No abstract

Europe, this may be as a result of collection failure. The base of the Serpukhovian based on the FAD of Lochriea ziegleri will be in the middle of the Brigantian regional Sub-stage, a horizon substantially older than the base of the Namurian Regional Stage.

No abstract

The first appearance of Eoparastaffella simplex in the lineage Eoparastaffella ovalis-Eoparastaffella simplex (foraminifers) has been officially approved by the Voting Members of the SCCS in early 2002 as the new biostratigraphic criterion to define the base of the Viséan. The present paper summarizes eight years of research and proposes a new Global Stratotype Section and Point from Guangxi, South China. The boundary is defined at the base of bed 85 of the Pengchong section where the first E. simplex is recorded, following more primitive Eoparastaffella. The conodont Gnathodus homopunctatus, whose cryptic first appearance has been used as an empirical tool for identification of the TV boundary in Western Europe, enters a decimetre higher in bed 86. Scaliognathus anchoralis europensis and other conodonts considered characteristic of the late Tournaisian occur below these levels.

Ausich, W.I. & Sevastopulo, G.D. 1994 10 15: Taphonomy of Lower Carboniferous crinoids from the Hook Head Formation, Ireland. Lower Carboniferous strata at Hook Head, County Wexford, Ireland, record tempestite deposition on a mixed carbonate and siliciclastic shelf‐ramp. Crinoidal remains occur in all facies, which allows for a comparative taphonomic analysis of crinoid preservation. Preservation of crinoid crowns was controlled by a balance between mean storm intensity and frequency. The best preservation occurs at moderate depths. Taphonomic resistance among Hook Head crinoids is interpreted as follows (from most to least resistant to disarticulation): monobathrid camerates ‐cladids ‐ diplobathrid camerates — flexibles (with Platycrinites and Dichocrinus disarticulation more like cladids). Crinoidea, taphonomy, preservation, Lower Carboniferous, Ireland.

Conodonts of the genus Lochriea offer high‐resolution biostratigraphical differentiation of the upper Mississippian (Carboniferous). In particular, L. ziegleri is regarded as the most suitable index taxon for recognition of a revised Viséan–Serpukhovian boundary and selection of a Global Stratotype Section and Point. Mixed carbonate‐siliciclastic Carboniferous sections from western Ireland demonstrate that gradual morphological evolution is expressed within the Lochriea lineage, evidenced by P1‐elements with progressively more complex ornament appearing in a pulsed fashion in the Late Viséan. Significant diversification of the Lochriea conodonts occurs below the currently recognized base of the Namurian (identified by ammonoids), with which the basal Serpukhovian has been correlated in the past. The First Appearance Datum (FAD) of L. ziegleri in the Lugasnaghta Section of western Ireland is apparently coincident with the FAD's of other complexly ornamented Lochriea species (e.g. L. cruciformis) and corresponds with the Irish and British P2a ammonoid biozone and the lower part of the upper Cf6δ (MFZ15) foraminiferal biozone. The FAD of L. ziegleri in Ireland is closely related to other Lochriea morphotypes with complex ornament, which are difficult to identify to species level using current species definitions. These forms, recorded from the three sections examined (St Brendan's Well, Kilnamona and Lugasnaghta), may partly be explained as abnormal growth histories, evolutionary intermediate forms, etc. In some instances, however, the apparently consistent and novel morphotypes suggest that current Lochriea taxonomy needs to be re‐examined. Furthermore, given the close association of the morphologies with asymmetric complex ornament and L. ziegleri, these taxa may hold significance as biostratigraphical tools in their own right.

The first Carboniferous and ?Permian marine macrofaunas from the Antarctic continent are described from three sites near Mount King, Alexander Island, Antarctic Peninsula. They include bivalves, brachiopods, bryozoans, crinoids, gastropods, a possible monoplacophoran, nautiloids and a possible serpulid or microconchid. Overall the faunas of two localities are Carboniferous in age and compare well with the Levipustula levis Zone of Argentina and eastern Australia, and are of Namurian (Serpukhovian–Bashkirian) age, based mainly on the brachiopod and bryozoan faunas. Less positive brachiopod evidence from a third locality indicates the presence of a linoproductid fauna of possible Carboniferous or Permian (Gzhelian–Artinskian) age, having affinities with the Argentinian Cancrinella fauna. The lithological and structural characteristics of the Mount King beds are comparable to the accretionary complex of the LeMay Group (hitherto of only proven Jurassic–Cretaceous age) of Alexander Island, in which they are provisionally placed. However, the beds may also correlate with the Trinity Peninsula Group (Carboniferous–Triassic) of the northern Antarctic Peninsula. The features of the Mount King beds are consistent with the presence of an accretionery complex related to an island arc in the Late Palaeozoic, but are not necessarily conclusive proof of the presence of such a terrane at that time in what is now Alexander Island.

Boreholes drilled in the Wexford Outlier have proved Permo-Trias conglomerate and red beds (Killag Formation), Westphalian D sandstone and mudrock, including at least one thin coal (Richfield Formation), and probable Namurian mudrock (Park Formation). The Killag Formation rests on the Westphalian, the Namurian, and on Dinantian (probably Asbian) limestone in different boreholes. The Westphalian contains horizons with bivalves, conchostracans, and plants and has yielded miospore assemblages which, in addition to indigenous taxa, contain reworked material of three different ages: Devonian or early Carboniferous; late VisCan or early Namurian; and Westphalian A . The western end of the Welsh massif of previous palaeogeographical reconstructions was of very low relief during the Silesian and probably was more often a site of deposition than of erosion.