Middle Triassic radiolarians from West Timor, Indonesia

Abstract

Moderately well-preserved Middle Triassic radiolarians were recovered from bedded limestone exposed at about 3 km west of Kefamenanu, West Timor, Indonesia. This limestone probably from the Aitutu Formation is considered to be an allochthonous block and is embedded in the Neogene Bobonaro Complex. The radiolarian fauna in this limestone is characterized by abundant radiolarians of typical Tethyan forms and is identical to that of the early Fassanian (early Ladinian) of European Tethys and other related faunas reported from the Philippines, Russian Far East, and Japan. The Aitutu Formation is thought to be deposited in an ocean environment dominated by a warm-water current system originating from the low latitude Tethyan realm. Fifty-nine species belonging to 34 genera, including five unidentified genera, are systematically treated, among them, five new species; Parentactinia suparkai, Pseudostylosphaera timorensis, Cryptostephanidium? megaspinosum, Tetrarchiplagia compacta, and Planospinocyrtis kefaensis.

Late Anisian radiolarian assemblages from the Yarlung‐Tsangpo Suture Zone in the Jinlu area, Zedong, southern Tibet: Implications for the evolution of Neotethys

“…Sample 15BRC‐05 collected from Unit 5 contains abundant entactinarian taxa, identified here as seven taxa (Table ). The assemblage includes Triassistephanidium laticorne Dumitrica, which is a characteristic taxon of the Late Anisian (Bortolotti et al, ; Dumitrica, ; Dumitrica, Kozur, & Mostler, ; Gorican & Buser, ; H. W. Kozur, Krainer, & Mostler, ; Ramovs & Gorican, ; Sashida, Kamata, Adachi, & Munasri, ; Tekin, Bedi, Okuyucu, Göncüoglu, & Sayit, ) (Figure ). Eptingium manfredi Dumitrica , Triassocampe deweveri (Nakaseko & Nishimura) and Pseudostylosphaera coccostyla (Ruest) first appear in the basal part of the late Anisian in Europe, Far East Russia and Turkey (Bragin, , ; H. Kozur & Mostler, ; H. W. Kozur, ; Tekin et al, ).…”

The Triassic of Timor: Lithostratigraphy, chronostratigraphy and palaeogeography

“…In Noil Bunu, 3 km east of Basleo, Harsolumakso et al (1995) described a section with pink and white radiolarian calcilutites interbedded with black shales, reportedly 350-500 m thick. Sashida et al (1996) reported an occurrence of Aitutu-type limestone blocks within mélange of the Bobonaro Complex at Nefokoko to the south of Kekneno; and Sashida et al (1999) found small outcrops of Aitutu Formation near Kefamenanu. Martini et al (2000) illustrated stratigraphic sections through the Aitutu Formation at Noil Fatu near Nikiniki (Fig.…”

“…sporadic, rare and generally poorly preserved (Audley-Charles, 1968). As discussed more fully in Section 3, the oldest known occurrence of the Aitutu Formation has been dated as Early Ladinian, based on Radiolaria (Sashida et al, 1999), whilst the Late Ladinian is indicated by species of the bivalve genus Daonella (Wanner, 1956;Audley-Charles, 1968;Nakazawa and Bando, 1968;Barkham, 1993). In many places in East Timor the lowest beds of the Aitutu Formation contain Halobia bivalves, indicating Late Triassic (Carnian-Norian) ages (Audley-Charles, 1968), while the top of the formation has yielded Norian or Carnian-Norian ammonoids (Wanner, 1956;Gageonnet and Lemoine, 1958;Audley-Charles, 1968).…”

“…The oldest known occurrence of the Aitutu Formation, outcropping near Kefamenanu in West Timor, has been dated as Early Ladinian, based on Radiolaria (Sashida et al, 1999). Other dated early occurrences of the Aitutu Formation are based on the presence of Late Ladinian species of the bivalve genus Daonella, including D. indica from Mount Lilu (Nakazawa and Bando, 1968) and Pualaca (Wanner, 1956;Audley-Charles, 1968); D. pichleri also from Pualaca; and Daonella cf.…”

Early Cretaceous Radiolarians in Manganese Carbonate Nodule From the Barru Area, South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

“…Radiolarian occurrences were reported mainly from Mesozoic strata (Okamoto et al, 1994;Wakita et al, 1994aWakita et al, , 1994bWakita et al, , 1998Sashida et al, 1996Sashida et al, , 1999aSashida et al, , 1999band Jasin and Haile, 1996). All of these radiolarians were extracted from chert, siliceous shale or siliceous Sukamto, 1982 andWakita et al, 1994b).…”