restricted estuary, but rising sea level caused inundation and deposition in a more open, marine-dominated environment. Dinoflagellate cyst assemblages from the last interglaciation (stage 5) are interpreted by analogy with those from the morphologically similar, modern Broken Bay, N.S.W. They are indicative of an open, marine-dominated environment and imply that barrier formation in the Richmond River Valley, and possibly elsewhere in northern N.S.W., did not commence until after the initial postglacial transgression. Synchronous changes in sea level and rainforest development suggest that there was no significant time lag between climate and sea-level change.     

The recognition of the Asbian/Brigantian boundary fauna and marker horizons in the Dinantian of North Wales

For the first time the stratigraphically important brachiopod Davidsonina septosa (Phillips) has been located in thickly bedded pale grey, late Asbian limestones in North Wales. Above these limestones are thinly bedded dark grey Brigantian limestones, which have yielded a rich and diverse coral-brachiopod fauna, including Lonsdaleia floriformis (Martin). The Girvanella Nodular Bed is recorded for the first time in this region, some distance above the base of the Brigantian. The boundary between the two major lithofacies is marked by a prominent palaeokarstic surface and coincides with a significant faunal change, both in the macrofauna and microfauna that serves to identify the boundary between the Asbian and Brigantian Stages. The discovery within late Dinantian successions of certain diagnostic corals, brachiopods, and algae outside their accepted restricted stratigraphical ranges, casts doubt on their reliable use as Asbian or Brigantian zone fossils.     

贵州独山中深盆统不整合的发现及其意义

黔南中泥盆统独山组鸡窝寨段底部存在的古风化壳层和其之上的底砾岩,为一次地亮相对上升、海平面下降的上升运动（独山抬升）,表明独山组内存在着沉积间断。建议将此古风化壳之上的原＂独山组鸡窝寨段＂修订为＂鸡窝寨组＂,代表中泥盆世晚期较独山组更大海侵的以碳酸盐岩为主的沉积。     

Dinoflagellate cyst stratigraphy and palaeoenvironment of the marginal marine Middle and Upper Miocene of the eastern Campine area,northern Belgium (southern North Sea Basin)

A stratigraphical and palaeoenvironmental analysis with organic‐walled palynomorphs of the Bolderberg and Diest formations provides new insights in the depositional history during Miocene times at the southern border of the North Sea Basin. The Neogene transgression invaded Belgium from a north–northwestern direction and fully marine sediments were deposited in the northern part of Belgium. The age and the palaeoenvironment of the deposits at the very border of the southern North Sea Basin remained till a few decades ago incomplete. The recovered dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs and green algae from the Bolderberg Formation in the Wijshagen Borehole indicate a marginal marine depositional environment during late Burdigalian and Langhian times in the eastern Campine area, in contrast to the deeper marine conditions prevailing to the north–northwest. The relative dating of the Bolderberg Formation confirms that maximum flooding occurred during Langhian to early Serravallian times. Deposition apparently took place during the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum, and ended when the climatic deterioration set in at around 14 Ma. A hiatus spanning ca. 2 Ma separates the Middle Miocene Bolderberg Formation from the Upper Miocene Diest Formation in the eastern Campine area at the border of the North Sea Basin. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Marine Cretaceous in the Western Part of the Tarim Basin of Xinjiang and Its Depositional Environments

The western part of the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang is one of the main areas in China where the marineCretaceous is well developed. The Upper Cretaceous Yingjisha Group represented mainly by sediments of lit-toral, near-shore neritic and estuarine facies is divided in ascending order into the Kukebai Formation, theOytak Formation, the Ygezya Formation and the Tuylouk Formation. For about thirty years, the basal beds of the Kukebai Formation had been considered to be the lowermostmarine horizon of the Cretaceous in the western part of the Tarim Basin, which represents the earliest trans-gression of the Cretaceous Sea into this region. Recently. marine trace fossils, Ophiomorpha nodosa, O.tuberosa and Thalassinoides? spp. were found in abundance and fine preservation from the upper subcycle andupper part of the lower subcycle of the Kezlesu Group underlying the Kukebai Formation. The fact indicatesthat the marine transgression there took place earlier than the Kukebaian. Process of transgression and regression and change of environment in the West Tarim Basin during the pe-riod from the late Early Cretaceous to the end of the Cretaceous is also discussed in this paper.     

Stratigraphy, biostratigraphy and C-isotopes of the Permian–Triassic non-marine sequence at Dalongkou and Lucaogou, Xinjiang Province, China

Measured lithostratigraphic sections of the classic Permian–Triassic non-marine transitional sequences covering the upper Quanzijie, Wutonggou, Guodikeng and lower Jiucaiyuan Formations at Dalongkou and Lucaogou, Xinjiang Province, China are presented. These measured sections form the framework and reference sections for a range of multi-disciplinary studies of the P–T transition in this large ancient lake basin, including palynostratigraphy, vertebrate biostratigraphy, chemostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy. The 121 m thick Wutonggou Formation at Dalongkou includes 12 sandstone units ranging in thickness from 0.5 to 10.5 m that represent cyclical coarse terrigenous input to the lake basin during the Late Permian. The rhythmically-bedded, mudstone-dominated Guodikeng Formation is 197 m and 209 m thick on the north and south limbs of the Dalongkou anticline, respectively, and 129 m thick at Lucaogou. Based on limited palynological data, the Permian–Triassic boundary was previously placed approximately 50 m below the top of this formation at Dalongkou. This boundary does not coincide with any mappable lithologic unit, such as the basal sandstones of the overlying Jiucaiyuan Formation, assigned to the Early Triassic. The presence of multiple organic δ¹³C-isotope excursions, mutant pollen, and multiple algal and conchostracan blooms in this formation, together with Late Permian palynomorphs, suggests that the Guodikeng Formation records multiple climatic perturbation signals representing environmental stress during the late Permian mass extinction interval. The overlap between the vertebrates Dicynodon and Lystrosaurus in the upper part of this formation, and the occurrence of late Permian spores and the latest Permian to earliest Triassic megaspore Otynisporites eotriassicus is consistent with a latest Permian age for at least part of the Guodikeng Formation. Palynostratigrahic placement of the Permian–Triassic boundary in the Junggar Basin remains problematic because key miospore taxa, such as Aratrisporites spp. are not present. Palynomorphs from the Guodikeng are assigned to two assemblages; the youngest, from the upper 100 m of the formation (and the overlying Jiucaiyuan Formation), contains both typical Permian elements and distinctive taxa that elsewhere are known from the Early Triassic of Canada, Greenland, Norway, and Russia. The latter include spores assigned to Pechorosporites disertus, Lundbladispora foveota, Naumovaspora striata, Decussatisporites mulstrigatus and Leptolepidites jonkerii. While the presence of Devonian and Carboniferous spores and Early Permian pollen demonstrate reworking is occurring in the Guodikeng assemblages, the sometimes common occurrence of Scutasporites sp. cf. Scutasporites unicus, and other pollen, suggests that the Late Permian elements are in place, and that the upper assemblage derives from a genuine transitional flora of Early Triassic aspect. In the Junggar Basin, biostratigraphic data and magnetostratigraphic data indicate that the Permian–Triassic boundary (GSSP Level) is in the middle to upper Guodikeng Formation and perhaps as high as the formational contact with the overlying Jiucaiyuan Formation.