Permian Rugose Corals Research Articles

Permian rugose corals of the world

Abstract Permian rugose corals underwent evolutionary episodes of assemblage changeover, biogeographical separation and extinction, which are closely related to geological events during this time. Two coral realms were recognized, the Tethyan Realm and the Cordilleran–Arctic–Uralian Realm. These are characterized by the families Kepingophyllidae and Waagenophyllidae during the Cisuralian, Waagenophyllidae in the Guadalupian and the subfamily Waagenophyllinae in the Lopingian, and the families Durhaminidae and Kleopatrinidae during the Cisuralian and major disappearance of colonial and dissepimented solitary rugose corals from the Guadalupian to the Lopingian, respectively. The development of these coral realms is controlled by the geographical barrier resulting from the Pangaea formation. According to the changes in the composition and diversity of the Permian rugose corals, a changeover event might have occurred at the end-Sakmarian and is characterized by the mixed Pennsylvanian and Permian faunas to typical Permian faunas, probably related to a global regression. In addition, three extinction events are present at the end-Kungurian, the end-Guadalupian and the end-Permian, which are respectively triggered by the northward movement of Pangaea, the Emeishan volcanic eruptions and subsequent global regression, and the global climate warming induced by the Siberian Traps eruption.

New Late Permian rugose corals from Pahang, peninsular Malaysia

Aye Ko Aung, Ng Tham Fatt, Kyaw Kyaw Nyein & Myo Htut Zin, 2013. New Late Permian rugose corals from Pahang, peninsular Malaysia. Alcheringa 37, 422–434. ISSN 0311-5518.Late Permian rugose corals are described from a limestone unit of the Gua Musang Formation at Selborne Estate, Padang Tengku area, Pahang, peninsular Malaysia. These include one genus, Iranophyllum, which is reported for the first time from Malaysia, with two new species Iranophyllum aequabilis and I. pahangense belonging to Waagenophyllidae. A Late Permian age is confirmed by a Paleofusulina–Colaniella–Reichelina foraminiferal fauna co-preserved with the corals.Aye Ko Aung [akaung.mm@gmail.com], Ng Tham Fatt [thamfatt@gmail.com], Kyaw Kyaw Nyein [konyein@gmail.com], Department of Geology, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Myo Htut Zin [myohtutgreat@googlemail.com], Lab. Services, Pte. Co. Ltd., Singapore. Received 16.10.2012; revised 5.1.2013; accepted 17.1.2012.

Diversity patterns of Carboniferous and Permian rugose corals in South China

AbstractThe diversity and changing patterns of rugose corals in the Carboniferous and Permian of South China are analysed by statistical analyses of 45 families, 284 genera, and 1979 species from 14 consecutive time intervals. The ancestors of Carboniferous rugose corals originated early and underwent preliminary radiation in the late Famennian, but were eliminated by the Hangenberg global regressive event, which marks the Devonian—Carboniferous boundary. Radiation of typical Carboniferous rugose corals began in the late Tournaisian, when they were represented by an abundance of columellate taxa such asKueichouphyllumand a significant diversification ofKeyserlingophyllum. A decrease in the diversity of rugose genera occurred in the Serpukhovian, followed by a change in the composition of the rugose coral assemblages at the Mid‐Carboniferous Serpukhovian—Bashkirian boundary, where large dissepimented taxa with complex axial structures disappeared. In the Bashkirian the Serpukhovian taxa were replaced by compound rugosan taxa of the Geyerophyllidae, Kepingophyllidae and Waagenophyllidae. This compositional change was associated with a global regressive event, recognized in South China by the absence of upper Serpukhovian strata in many places and by several erosional surfaces in carbonate sequences in the Lower Yangtze region. This regressive event was probably caused by an episode of glaciation in Gondwana. Subsequent transgression occurred in South China during the early Bashkirian, where a wide, uniform shallow‐water platform developed in South China, on which were deposited tidal‐flat dolostone and pure limestone containing compound rugose corals. Another change in the rugose coral assemblages, at the Sakmarian‐Artinskian boundary, resulted in the absence from the Artinskian of representatives of typical Pennsylvanian and Early Permian families such as the Bothrophyllidae, Lithostrotionidae, Cyathopsidae, and Petalaxidae. Families uniquely typical of the Permian, characterized by Waagenophyllidae and Kepingophyllidae, dominate post‐Sakmarian strata. This faunal change may be related to a major, worldwide regression, recognized at the end of the Sakmarian. Extinction of rugose corals at the end of the Permian occurred in two phases in South China. The first phase occurred at the end of the Capitanian and eliminated 47% of the families and 45% of the genera. Extrusion of the Omeishan Basalt, which is widely distributed in the western part of South China, and/or a global regression at the end of the Guadalupian could be the principal causes of this first phase of mass extinction. The second phase, which occurred at the end of the Changhsingian and is the largest extinction event in Earth's history, eliminated all remaining rugose corals. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Permian rugose coral faunas of Inner Mongolia–Northeast China and Japan: Paleobiogeographical implications

The faunal characteristics, successions and geographical distribution of the Permian rugose corals in Inner Mongolia–Northeast China and Japan are reviewed using current coral taxonomy and the recently revised Permian global time scale. The co-occurrences of Cathaysian compound corals, abundant non-dissepimented solitary corals, and endemic corals indicate that Inner Mongolia and Northeast China represent an independent biogeographical entity, quite separate from South China and the Japanese terranes. However, the common occurrence in South China of Permian taxa such as Wentzellophyllum, Lonsdaleiastraea, Yatsengia, Ipciphyllum, and Waagenophyllum indicates, in a broad sense, a Tethyan affinity for the Akiyoshi and Mino terranes in Japan. Rocks from the Asselian to the Artinskian in the South Kitakami Terrane of Japan contain eleven large dissepimented solitary and compound genera, including Huangia, Iranophyllum, Laophyllum, Polythecalis, Sestrophyllum, Wentzelella, Wentzellophyllum and Yatsengia. These genera are all typical of, and common in, South China, but are absent from coeval strata in Northeast China. Middle Permian rocks in the South Kitakami Terrane also contain rugose corals that are abundant in South China, in some cases the same species, such as Parawentzelella regularis, Waagenophyllum indicum, Waagenophyllum virgalense and Yatsengia kiangsuensis. Thus, the coral faunas from the South Kitakami Terrane indicate a close paleobiogeographical affinity with those from South China, which is consistent with the paleobiogeography based on ammonoids and bivalves.

THE ORIGIN AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ZIGZAG MICROSTRUCTURE IN LATE PALEOZOIC LOPHOPHYLLIDIUM (ANTHOZOA, RUGOSA)

Abstract In late Paleozoic solitary Rugosa, the zigzag microstructure as defined by Schindewolf (1942) is related to presence of an elevated magnesium content within biogenic calcite (intermediate magnesian calcite, IMC) and its subsequent loss during diagenesis by microdissolution and neomorphism. This particular microstructure has been recognized with certainty only in some Carboniferous and Permian rugose corals (e.g., Lophophyllidium spp.). Septal and other skeletal microstructures in those corals are dominantly (oblique) sloping- lamellar, which is also interpreted as diagenetic in origin. Two directions of oblique lamellae commonly occur in thickened skeletal elements, forming chevrons that make up zigzag microstructure with its orientation determined by presence of microdolomite blebs within skeletal calcite. Geochemical studies of corals from the Mississippian Imo Formation of Arkansas, the Pennsylvanian Buckhorn asphalt of Oklahoma and Pennsylvanian Kendrick Shale of Kentucky all indicate that ma...

The origin and significance of zigzag microstructure in late Paleozoic Lophophyllidium (Anthozoa, Rugosa)

In late Paleozoic solitary Rugosa, the zigzag microstructure as defined by Schindewolf (1942) is related to presence of an elevated magnesium content within biogenic calcite (intermediate magnesian calcite, IMC) and its subsequent loss during diagenesis by microdissolution and neomorphism. This particular microstructure has been recognized with certainty only in some Carboniferous and Permian rugose corals (e.g., Lophophyllidium spp.). Septal and other skeletal microstructures in those corals are dominantly (oblique) sloping-lamellar, which is also interpreted as diagenetic in origin. Two directions of oblique lamellae commonly occur in thickened skeletal elements, forming chevrons that make up zigzag microstructure with its orientation determined by presence of microdolomite blebs within skeletal calcite. Geochemical studies of corals from the Mississippian Imo Formation of Arkansas, the Pennsylvanian Buckhorn asphalt of Oklahoma and Pennsylvanian Kendrick Shale of Kentucky all indicate that magnesium content in skeletal calcite of the corals was elevated, with a maximum in the neighborhood of six to eight mole percent CaCO3, thereby forming intermediate magnesium calcite. Corals with this zigzag microstructure apparently only occurred during the late Paleozoic interval of “aragonite seas”; as a result, this diagenetic behavior of rugose corals can serve as a proxy for secular change in marine chemistry and/or climate.

Middle Permian rugose corals from Laibin, Guangxi, South China

The Middle Permian Chihsia and Maokou formations in Laibin, central Guangxi, South China contain 19 rugose coral species; of these taxa,Lophocarinophyllum sandoi, Asserculinia solida, andInnixiphyllum wuaeare new.Innixiphyllumrepresents a new genus characterized by contratingent minor septa. Ten species are reviewed and described in detail, and the diagnoses of three of these species,Allotropiophyllum heteroseptatum(Grabau, 1928),Lophocarinophyllum taihuense(Yan and Chen, 1982), andIpciphyllum regulare(Wu, 1963), are newly emended. The morphological variation and ontogenetic changes of the solitary, nondissepimented species are particularly emphasized. Six additional taxa are described and illustrated but are left in open nomenclature.The corals from Laibin are typically Tethyan. Four biostratigraphic assemblages are recognized: an assemblage of massive corals in the upper Chihsia Formation represented byPolythecalis longliensis; an assemblage of small solitary and nondissepimented corals in the lower Maokou Formation, dominated by species ofAllotropiophyllum, InnixiphyllumandLophocarinophyllum; an assemblage of mixed massive colonial and small solitary corals in the middle Maokou Formation, characterized byIpciphyllum regulare; and an assemblage of solitary nondissepimented corals in the uppermost Maokou Formation, characterized byUfimia elongata. These assemblages correspond well to those from other areas of South China. In Laibin, only two rugose taxa,Amplexocariniasp. andParacaninia minor, occur in the basal part of the Wuchiaping Formation of Lopingian age.

Patterns and paleoenvironmental implications of end-Permian extinction of Rugosa in South China

Late Permian rugose corals are undoubtedly the last phylogenetic representatives of the Rugosa. These corals are widely, though sporadically, distributed, notably in South China. The Late Permian corals of South China decrease markedly in diversity and are represented by surviving genera from the Maokouan, showing common patterns of disappearance, morphologically and phylogenetically. Colonial Wentzelellinae mostly disappeared by the end of the Maokouan, followed by solitary Wentzelellinae and later Waagenophyllinae having simple morphologies. Non-dissepimented solitary corals and fasciculate Waagenophyllinae, though morphologically simple, are common during the Late Permian, ranging up to the latest Permian. Permian Rugosa apparently show two terminal patterns, suggesting environmental differences. One pattern is terminated with a progressive reduction, leaving only non-dissepimented solitary corals as survivors, and the other pattern is distinguished by the disappearance of the platform-dwelling colonial corals at the end of the Permian. The general trend, characterized by later disappearance of the simpler corals, reflects progressively adverse changes in the marine environment. The persistence and disappearance of a latest Permian Waagenophyllum fauna suggests that the regional continuation of favorable environments followed by the onset of and abrupt severe, though temporary, environmentalchanges for coral growth. The causes of rugosan extinction are not necessarily attributed to factors characteristics of the latest Permian time, and the extinction was individually stepwise, each different event disappearance correlating with, and possiblycaused by variable factors, such as sea-level fluctuations and volcanic activity. Multiple interactions of individual factors on a local and global scale affected each faunal component, resulting in selection of corals that culminates in the regional, and finally global, disappearance of Rugosa.

Notes on some Permian Rugose Corals from Timor

The Permian corals of Timor are of particular value on account of their excellent state of preservation which permits of close study of the skeletal structures. The works of Gerth, Koker, and Schindewolf have added much to our knowledge in this respect. In the course of my investigation on the rugose corals as a whole, I have studied a part of the Timor material in the British Museum (Natural History), upon which this present article is based, and I am grateful to the Keeper of the Department of Geology, and to Dr. H. D. Thomas for the loan of specimens, and for the privilege of cutting them in the Museum. Dr. O. M. B. Bulman and Dr. Thomas both kindly read the manuscript. To Professor W. B. R. King and Mr. A. G. Brighton I am indebted for facilities for study in the Sedgwick Museum.