Abstract This paper proposes a synthesis of the taxonomy, phylogeny, palaeogeographic distribution, regional biostratigraphy, and palaeobiogeographic faunal development of Carboniferous fusuline foraminifers. They appeared in the latest Tournaisian and comprised a small-sized, morphologically conservative taxonomic group during the Mississippian. Fusulines became larger and prevailed in Pennsylvanian foraminiferal assemblages. Carboniferous fusulines consist of Ozawainellidae, Staffellidae, Schubertellidae, Fusulinidae, and Schwagerinidae, in which 95 genera are considered as valid taxonomically. Upsizing their shells throughout the Pennsylvanian is likely related to symbiosis with photosynthetic microorganisms, which was accelerated by the acquisition of a keriothecal wall in Late Pennsylvanian schwagerinids. Regional fusuline succession data from 40 provinces provide a refined biostratigraphy, enabling zonation and correlation with substage- or higher-resolution precision in the Pennsylvanian. Their spatio-temporal faunal characteristics show that fusulines had a cosmopolitan palaeobiogeographic signature in Mississippian time, suggesting unrestricted faunal exchange through the palaeoequatorial Rheic Ocean. After the formation of Pangaea, Pennsylvanian fusulines started to show provincialism, and their distributions defined the Ural–Arctic Region in the Boreal Realm, Palaeotethys, Panthalassa, and North American Craton regions in the Palaeoequatorial Realm, and Western Gondwana and Eastern Peri-Gondwana regions in the Gondwana Realm. The Western Palaeotethys and East European Platform Subregions maintained higher generic diversity throughout the Pennsylvanian.

Abstract The sedimentary successions and four fossil groups, including rugose corals, brachiopods, fusulinaceans and conodonts, from the Carboniferous and Lower Permian of South China have been studied in order to reveal the sedimentary characteristics and evolutionary pattern of main biological groups in the East Tethyan region during the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age. The Lower Carboniferous lithology of South China is diverse, ranging from basinal and shelf carbonate rocks to coal measures and continental clastics, while the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian are composed mostly of shallow-marine carbonates. From uppermost Devonian to Lower Carboniferous, five major regression events are recognized at the topmost Devonian, middle and upper Tournaisian boundary, Tournasian–Viséan boundary, uppermost Viséan and the Mid-Carboniferous boundary in South China, separately. The Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian shallow-water carbonate rocks consist of remarkable, high-frequency cyclothems. Moreover, another major sea-level fall is recognized and characterized by an extensive sedimentary hiatus at the Sakmarian–Artinskian boundary throughout South China. All of the sedimentary basins of South China were formed in extensional tectonic settings during this time; thus, multiple regressive events that occurred throughout South China should be primarily induced by glacio-eustatic drawdown. In addition, two biotic events characterized by a remarkable decline in the diversity of benthic biota and a turnover in the composition of fossil assemblages occurred, respectively, at the Mid-Carboniferous and Sakmarian–Artinskian boundaries, consistent with two major regressions, and were probably caused by the glaciations in Gondwana.

Abstract Pennsylvanian (Late Carboniferous)–Early Permian cyclothems are documented for the first time from the shallow-marine carbonate succession on the Yangtze Carbonate Platform, South China. The Zongdi section in southern Guizhou Province comprises bioclast-rich grey limestones with dark-coloured intervals yielding macro- and microfabrics related to emergent events. We recognized 26 depositional sequences (consisting essentially of basal peritidal sediments, middle shallow subtidal sediments and upper peritidal sediments affected by meteoric diagenesis and subaerial exposure) separated by 25 lowstand events. These are interpreted as having been formed by alternating marine transgression and regression resulting from variations in the Gondwanan ice sheets. They are compared with the Midcontinent (Kansas-type) cyclothems in North America. However, the Zongdi cyclothems are relatively thin and consist entirely of very shallow-marine sediments formed above wave base, whereas the Midcontinent cyclothems reflect deposition far below wave base. The Zongdi depositional environment was an upper shelf area, on a platform within the epeiric sea on the South China Craton, where sedimentation occurred in a relatively small (shallow) accommodation space during the highest stands of sea level. They were formed by major (large-scale) transgressions that submerged high-shelf areas, and most of them correspond to the major cyclothems of the North American Midcontinent Basin. The fusuline biostratigraphical framework reveals an uneven stratigraphical pattern of the Zongdi cyclothems, reflecting subtle fluctuations of tectonic subsidence on the epeiric Yangtze Carbonate Platform. Less erosion and karstification on the tops of cyclothems in the Zongdi section, together with the presence of partly calcareous palaeosols, indicates that a dry climate prevailed on the South China Block during the Pennsylvanian–Early Permian when the Zongdi cyclothems were formed.

Abstract The Carboniferous and Permian systems are important components of the basement rocks in Thailand and crop out widely. The exceptions are the Khorat Plateau, where they occur in the subsurface but are concealed beneath a thick Mesozoic cover, and in the Chao Phraya Central Plain where they are largely covered by Quaternary sediments but crop out in scattered monadnocks (Fig 5.1 ). Most Carboniferous and Permian rocks are of shallow-marine facies although siliceous sediments of ancient ocean-bottom origin are also known in places. Continental deposits are quite rare. The Carboniferous System is dominated by siliciclastic rocks except in northernmost Thailand around the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son area where there are large carbonate bodies. In contrast, carbonates are the dominant lithology in the Permian System, forming characteristic karst topography in the tropical humid climate. It has been quarried in some areas, such as Saraburi and Ratchaburi, for flagstones and cement production. In the 1970s and 1980s the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), Thailand, published a series of 1:250 000 scale geological maps covering the whole of Thailand. That stratigraphic information laid the groundwork for a number of papers on the Carboniferous and Permian systems of this country ( Bunopas 1981 , 1983 , 1992 , 1994 ; DMR 2001 , 2007 ; Raksaskulwong 2002 ; Assavapatchara et al. 2006 ). In parallel with those stratigraphical works, more palaeontological aspects of Carboniferous and Permian strata were summarized ( Toriyama et al. 1975 ; Ingavat

Abstract New fieldwork was carried out in the central and eastern Alborz, addressing the sedimentary succession from the Pennsylvanian to the Early Triassic. A regional synthesis is proposed, based on sedimentary analysis and a wide collection of new palaeontological data. The Moscovian Qezelqaleh Formation, deposited in a mixed coastal marine and alluvial setting, is present in a restricted area of the eastern Alborz, transgressing on the Lower Carboniferous Mobarak and Dozdehband formations. The late Gzhelian–early Sakmarian Dorud Group is instead distributed over most of the studied area, being absent only in a narrow belt to the SE. The Dorud Group is typically tripartite, with a terrigenous unit in the lower part (Toyeh Formation), a carbonate intermediate part (Emarat and Ghosnavi formations, the former particularly rich in fusulinids), and a terrigenous upper unit (Shah Zeid Formation), which however seems to be confined to the central Alborz. A major gap in sedimentation occurred before the deposition of the overlying Ruteh Limestone, a thick package of packstone–wackestone interpreted as a carbonate ramp of Middle Permian age (Wordian–Capitanian). The Ruteh Limestone is absent in the eastern part of the range, and everywhere ends with an emersion surface, that may be karstified or covered by a lateritic soil. The Late Permian transgression was directed southwards in the central Alborz, where marine facies (Nesen Formation) are more common. Time-equivalent alluvial fans with marsh intercalations and lateritic soils (Qeshlaq Formation) are present in the east. Towards the end of the Permian most of the Alborz emerged, the marine facies being restricted to a small area on the Caspian side of the central Alborz. There, the Permo-Triassic boundary interval is somewhat similar to the Abadeh–Shahreza belt in central Iran, and contains oolites, flat microbialites and domal stromatolites, forming the base of the Elikah Formation. The P – T boundary is established on the basis of conodonts, small foraminifera and stable isotope data. The development of the lower and middle part of the Elikah Formation, still Early Triassic in age, contains vermicular bioturbated mudstone/wackestone, and anachronostic-facies-like gastropod oolites and flat pebble conglomerates. Three major factors control the sedimentary evolution. The succession is in phase with global sea-level curve in the Moscovian and from the Middle Permian upwards. It is out of phase around the Carboniferous–Permian boundary, when the Dorud Group was deposited during a global lowstand of sealevel. When the global deglaciation started in the Sakmarian, sedimentation stopped in the Alborz and the area emerged. Therefore, there is a consistent geodynamic control. From the Middle Permian upwards, passive margin conditions control the sedimentary evolution of the basin, which had its depocentre(s) to the north. Climate also had a significant role, as the Alborz drifted quickly northwards with other central Iran blocks towards the Turan active margin. It passed from a southern latitude through the aridity belt in the Middle Permian, across the equatorial humid belt in the Late Permian and reached the northern arid tropical belt in the Triassic.