Report of SPS Working Group on “Using Permian Transitional Biotas as Gateways for Global Correlation”

A significant achievement by members of this group in the last two years is reflected in the recent publication of a collection of 18 internationally peer-reviewed papers in a Special Issue of the Journal of Asian Earth Sciences (see list below). This special issue was initiated by this group and designed to provide a “state of the art” overview of Permian stratigraphy, paleontology, biostratigraphy, paleogeography and paleobiogeography of the Northern Transitional Zone in East and Northeast Asia. A common thread through most of the papers was an attempt to align the various Permian stratigraphic and biostratigraphic units scattered across this vast region with the international Permian chronostratigraphic time scale. This has proved to be a formidable challenge due to the pronounced provincialism across the region; however, with considerable effort some progress has been made, as would be evident from some of the papers included in the special issue. Perhaps a note of particular interest to the global Permian research community is, as has been convincingly argued and demonstrated in a number of papers included in the special issue, that it is possible to correlate at last some of the high-latitude cold-water faunas from Siberia with those from the warm-water Tethyan region, through the mixed faunas in the transitional zone, especially the mixed marine faunas of the Northern Transitional Zone in eastern Asia.

A table of contents for the papers included in the special issue is herein provided for those who might be interested in the Permian of east and northeast Asia. It is also possible to obtain pdf copies of these papers from the authors or myself (grshi@deakin.edu.au):

Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, vol. 26 Nos 3-4 (March 2006), pp. 173-436
Special Issue on Permian of East and Northeast Asia

[Guest Editors: Guang R. Shi, Monica J. Campi, Shu-zhong Shen]:

Table of Contents

  • Shi, G.R., Campi, M.J. and Shen, Shu-zhong, The Permian of East and Northeast Asia. Preface. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 173-174.
  • Shi, G.R., The marine Permian of East and Northeast Asia. An overview of biostratigraphy, palaeobiogeography and palaeogeographical implications. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 175-206.
  • Li, J.Y., Permian geodynamic setting of Northeast China and adjacent regions. Closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean and subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 207-224.
  • Ganelin, V.G. and Biakov, A.S. The Permian biostratigraphy of the Kolyma-Omolon region, Northeast Asia. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 225-234.
  • Biakov, A.S. Permian bivalve mollusks of Northeast Asia. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 235-242.
  • Kutygin, R.V. Permian ammonoid associations of the Verkhoyan Region. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 243-257.
  • Klets, A.G., Budnikov, I.V., Kutygin, R.V., Biakov, A.S., Grinenko. The Permian of the Verkhoyansk-Okhotsk region, NE Russia. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 258-268.
  • Kotlyar, G.V., Popeko, L.I. and Kurilenko, A.V. The Permian of Transbaikal region, eastern Russia: biostratigraphy, correlation and biogeography. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 269-279.
  • Kotlyar, G.V., Belyansky, G.C., Burago, V.I., Nikitina, Zakharov, Yu. D., Zhuravlev, A.V., South Primorye, Far East Russia – a key region for global Permian correlation. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 26(3-4), 280-293.
  • Manankov, I.N., Shi, G.R. and Shen, Shu-zhong, An overview of Permian marine stratigraphy and biostratigraphy of Mongolia. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 294-303.
  • Shen, Shu-zhong, Zhang, H., Shang, Q.H. and Li, W.Z. Permian stratigraphy and correlation of Northeast China: an review. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 304-326.
  • Tazawa, J. and Chen, Z.Q. Middle Permian brachiopods from the Tumenling Formation in the Wuchang area, southern Heilongjiang, NE China, and their palaeobiogeographical implications. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 327-338.
  • Lee, H.S. and Chough, S.K., Lithostratigraphy and depositional environments of the Pyeongan Supergroup (Carboniferous–Permian) in the Taebaek area, mid-east Korea. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 339-352.
  • Ota, A. and Isozaki, Y. Fusuline biotic turnover across the Guadalupian–Lopingian (Middle–Upper Permian) boundary in mid-oceanic carbonate buildups: Biostratigraphy of accreted limestone in Japan. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 353-368.
  • Wang, X. D., Sugiyama, T., Kido, E. and Wang, X. J. Permian rugose coral faunas of Inner Mongolia–Northeast China and Japan: Paleobiogeographical implications. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 369-379.
  • Ueno, K. The Permian antitropical fusulinoidean genus Monodiexodina: Distribution, taxonomy, paleobiogeography and paleoecology. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 380-404.
  • Chen, Z. Q. and Shi, G. R. Isogramma Meek and Worthen, 1870 (Dictyonellida, Brachiopoda) from the upper Palaeozoic of East Asia: Implications for biogeography and evolutionary trends. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 404-423.
  • Shi, G. R. and Chen, Z. Q. Lower Permian oncolites from South China: Implications for equatorial sea-level responses to Late Palaeozoic Gondwanan glaciation. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 26(3-4), 424-436.

2. Reports of individual working members:

Report from Dr. Alexander S. Biakov (Far East Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Magadan, Russia). Dr. Biakov and his co-workers have continued paleontologic, biostratigraphic, sedimentological, geochemical, and paleomagnetic investigations of the Permian of northeastern Asia. During 2005-2006, three expeditions were organized: in the Omulevka Terrane, Balygychan Terrane, and the Gizhiga folded zone (southeast of the Omolon Massif). New data on sedimentologic and palaeontologic characteristics of Permian deposits of the Omulevka Terrane speak, on the one hand, for their definite similarity with the Omolon Basin (the presence of the “kolymic” limestones at the level of the Omolonian Superhorizon), and on the other hand - the peculiarity of the Omulevka Basin (characterized by an absence of diamictites at the level of the Gizhigain horizon that proved to be at a distant position in the Omulevka Basin from the Okhotsk-Taigonoss volcanic arc and very low taxonomic diversity, represented mainly by inoceramus-like bivalves and lacking representatives of other faunal types presumably because of unfavorable environmental conditions). New data on the paleontologic characteristics of Permian communities suggest that the Omulevka Terrane was not distant from the Omolon microcontinent.

For the first time the geodynamic environment of Permian sedimentary basins in the Verkhoyansk and Kolyma-Omolon regions has been reconstructed and interpreted. A palinspastic model of the major tectonic setting of the Verkhoyan-Kolyma folded-and-thrust region for the Capitanian (Middle Permian) has been created (Biakov et al., 2005), based on the synthesis of biogeographic, sedimentologic and paleomagnetic data.

We have continued our study of Permian bivalves of the Omolon Massif, some of which have been found to be closely connected with northern Mongolia and Australia (Biakov, 2005). In addition, we have recently begun an investigation on the stable isotopic compositions (C and O) of organic carbonates from the shells of Upper Permian bivalves and brachiopods of the Omolon and Okhotsk basins. Positive anomalies of δ13С, revealed from the bivalve shells of the Intomodesma costatum and the Maitaia tenkensis zones of the Khivachian Horizon in the Northeastern Asia, are compared with analogous events (i.e., «D», «E», «F», and «G») established in the Wuchiapingian and Changhsingian stages of the Upper Permian of Transcaucasia (Zakharov et al, 2005). This study implies that it is possible to correlate certain Permian rock units between the Tethys and Boreal biogeographic realms. As a result, we have attempted to create an isotopic-carbon scale for the Permian of northeastern Asia. In two well preserved samples of organic carbonates from the Omolon Basin, the temperature value of the sea water was determined according to the ratio of O2 isotopes. For the end of the Wordian (the end of the Omolonian) it was estimated to be +20.4°C, and for the Changhsingian (the end of the Late Khivachian) to be +23.1°C. These figures confirm the findings of some previous authors about the warming of the climate by the end of the Permian.

Other ongoing research includes our work on Permian biota and biostratigraphy of the northeast part of the Okhotsk and the Ayan-Yuryakh basins (Northeastern Cisokhotsk). This biota is similar to both the Verkhoyansk, and the Omolon basins (Biakov, 2007, in press). Our field work in 2006 has been very productive, with discoveries of new fossil materials that are significant for biostratigraphy of the Carboniferous-Permian boundary. For the first time in the Omolon Massif, Upper Carboniferous goniatites (Eoshumardites etc.) have been found. In general, the information on Carboniferous-Permian bivalves has been improved considerably as a result of new discoveries and systematic studies, some of which are yet to be published.

Some recent publications (other than those already listed above in the JAES special issue):

  • Biakov, A.S. 2005. New species of Astartids and Pholadomyids (Bivalvia) and beds with fauna from the Lower Permian of the Omolon Massif, Northeastern Asia. Paleontological Journal, 39 (2), p. 133-140.
  • Biakov, A.S., Prokopiev, A.V., Kutygin, R.V., Vedernikov, I.L. and Budnikov, I.V. 2005. Geodynamic environments of Permian sedimentary basins in the Verkhoyansk-Kolyma folded region. Otechestvennaya Geologiya. 5, p. 81-85. (in Russian)
  • Biakov, A.S. and Kolesov, E.V. 2006. Comparative analysis of biogeographic, sedimentologic and paleomagnetic data and the geodynamics of terranes of the Northeast of Asia in the Late Permian. In: Stone, D. (ed.), Origin of Northeastern Russia: Paleomagnetism, Geology and Tectonics. Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska. Report UAG-R-330, CD.
  • Biakov, A.S. 2007. Biostratigraphy and biota of Permian deposits of the Northern Cisokhotsk (Northeastern Asia). Stratigraphy and Geological correlation (in press).
  • Zakharov, Y.D., Biakov, A.S., Baud, A., and Kozur, H. 2005. Significance of Caucasian sections for working out carbon-isotope standard for Upper Permian and Lower Triassic (Induan) and their correlation with the Permian of North-Eastern Russia. Journal of China University of Geosciences. 16(2), p. 141-151.

3. Report from Professor Jun-ichi Tazawa (Niigata University, Japan):

Professor Tazawa continues his work on the Northern Transitional Zone with a central focus on Upper Paleozoic stratigraphy, paleontology and biogeography of Japan and adjacent areas in East Asia. Recent publications include:

  • Kurihara, T., Sato, Y. and Tazawa, J., 2005, Early Devonian radiolarians from the Ohno Formation in the Hikoroichi area of the South Kitakami Belt, Northeast Japan. Journal of the Geological Society of Japan, vol. 111, p. 187-190. (In Japanese)
  • Shen, S.Z., Tazawa, J. and Shi, G.R., 2005. Carboniferous and Permian Rugosochonetidae (Brachiopoda) from West Spitsbergen. Alcheringa, vol. 29, p. 241-256.
  • Shen, S.Z., Tazawa, J. and Ono, T., 2006. Scacchinella (Productida, Brachiopoda) from the Lower Permian of Akasaka, Mino Belt, central Japan, with a review of its world distribution. Science Reports of Niigata University (Geology), no. 21, p. 19-30.
  • Tazawa, J., 2004. Early Carboniferous brachiopods from Tsuchikurazawa in the Omi area, central Japan: A fossil evidence for the Permian accretionary site of the Akiyoshi Terrane. Earth Science (Chikyu Kagaku), vol. 58, p. 413-416. (In Japanese)
  • Tazawa, J., 2006. The Marginatia-Syringothyris-Rotaia brachiopod assemblage from the Lower Carboniferous of the South Kitakami Belt, northeast Japan, and its palaeobiogeographical implications. Paleontological Research, vol. 10, p. 127-139.
  • Tazawa, J., 2006. Late Permian Boreal-Tethyan mixed brachiopod fauna from the Maizuru Belt, southwest Japan: Fossil evidence for the tectono-sedimentological seting of the Maizuru Group. Journal of the Geological Society of Japan, vol. 112, p. 510-518. (in Japanese)
  • Tazawa, J., 2006. Lamnimargus, Megousia and Eolyttonia (Productida, Brachiopoda) from the Upper Permian (Changhsingian) of the Kawahigashi area, Maizuru Belt, southwest Japan, and their palaeobiogeographical significance. Science Reports of Niigata University (Geology), no. 21, p. 1-18.
  • Tazawa, J. and Chen, Z.Q. 2006, Middle Permian brachiopods from the Tumenling Formation in the Wuchang area, southern Heilongjiang, NE China, and their palaeobiogeographical implications. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, vol. 26, p. 327-338.
  • Tazawa, J., Fujikawa, M., Zakharov, Yu. D. and Hasegawa, S. 2005. Middle Permian ammonoids from the Takakurayama area, Abukuma Mountains, northeast Japan, and their stratigraphical significance.Science Reports of Niigata University (Geology), no. 20, p. 15-27.
  • Tazawa, J., Saiki, K. and Yokota, A., 2006. Leptophloeum from the Ainosawa Formation of the Soma area, Fukushima Prefecture, northeast Japan, and the tectono-sedimentary setting of the Leptophloeum-bearing Upper Devonian in Japan. Earth Science (Chikyu Kagaku), vol. 60, p. 69-72. (in Japanese)
  • Tazawa, J., Sato, K. and Takenouchi, K. 2005. Delepinea and Daviesiella (Chonetoidea, Brachiopoda) from the Lower Carboniferous of Omi, central Japan. Science Reports of Niigata University (Geology), no. 20, p. 1-13.
  • Ueno, K., Tazawa, J. and Miyake, Y., 2006, Middle Permian fusulinoideans from Hatahoko in the Nyukawa area, Gifu Prefecture, Mino Belt, central Japan. Science Reports of Niigata University (Geology), no. 21, p. 47-72.

G. R. Shi (Compiler)
School of Life and Environmental Sciences,
Deakin University, Melbourne Campus,
221 Burwood Highway, Burwood,
Victoria 3125, Australia
E-mail: grshi@deakin.edu.au