Final Results and Recommendations of the Last 10 Years IGCP 572 and 630 Field Workshops in South Turkey, Oman, India (Kashmir) and Armenia

Abstract

Being involved in the organization of IGCP 572 field workshops in Turkey (2009), in Oman (2010), as in the following IGCP 630 field workshops in Kashmir (India, 2014) and in Armenia (2017), I co-wrote for each of them detailed guidebooks and extended reports that can be found and downloaded from ResearchGate website. This paper summarizes the final results obtained by IGCP 572 and 630 members from these four important field workshop sites in the past 10 years, and also attempts to make recommendations for future studies based on these unique localities surrounding the Tethys Ocean. The first field workshop of IGCP 572 was organized in South Turkey in September, 2009, with the logistical support of Dr. Erdal Kosun from the Antalya University. Following the South Turkey field workshop, eight important papers have been published and concerned the well-preserved Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) microbialites and their ecosystems (including ostracodes, brachiopods, and many of other clades). The 3rd IGCP 572 annual field workshop was held during February, 2010 in the Sultanate of Oman, with Dr. Michaela Bernecker and the deep support from the GuTech University in Muscat. More than 15 papers have derived from the P-Tr successions that IGCP 572 members have investigated during this workshop, including the first study on oceanic acidification based on Boron isotopes. New paleontological studies are still on progress, and concern the Smithian ammonoids, Lower Triassic shark teeth and dental remains as well as basal Triassic conodonts, crinoids and ammonoids. The 1st IGCP 630 annual field workshop was held during November, 2014 in Srinagar, Kashmir, and North India, with the helpful assistance of Prof. Ghulam Bhat from Jammu University. This meeting renewed studies on the classic Guryul Ravine and adjacent P-Tr boundary sections in that region, with new geochemical works on carbon isotopes and pyrite framboids as well as a detailed Induan conodont taxonomy and zonation. Other new paleontological works concern the palynology of the Guryul Ravine Section as some well-preserved organic eukariotic protist (thecamoebians) that cross without damage the PTB. Lilit Sahakyan, Aymon Baud, and Zhong-Qiang Chen organized the 5th IGCP 630 annual conference and field workshop in Armenia on October 8–14, 2017. Several PTB and Lower Triassic sections have been systematically sampled for biogeochemical and geobiological studies. These Armenian sections provide unique paleoenvironmental settings that have the longest record, from Griesbachian to Dienerian, of microbial proliferation following the P-Tr mass extinction in the world. The basal Triassic giant sponge-microbial build-ups are encouraging more comprehensive studies on metazoan-microbial reef developments after the greatest extinction event.