TheGranulatisporites confluensOppel-zone and Early Permian marine faunas from the Grant Formation on the Barbwire Terrace, Canning Basin, Western Australia

Abstract

A taxonomically diverse plant microfossil assemblage recovered from a fully cored, marine, glacigene sequence of the Grant Formation, Canning Basin, Western Australia, contains 68 palynomorph species derived mostly from ferns, lycopods, gymnosperms and algae. The assemblage has been assigned to the newly defined Granulatisporites confluens Oppel-zone. G. confluens was first described from Late Palaeozoic sequences of the Chaco-Parana Basin, Argentina, and together with other key species indicates close correlation with assemblages from South America, India, Africa and, to a lesser extent, Antarctica. The associated marine fauna is diverse and includes foraminiferids, crinoids, bryozoans, molluscs and brachiopods. Twenty species of Mollusca and Brachiopoda have been identified, including the new species Terrakea capillata Waterhouse. The presence of Strophalosia cf. subcircularis Clarke indicates strong links with younger Asselian faunas of eastern and southern Australia (lower Wasp Head, lower Tiverton an...