A new section of Lower Palaeozoic rocks in Kayin State (Southeast Myanmar)

Lower Palaeozoic rocks have been mapped in Kayin State in an area previously shown on published maps as either metamorphic or possibly Lower or Upper Palaeozoic rocks. Three new formations, with a total thickness of over 900?m, apparently overlain by an, at least, 100?m thick Upper Palaeozoic formation are mapped along the Salween River and along the road from Yinbaing, in Myanmar, to Tha Song Yang, in Thailand. The Lower Palaeozoic succession consists of the predominantly siliciclastic Kyaukpulu and Kushwe–e–we formations and an overlying, predominantly carbonate Meseik Ashe Formation which contains Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) conodonts. The older two formations are probable correlates of the Ngwetaung and Lokeypin formations of the southern Shan State of Myanmar and the Lower Ordovician siliciclastics of western Thailand. The overlying, peritidal to shallow subtidal carbonates of the Meseik–Ashe Formation are correlates of the Wunbye and Sitha formations of Shan State, Myanmar. The thick–bedded, quartz arenites of the Nyaungwiang Formation are faulted against the Ordovician carbonates and are probable lithological correlates of the Carboniferous Taungnyo Formation. The folds in the Lower Palaeozoic rocks are overturned to the northeast and deformation was in one major phase between the Tournaisian and the Early Permian. The Lower Palaeozoic strata may probably be followed as a ridge for at least 100?km towards the NNW, close to the western border of the Sibuma Block which is separated by a postulated cryptic suture from the Irrawaddy Block to the west.