Earliest taeniate bisaccates from the Amazon Basin are not older than Westphalian

doi:10.1016/S0016-6995(97)80114-3

Geobios

Volume 30, Issue 4, 1997, Pages 467-474

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-6995(97)80114-3 Get rights and content

Abstract

The so-called “Namurian” taeniate bisaccates newly reported from the Amazon Basin of northern Brazil (Marques-Toigo et al. 1995) are demonstrated to be not older than Westphalian in the light of revised foraminiferal and palynological evidence. Nevertheless, marine microfossil data supports a slightly older age assignment (Westphalian A-B) than miospores (Westphalian C). Correlations of Carboniferous pollen assemblages in the Amazon Basin with those from the Paraná Basin, in southeastern and southern Brazil, are hindered by the absence of diagnostic marine microfossils and coeval mid-Carboniferous strata in the latter.

Résumé

Il est démontré, à la lumière de données basées sur les foraminifères et la palynologie, que les bisaccates striés prétendus d'âge namurien (Marques-Toigo et al. 1995), récemment reconnus dans le Bassin d'Amazonie au Nord du Brésil, ne sont pas antérieurs au Westphalien. L'âge attribué par les microfossiles marins est cependant légèrement plus ancien (Westphalien A-B) que celui proposé par les miospores (Westphalien C). Des corrélations entre les assemblages de pollens carbonifères du Bassin d'Amazonie et ceux du Bassin du Paraná, au Sud-Est et Sud du Brésil, sont impossibles à cause de l'absence, dans le Bassin du Paraná, à la fois de microfossiles marins caractéristiques et de niveaux d'âge carbonifère moyen équivalents.

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New age, stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental interpretation of the Loma de los Piojos Formation (San Juan Province, Argentina) based on new palynologic and stratigraphic information
2023, Sedimentary Geology
A physical stratigraphic study of the Loma de los Piojos Formation (LPF) and related units at the homonymous locality (5 km north of Jachal city, San Juan Province, Argentina) was carried out. The first palynologic result is presented herein from the shale beds of the Loma de los Piojos Formation, just below the deposits bearing floral remains of the Frenguellia eximia–Nothorhacopteris kellaybelenensis–Cordaicarpus cesarii (FNC) informal zone of Balseiro et al. (Serpukhovian sensu lato). The Loma de los Piojos does not have an exposed base, and the Guandacol Formation (late Serpukhovian–early Pennsylvanian) overlies it. Also, the field work analysis allowed the association of LPF shales with the last depositional sequence of the recently defined and underlying Don Buenaventura Formation, of late Mississippian–earliest Pennsylvanian age. The four fertile samples obtained from the shale beds of the LPF yielded 45 species of terrestrial plants. Monosaccate pollen grains (Cannanoropollis janakii, Cannanoropollis mehtae, Circumplicatipollis plicatus, Crucisaccites monoletus) represent the Cordaitalean and Coniferalean that varied in their frequency c. 25 % in the lower two samples to 34 % and 7 % in the other two. Spore species of lycophytes dominate in all samples (ca. 50–80 %) along with other spores that appeared in the late Serpukhovian–Bashkirian subzone A of the Raistrickia densa–Convolutispora muriornata Palynozone (DMZ). However, in the lowest sample the key spore Spelaeotriletes ybertii and a well-preserved specimen of the striate bisaccate pollen Illinites unicus allowed the correlation with the late Bashkirian–Moscovian Subzone B of DMZ. Therefore, the informal floral zone Frenguellia eximia–Nothorhacopteris kellaybelenensis–Cordaicarpus cesarii is here reallocated to the Nothorhacopteris–Botrychiopsis–Ginkgophyllum (NBG) Zone, which is relevant in the global context of the evolution of the plant groups involved. This dark shale section would correspond to a warmer interval during which the maximum flooding zone was dated c. 320 Ma locally at the Huaco section (also close to Jachal city), also documented across the Paganzo Basin up to the Paraná Basin in Brazil. The three Late Paleozoic mentioned units were deposited within the largest incised valley complex of this region based on the amount of preserved depositional sequences (7), thickness (>1 km), and time span (from Late Mississippian to lower Pennsylvanian). This complex stratigraphic succession formed within a large paleovalley probably acted as a trunk drainage system connecting depositional areas from the continental interior with coastal areas of the Gondwanan continental western margin.
Palynology and detrital zircon geochronology of the Carboniferous Fenestella Shale Formation of the Tethyan realm in Kashmir Himalaya: Implications for global correlation and floristic evolution
2018, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences
Citation Excerpt :
Recently, Souza et al. (2015) recorded about 90% monosaccate pollen grains (Cannanoropollis, Potonieisporites and Plicatipollenites) from the Carboniferous–Permian sedimentary sequence of the Aquidauana Formation in the northern part of the Paraná Basin, Brazil which shows a close similarity with the palynoassemblage recorded here. The palynomorph assemblages of the Copacabana Formation of Peru and northern part of Brazil, South America (Parnaiba, Amazonas and Solimões basins) considered to be of Westphalian to Stéphanian age (Groves et al., 1997; Loboziak et al., 1997; Melo and Loboziak, 2000) and showing a dominance of monosaccate pollen grains mainly Potonieisporites are comparable to the present palynoassemblage. The plant microfossil assemblage (Stage-2) from the late Carboniferous of eastern Australia (Evans, 1969) is characterized by the dominance of monosaccate and a low frequency of bisaccate pollens.
First palynological data, supplemented by detrital zircon U–Pb ages, from the Fenestella Shale Formation near the Gund Village in the Banihal area of Jammu and Kashmir State, India, provide new insights into the floristic evolution of Gondwana during the Late Palaeozoic, especially in India, from where the Carboniferous–Permian macro- and microfloral records are impoverished. We also present a first approach to the palynological correlation of the Carboniferous–Permian palynoassemblages described from the various Gondwana countries. The palynomorphs from the Fenestella Shale Formation are fairly well preserved and diversified and include 11 genera and 18 species. While the trilete spores and striate bisaccate pollen grains are scarce, monosaccate pollen taxa mainly – Parasaccites, Plicatipollenites and Potonieisporites are dominant. The assemblage is most similar to the Parasaccites korbaensis palynozone of the Lower Gondwana basins of the Indian peninsula and the Stage 2 palynozone of the late Carboniferous of east Australia. Besides, it is comparable with the known Carboniferous assemblages of Pakistan, Yemen and South America; Carboniferous-early Permian assemblages of South Africa and Permian assemblages of Antarctica. The sediment source of the siliciclastic shelf and delta deposits intercalated in the Fenestella Shale Formation is a hinterland in which Precambrian rocks dominantly were exposed and the Th–U ratios of detrital zircons suggest, that most rocks exposed on the erosion level in the hinterland had a felsic composition. The youngest U–Pb zircon age of the investigated fossiliferous strata is 329 ± 16 Ma (late Visean to early Serpukhovian), providing a maximum age of deposition of the studied succession. Based on the affinities of the palynofloral assemblage and earlier palaeontological records, a warm, temperate and arid climate has been inferred for the Fenestella Shale Formation.
Palynological assemblages across the Hercynian unconformity in Western Iraq
2017, Revue de Micropaleontologie
Citation Excerpt :
Though ‘consistent’ is an imprecise concept it would seem reasonable to place the base of the IG Biozone in KH-5/1 at 615.5 m. Loboziak and Clayton (1988) originally dated the IG Biozone as Ghzelian-early Asselian with the earlier date presumably based on their contemporary understanding of the date of the first appearance of taeniate bisaccate pollen. Loboziak et al. (1997) surveyed the age of the first occurrence of taeniate bisaccate pollen against independent biostratigraphic evidence suggesting ages of between late early Moscovian and late Bashkirian. A similar update for ages offered by Loboziak and Clayton (1988) for their zones can be supplied for the first appearance of monosaccate pollen.
Recent study of samples from borehole KH-5/1 has allowed an assessment of the duration of the hiatus associated with the so-called Hercynian unconformity (also known as the ‘Late Carboniferous unconformity’ or ‘pre-Unayzah unconformity’) in western Iraq. KH-5/1 was drilled as a deep water well and fully cored to TD at 1620 m. The well section spans the unconformity at 670 m depth with the Raha Formation below and the Ga’ara Formation above. The unconformity appears to be associated with non-deposition or erosion of rocks corresponding approximately in age to part of the Serpukhovian and Bashkirian (latest Mississippian to early Pennsylvanian), similar to the duration associated with the same unconformity in well ST-8 situated to the south of KH-5/1 in northern Saudi Arabia. The Ga’ara Formation assemblages above the unconformity in KH-5/1 are similar in character to those described from 4620 to 4200 feet in ST-8. The age of these assemblages in both KH-5/1 and ST-8 is considered in this paper to be Westphalian. The composition of the Ga’ara Formation assemblages in KH-5/1 also shows some similarity to glacigene post-unconformity beds of the 2165 Biozone of the Al Khlata Formation of Oman.
Récemment, l’analyse des échantillons du forage KH-5/1 a permis l’évaluation de la durée du hiatus associé à la discordance hercynienne (connue aussi comme la discordance du Carbonifère supérieur) en Irak occidental. Le forage KH-5/1 atteint la profondeur terminale de 1620 m. Il traverse la discordance à une profondeur de 670 m avec la Formation Raha au-dessous et la Formation Ga’ara au-dessus. Vraisemblablement, la discordance est associée à un intervalle de non-dépôt ou d’érosion des roches d’un âge Serpukhovien et Bashkirien (Mississippien supérieur–Pennsylvanien inférieur), de durée équivalente à la discordance reconnue dans le forage ST-8 au nord de L’Arabie saoudite. Les assemblages de la Formation de Ga’ara au-dessus de la discordance dans le forage KH-5/1 sont similaires aux assemblages décrites dans l’intervalle 4620–4200 ft du sondage ST-8. L’étude actuelle propose un âge Westphalien pour les deux assemblages de KH-5/1 et ST-8. La composition des assemblages de la Formation Ga’ara en KH-5/1 montre des similitudes avec des dépôts glaciogéniques, formés après la discordance. Ils correspondent à la Biozone 2165 de La Formation Al Khlata en Oman.
Conodont biostratigraphy and paleoecology of the marine sequence of the Tapajós Group, Early-Middle Pennsylvanian of Amazonas Basin, Brazil
2016, Journal of South American Earth Sciences
Citation Excerpt :
The marine portion of the Monte Alegre, Itaituba and Nova Olinda Formations are the focus of this study. Age estimations of these formations have been made on the basis of conodonts by Fúlfaro (1965), Lemos (1990a, b; 1992a,b), Lemos and Medeiros (1996), Neis (1996), Scomazzon (1999), Lemos and Scomazzon (2001), Nascimento (et al., 2003), Nascimento (2004, 2008), Scomazzon (2004), Nascimento et al. (2005), Scomazzon and Lemos (2005) Nascimento et al. (2009), Nascimento et al. (2010a,b), Cardoso et al. (2015); spores and pollen by Daemon and Contreiras (1971), Picarelli and Quadros (1991), Loboziak et al. (1997), Melo et al. (1998, 1999), Playford and Dino (2000a,b), and Melo and Loboziak (2003); and foraminifers by Altiner and Savini (1991, 1995). The microfossils suggest a Bashkirian (late Morrowan) age for the Monte Alegre Formation.
This study was undertaken in the south and western regions of the Amazonas Basin to describe the conodont biostratigraphy and paleoecology of Pennsylvanian carbonate rocks of the marine portion of the Tapajós Group comprising the upper Monte Alegre, Itaituba, and lower Nova Olinda formations.
The analyzed area includes one outcrop along the Tapajós river (TAP), two carbonate quarries (QI, QII), and 18 wells (dots 1–18). The conodont fauna is dominated by Idiognathoides sinuatus and Neognathodus symmetricus in the Monte Alegre Formation, followed by Idiognathodus incurvus, Diplognathodus coloradoensis and Neognathodus bassleri in the Itaituba and Nova Olinda formations. The conodont association suggests an Early to Middle Pennsylvanian age to the analyzed section. Relative ages attributed to the three lithostratigraphic units using conodonts, palynomorphs, and foraminifers are consistent.
Herein are proposed one local taxon-range zone of Idiognathodus incurvus in the Itaituba and lower part of the Nova Olinda Formation and one local taxon-range subzone of Diplognathodus coloradoensis in the Itaituba Formation, suggesting a late Bashkirian – Moscovian (Atokan – early Desmoinesian) age to these strata.
The Itaituba Formation marks the establishment of large Pennsylvanian marine conditions in the Amazonas Basin and is composed primarily of marine carbonates of abundant fossil content, tidal flat evaporites and siliciclastic thin intervals. Its lower limit, with the Monte Alegre Formation, is characterized by the predominant occurrence of fluvial-deltaic sandstones superimposed on an extensive sequence of aeolian sandstones, siltstones and shales intercalated with the interdune and lakes. From the upper strata of Itaituba Formation the faunal and lithological characteristics indicate the occurrence of a regressive phase culminating in a restricted environment, arid which indicates the Nova Olinda Formation. This is characterized by the occurrence of evaporites increasingly abundant to the top of carbonates, also shales and siltstones intercalated with the sabkha plain. The carbonate strata have similar marine fossils to those of Itaituba Formation, however, the fauna becomes impoverished in abundance and diversity. The conodont fauna of Early-Middle Pennsylvanian of Amazonas Basin suggests similarities of species with the North American Midcontinent region and the Illinois Basin indicating their probable cosmopolitism; however in a slightly different paleogeographic context, probably due to latitudinal differences, coal deposits are present in North America, whereas widespread evaporitic deposits are registered to the Tapajós Group, Amazonas Basin.
The Pennsylvanian palynoflora of the Pando X-1 Borehole, northern Bolivia
2009, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology
Palynological analysis of ten core samples obtained from 867–729 m depth in the Pando X-1 Borehole (11° 36′07″ S, 67° 56′45″ W), northern Bolivia, is presented. Palynomorphs are fairly well-preserved although many contain abundant pyrite. The whole assemblage is composed of 48 species of which six are spores. Among the pollen grains, 21 are monosaccate and 19 bisaccate (11 striate species). Scarce scolecodonts, microforaminifera and algae are also present. Two assemblages are recognized on the basis of the stratigraphic distribution of species, mainly of the striate pollen grains. The lower assemblage (A1) is dominated by amorphous organic matter and scarce monosaccate pollen grains, trilete spores and microforaminifera. The upper assemblage (A2) is dominated by tracheids and brown and black phytoclasts and characterized by more diverse palynomorphs, mainly striate and non-striate pollen grains. The geographical and stratigraphic distribution of taxa reveals that many species are recorded from Pennsylvanian and Permian palynofloras elsewhere in Gondwana and Euramerica. The presence of Lahirites segmentatus, Limitisporites scitulus, Lunatisporites onerosus and Vittatina species, common with Brazilian palynofloras, supports a Moscovian age for the assemblage 2. This age is also supported by calcareous microfossils previously found in the same interval of this borehole. Twenty two species are first records in the Pennsylvanian of Bolivia (e.g., Florinites eremus, Protohaploxypinus varius, Striatopodocarpites antiquus, S. gondwanensis, S. solitus, Vittatina sp.). Palynofacies features of both assemblages are indicative of a shallow marine palaeoenvironment. Qualitative changes on the floral composition between A1 and A2 may reflect broadly local palaeoclimatical changes. The dominance of Cordaitales and Coniferales in A1 indicates a relatively more humid local condition than during A2 time, which is characterized by the appearance of abundant and diverse striate pollen grains related to new groups of Pteridosperms. These features are in agreement with a lower humidity or seasonally arid conditions prevailing in the terrestrial landscape near to the Copacabana marine palaeoenvironment.
Late Carboniferous palynostratigraphy of the Itararé Subgroup, northeastern Paraná Basin, Brazil
2006, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology
A new biozonation is proposed for the Late Carboniferous strata of the northeastern Paraná Basin (São Paulo and Paraná States), based on well-preserved palynological assemblages recovered from outcrops and core samples retrieved from the Itararé Subgroup. Assemblages include forty-nine species of trilete spores and twenty-five pollen species. The oldest biozone, the Ahrensisporites cristatus Interval Zone (AcZ), in the basal portion of the Itararé Subgroup, includes eleven exclusive spore species, and is assigned a Pennsylvanian (late Bashkirian to Kasimovian) age. The overlying proposed biozone, the Crucisaccites monoletus Interval Zone (CmZ), dated late Pennsylvanian (Kasimovian to Gzhelian), ranges approximately from the top of the lower portion to the middle portion of the Itararé Subgroup, bears only one exclusive species of pollen. Both zones are characterized by the dominance of trilete spores and monosaccate pollen grains, including also few taeniate pollen grains. Furthermore, the basal Protohaploxypinus goraiensis Subzone of the Vittatina costabilis Interval Zone (VcZ) is broadly recognized for the first time in the upper portion of the Itararé Subgroup in the northeastern Paraná Basin. This subzone is attributed to the Early Permian (Early Cisuralian), and is characterized by the dominance of monosaccate pollen grains, a significant increase of taeniate grains (mainly Protohaploxypinus spp.), apart from the appearance of polyplicate pollen (Vittatina spp.). Reference sections and the main characteristics of the two new zones (AcZ and CmZ) are presented, along with a preliminary palynological correlation and discussion on their ages.

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Earliest taeniate bisaccates from the Amazon Basin are not older than WestphalianLes plus anciens bisaccates striés du Bassin d'Amazonie ne sont pas antérieurs au Westphalien

Abstract

Résumé

Pennsylvanian foraminifera and biostratigraphy of the Amazonas and Solimões basíns (north Brazil)

Revue de Paleobiologie

A review of the early Gondwana palynology of Argentina and South America

Las palinozonas del limite Carbónico-Pérmico en la Cuenca Paganzo

An Upper Westphalian C “Hinterland” Microflora from the Haaksbergen-I borehole (Netherlands)

Mededelingen Rijks Geologische Dienst

Carboniferous miospores of Western Europe: illustration and zonation

Mededelingen Rijks Geologische Dienst

Comparaison entre la distribution des principales microspores-guide du Namurien et du Westphalien en Europe occidentale et dans le bassin du Donetz(URSS)

Bacia do Amazonas

Boletim de Geociências da Petrobras

Zoneamento palinológico da Bacia do Amazonas

Sedimentos do Westfaliano (Carbonífero Médio) na Formação Lagoa Azul, Grupo Itararé

An integrated biostratigraphic column for the Paraná Basin, Brazil

Biostratigrafia do Neopaleozóico da Bacia do Paraná

Bacia do Solimões

Boletim de Geociências da Petrobras

Upper Carboniferous and Permian palynological stages and their distribution in eastern Australia

Biostratigraphic significance of Hemigordius harltoni Cushman & Waters, 1928 (Foraminiferida)

Journal of Paleontology

Foraminifers and biostratigraphy of the Arco Hills, Bluebird Mountain, and Lower Snaky Canyon Formations (Mid-Carboniferous) of East-Central Idaho

Journal of Foraminiferal Research

Foraminiferal characterization of the Morrowan-Atokan (lower Middle Pennsylvanian) boundary

Geological Society of America Bulletin

Calcareous foraminifers from the Bashkirian stratotype (Middle Carboniferous, south Urals) and their significance for intercontinental correlationsand the evolution of the Fusulinidae

Journal of Paleontology

Atlas of microspores and pollen from the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian of the Donetz Basin

The Moscovian Stage in the USSR and throughout the world

The Carboniferous of the USSR

Yorkshire Geological Society Occasional Publication

Subsidence tectonique, eustatisme et contrôle des séquences dans les bassins namuriens et westphaliens de l'Europe de l'Ouest, de la C.E.I. et des U.S.A.

Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France

Carboniferous and Permian palynostratigraphy in Australia and Antarctica, a review

BMR Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics

Palinologia de concreções calcíferas do Subgrupo Itararé (Neopaleozóico da Bacia do Paraná) na região de Araçoiaba da Serra, Estado de São Paulo

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