New palaeontological investigations in the Jurassic of western Thailand

The paleontological investigations of the Jurassic of Western Thailand, districts of Mae Sot (Tak–Mae Sot highway, Padaeng Tak and Ban Mae Kut Luang Zinc mines) and Umphang (Klo Tho), provide age constraints for the Late Indosinian orogeny, the Paleotethys closure and the timing of the marine Jurassic inundation of Sundaland. The basal conglomerate of the Jurassic is derived from the pelagic Triassic Mae Sariang substratum. Stratigraphy, microfacies and paleontology of the Jurassic marine strata focus especially on ammonites, bivalves, large benthic foraminifera and algae. Among ammonites, the Tethyan Catulloceras perisphinctoides Gemmellaro marks the Upper Toarcian (Aalensis Zone) along the Tak–Mae Sot highway and Riccardiceras longalvum (Vacek), Malladaites pertinax (Vacek), Abbasites sp. and Vacekia sp. indicate Middle Aalenian to lowermost Bajocian in the Padaeng Mine (SE of Mae Sot) and Klo–Tho (Umphang). Vacekia sp., Spinammatoceras schindewolfi Linares and Sandoval and Malladaites vaceki Linares and Sandoval indicate Middle Aalenian to lowermost Upper Aalenian at Ban Mae Kut Luang (NE of Mae Sot). Among foraminifers, the large benthic foraminifer Timidonella sarda Bassoullet, Chabrier and Fourcade in the Western Tethys is indicative for Aalenian–Bajocian times, as characterized in the section at the Tak–Padaeng Zinc mine and the Klo–Tho Formation near Umphang. The endemic foraminifer Gutnicella kaempferi characterizes the Pu Khloe Khi Formation near Umphang. Among bivalves, shallow marine, dominantly endemic fauna includes Parvamussium donaiense (Mansuy) and Bositra ornate (Quenstedt), from the Toarcian to the Early Bajocian. A consideration of the faunal affinity shows that the fauna is partly endemic with Northern Tethyan (Eurasian) affinity.     

Faunal associations,paleoecology and paleoenvironment of marine Jurassic rocks in the Mae Sot,Phop Phra,and Umphang areas,western Thailand

We here report a paleoecological analysis and depositional history of the marine Jurassic (Toarcian-early Bajocian) strata cropping out in the western part of Thailand, based on bivalve assemblages with additional data from ammonites, brachiopods, and microfossils. Generally, the benthic bivalve facies in most outcrops is rich in infaunal, semi-infaunal and epifaunal suspension-feeders. Of these, infaunal forms dominate. The diversity of this benthic assemblage was influenced by energy level, substrate, sedimentation rate, and salinity. Low to intermediate energy levels and rather soft fine-grained siliciclastic substrate are proposed as factors governing faunal distribution and explaining the greater abundance and diversity of infaunal than epifaunal suspension-feeders. There were paleoenvironmental changes both in space and time, i.e., from south to north (Umphang to Mae Sot) and from Early Bajocian to Toarcian. In the Toarcian, most outcrops in Umphang are dominated by benthic bivalve facies (infaunal, semi-infaunal, and epifaunal associations). This implies warm, shallow water (inner neritic, 50–100 m) and oxygenated conditions except for the Mae Sot area where a deeper setting (outer neritic to possibly upper continental slope, 50–200 m) with restricted basinal anoxic conditions is favored as indicated by the presence of Bositra. After higher energy conditions in the Toarcian, lower energy conditions with low sediment supplies prevail in the Alenian, and the Mae Sot area was still a restricted basin. As a result of higher sea levels, the oxygen content in the basin is increased, resulting in the presence of the ammonites. By the end of the Alenian-early Bajocian, an ammonite-bivalve association (mixed facies A) and the presence of corals and microfauna (mixed facies B) are dominant but pass upwards to near-shore higher energy conditions in most areas except for restricted basin in Mae Sot. By the middle Bajocian the environment in all areas had changed from marine to nonmarine.