Late Carboniferous and Early Permian fusulinoideans in the central Taurides, Turkey; biostratigraphy, faunal composition and comparison

The Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian rock units in the Hadim area, central Taurides, Turkey, are biostratigraphically divided into eleven fusulinoidean zones in ascending order: the Protriticites variabilis, Montiparus umbonoplicatus and Schwageriniformis schwageriniformis Zones in the Kasimovian; the Jigulites aff. formosus, Daixina asiatica and Rugosofusulina sp. A Zones in the Gzhelian; the Paraschwagerina sp. and Dutkevichia complicata Zones in the Asselian; the Paraschwagerina pseudomira and Robustoschwagerina nucleolata Zones in the Sakmarian; and the Dunbarula? sp. Zone of possible Artinskian age, according to the geochronologic calibration by fusulinoideans. Basal Kasimovian strata, Kasimovian-Gzhelian boundary strata and lower Asselian strata are missing, due to erosion and/or nondeposition, based on faunal analysis of 61 species in 31 genera. Lithologies and fossils suggest that deposition of the studied rock units occurred under shallow, high energy, tropical coastal conditions, influenced by glacioeustatic sea level fluctuations. Early groups of schwagerinids dispersed rapidly, so that the Kasimovian faunas of the Taurides have both European and Central Asian affinities. Faunal similarity between the Hadim area and stratotype regions of the Moscow Basin and the Southern Urals declined gradually in Gzhelian time, declined more rapidly in the Asselian, and reached its low point in the Sakmarian. Many common species occur in the Hadim area and Central Asia (southern Fergana and southwest Darvas), the eastern Mediterranean Sea regions (Slovenia, Croatia, Chios Island, and other localities of Turkey), and the Carnic Alps, especially in the Sakmarian fauna containing Robustoschwagerina, Pseudoschwagerina, Paraschwagerina, Quasifusulina, Eoparafusulina and Darvasites.