Palynology of the Carboniferous-Permian Boundary Stratotype, Aidaralash Creek, Kazakhstan

• Main Author: Dunn, Michael Thomas
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: ScholarWorks 1999
• Subjects: Geology; Arctic; sverdrup basin
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/td/474; https://boisestate.on.worldcat.org/v2/oclc/42877304

The palynomorph assemblage at the Carboniferous-Permian boundary stratotype section at Aidaralash Creek of the southern Ural Mountains of Kazakhstan, is correlatable with the Limitisporites monstruosus-Vittatina costabilis Assemblage Zone ofUtting, first described from Artinskian strata from the Sverdrup Basin of the Canadian Arctic. The section studied for this paper includes 50 meters of strata, from 24 meters below, to 26 meters above the Carboniferous-Permian boundary. No change in the composition of the palynomorph assemblage is noted within the section. The L. monstruosus- V. costabilis Assemblage Zone is characterized by the co-occurrence of L. monstruosus- V. costabilis and the abundance and diversity of taeniate disaccate pollen and the polyplicate genus Vittatina. The palynomorph assemblage at Aidaralash Creek correlates with the L. monstruosus- V. costabilis Assemblage Zone as originally described, with two minor but notable exceptions; the polyplicate genus Weylandites is common in the Sverdrup Basin and extremely rare at Aidaralash Creek; and representatives of the Luecldsporites- Scutasporites complex are very rare at Aidaralash Creek and absent or not reported in the Sverdrup Basin. These differences can be attributed to the diachronous nature of the two assemblages; Gzhelian-Asselian at Aidaralash Creek and Artinskian in the Sverdrup Basin. The evidence suggests that the assemblage first evolved in the southern Urals region and subsequently spread elsewhere.