Earliest Silurian graptolites from Kalpin, western Tarim, Xinjiang, China

 

Authors: Wang W, Muir LA, Chen X, Tang P

Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences, volume 90, issue 3; pages: 519 - 542; Received 8 December 2014; Accepted in revised form 29 March 2015; Online 12 May 2015

Keywords: Graptoloidea, earliest Silurian, Xinjiang Province, China,

full text (PDF, 8.12 MB)

Export to RIS

 

Abstract

A graptolite fauna containing 13 species in seven genera is described from the basal part of the Middle Member of the Kalpintag Formation, in the Kalpin region of Xinjiang Province, northwestern China. The taxa are Avitograptus sp. aff. A. avitus (Davies), Hirsutograptus jideliensis (Koren’ & Mikhailova), Korenograptus laciniosus (Churkin & Carter), K. jerini (Koren’ & Melchin), K. aff. K. magnus (Churkin & Carter), Metabolograptus wangjiawanensis (Mu & Lin), M. parvulus (Lapworth), Normalograptus ajjeri (Legrand), N. angustus (Perner), N. mirnyensis (Obut&Sobolevskaya), Paramplexograptus madernii (Koren’ & Mikhailova), Par.? sp., and Persculptograptus sp. Approximately half of the species described have not been previously recorded from the Kalpin region. An early Silurian (Rhuddanian) age is indicated by H. jideliensis and K. jerini. The graptolite fauna recovered from the four sections in the Kalpin region shares numerous common species with faunas from the Yangtze region of China and from southern Kazakhstan.\r\n

References

ANHUI GEOLOGICAL SURVEY TEAM (ed.) 1982. Graptolites from Anhui. 166 pp. Anhui Science and Technology Publishing House, Hefei.

BAARLI, B.G. 2014. The early Rhuddanian survival interval in the Lower Silurian of the Oslo Region: a third pulse of the end-Ordovician extinction. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 395, 29-41.View article

BENGTSON, P. 1988. Open nomenclature. Palaeontology 31(1), 223-227.

BERGSTRÖM, S.M., SALTZMAN, M.R. & AUSICH, W.I. 2003. Conodonts, graptolites, and δ13C chemostratigraphy in the latest Ordovician (Gamachian, Hirnantian): A global review. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs 35(2), 14.

BERRY, W.B.N. 1986. Stratigraphic significance of Glyptograptus persculptus group graptolites in central Nevada, U.S.A., 135-143. In HUGHES, C.P., RICKARDS, R.B. & CHAPMAN, A.J. (eds) Palaeoecology and biostratigraphy of graptolites. Geological Society of London, Special Publication 20.View article

BJERRESKOV, M. 1975. Llandoverian and Wenlockian graptolites from Bornholm. Fossils and Strata 8, 1-94.

BLACKETT, E., PAGE, A., ZALASIEWICZ, J., WILLIAMS, M., RICKARDS, B. & DAVIS, J. 2008. A refined graptolite biostratigraphy for the Late Ordovician-early Silurian of central Wales. Lethaia 42, 83-96.View article

BRONN, H.G. 1849. Index Palaeontogicus B, Enumerator Palaeontologicus. 980 pp. E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart.

BULMAN, O.M.B. 1955. Graptolithina with sections on Enteropneusta and Pterobranchia, 1-101. In MOORE, R.C. (ed.) Treatise on invertebrate paleontology. Geological Society of America & University of Kansas Press, Lawrence & Boulder.

CHEN, X. 1984. Silurian graptolites from southern Shaanxi and northern Sichuan with special reference to classification of Monograptidae. Palaeontologica Sinica, New Series B 20, 1-102.

CHEN, X., FAN, J.X., MELCHIN, M.J. & MITCHELL, C.E. 2005. Hirnantian (latest Ordovician) graptolites from the Upper Yangtze Region, China. Palaeontology 48, 235-280.View article

CHEN, X., NI, Y.N., MITCHELL, C.E., QIAO, X.D. & ZHAN, S.G. 2000b. Graptolites from the Qilang and Yigan Formations (Caradoc, Ordovician) of Kalpin, Western Tarim, Xinjiang, China. Journal of Paleontology 74(2), 282-300.View article

CHEN, X., RONG, J.Y., FAN, J.X., ZHAN, R.B., MITCHELL, C.E., HARPER, D.A.T., MELCHIN, M.J., PENG, P.A., FINNEY, S.C. & WANG, X.F. 2006. The Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Hirnantian Stage (the uppermost of the Ordovician System). Episodes 29(3), 183-196.View article

CHEN, X. & WANG, Z.H. 2003. Global auxiliary stratotype section of the Upper Ordovician in China. Journal of Stratigraphy 27(3), 264-265.

CHEN, X., ZHAN, R.B., ZHANG, Y.D., RONG, J.Y., MITCHELL, C.E., HARPER, D.A.T., LI, R.Y. & WANG, Y. 2000a. Late Ordovician to earliest Silurian graptolite and brachiopod biozonation from the Yangtze region, South China with a global correlation. Geological Magazine 137, 623-650.View article

CHEN, X., ZHANG, Y.D. & LI, Y. 1995. Ordovician Basin analysis of China, 245-250. In COOPER, J.D., DROSER, M.L. & FINNEY, S.C. (eds) Ordovician Odyssey: Short Papers for the Seventh International Symposium on the Ordovician System. SEPM (Pacific Section of the Society of Sedimentary Geology) 77, Fullerton.

CHEN, X., ZHANG, Y.D., YU, G.H. & LIU, X. 2007. Latest Ordovician and earliest Silurian graptolites from northwestern Zhejiang, China. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica 46, 77-82.

CHURKIN, M. JR. & CARTER, C. 1970. Early Silurian graptolites from southeastern Alaska and their correlation with graptolitic sequences in North America and the Arctic. United States Geological Survey, Professional Paper 653, 1-51.

COOPER, R.A., SADLER, P.M., MUNNECKE, A. & CRAMPTON, J. 2014. Graptoloid evolutionary rates track Ordovician-Silurian global climate change. Geological Magazine 151(2), 349-364.View article

DAVIES, K.A. 1929. Notes on the graptolite faunas in the Upper Ordovician and Lower Silurian. Geological Magazine 66, 1-27.View article

ELLES, G.L. & WOOD, E.M.R. 1906. A monograph of British graptolites. Part 5. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society 60(288), lxxiii-xcvi + 181-216.

ELLES, G.L. & WOOD, E.M.R. 1907. A monograph of British graptolites. Part 6. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society 61(297), xcvii-cxx + 217-272.

ELLES, G.L. & WOOD, E.M.R. 1908. A monograph of British graptolites. Part 7. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society 62(305), cxxi-cxlviii + 273-358.

FAN, J.X. & CHEN, X. 2007. Preliminary report on the Late Ordovician graptolite extinction in the Yangtze region. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 245, 82-94.View article

FAN, J.X., MELCHIN, M.J., CHEN, X., WANG, Y., ZHANG, Y.D., CHEN, Q., CHI, Z.L. & CHEN, F. 2011. Biostratigraphy and geography of the Ordovician-Silurian Lungmachi black shales in South China. Science China Earth Science 54, 1854-1863.View article

FANG, Y.T., LIANG, S.J., ZHANG, D.L. & YU, J.L. 1990. Stratigraphy and graptolite fauna of Lishuwo Formation from Wuning, Jiangxi. 155 pp. Nanjing University Publishing House, Nanjing.

FENG, Z.Z., BAO, Z.D., WU, M.B., JIN, Z.K., SHI, X.Z. & LUO, A.R. 2007. Lithofacies palaeogeography of the Ordovician in Tarim area. Journal of Palaeogeography 9(5), 447-460.

FRECH, F. 1897. Lethaea Geognostica. Lethaea Paleozoica 1, 11. Graptolithen, 544-684. E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart.

FORTEY, R.A. & COCKS, L.R.M. 2003. Palaeontological evidence bearing on global Ordovician-Silurian continental reconstructions. Earth-Science Reviews 61(3/4), 245-307.View article

FU, H.Y. 1982. Graptolithina, 410-479. In GEOLOGICAL BUREAU OF HUNAN (ed.) The palaeontological atlas of Hunan. Geological Publishing House, Beijing.

GOLDMAN, D., MITCHELL, E.C., MELCHIN, J.M., FAN, J.X., WU, S.Y. & SHEET, H.D. 2011. Biogeography and mass extinction: extirpation and re-invasion of Normalograptus species (Graptolithina) in the Late Ordovician palaeotropics. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 58(4), 227-246.View article

HARPER, D.A.T., HAMMARLUND, E.U. & RASMUSSEN, C.M. 2013. End Ordovician extinctions: a coincidence of causes. Gondwana Research 25(4), 1294-1307.View article

HSÜ, S.C. 1934. The graptolites of the Lower Yangtze Valley. Bulletin of the National Research Institute of Geology, Academia Sinica, Series A 4, 1-106.

HUTT, J.E. 1974. The Llandovery graptolites of the English Lake District. Part 1. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society 128(540), 1-56.

JIANG, D.Y., HAO, W.C., BAI, S.L., WANG, X.P. & YAO, J.X. 2001. New progress of the study on Late Ordovician-Early Carboniferous stratigraphic division and correlation in Tarim Basin, Xinjiang. Acta Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Pekinensis 37(4), 529-536.

JIANG, D.Y., PI, X.J., SUN, Z.Y., CHEN, Y., WU, F.X. & HAO, W.C. 2006. Report on graptolite biostratigraphy of the basal part of the Middle Member of the Kepingtage Formation at Dawangou section, Keping, Xinjiang. Journal of Stratigraphy 30(3), 253-257.

KOREN’, T.N., AHLBERG, P. & NIELSEN, A.T. 2003. The post-persculptus and pre-ascensus graptolite fauna in Scania, south-western Sweden: Ordovician or Silurian?, 133-138. In ORTEGA, G. & ACENOLAZA, G.F. (eds) Proceedings, 7th International Graptolite Conference & Field Meeting, Subcommission on Silurian Stratigraphy. INSUGEO, Serie Correlación Geológica 18.

KOREN’, T.N. & MELCHIN, M.J. 2000. Lowermost Silurian graptolites from the Kurama Range, eastern Uzbekistan. Journal of Paleontology 74, 1093-1113.View article

KOREN’, T.N., MIKHAYLOVA, N.F. & TSAI, D.T. 1980. Graptolity, 121-170. In APOLLONOV, M.K., BANDALETOV, S.M. & NIKITIN, J.F. (eds) Granitsa ordovika i silura v Kazakhstane. Nauka Kazakh SSR Publishing House, Alma-Ata.

KOREN’, T.N. & RICKARDS, R.B. 1996. Taxonomy and evolution of graptoloids from the southern Urals, western Kazakhstan. Special Papers in Palaeontology 54, 1-32.

KOREN’, T.N. & RICKARDS, R.B. 2004. An unusually diverse Llandovery (Silurian) diplograptid fauna from the southern Urals of Russia and its evolutionary significance. Palaeontology 47, 859-918.View article

KRAFT, P., ŠTORCH, P. & MITCHELL, C.E. 2015. Graptolites of the Králův Dvůr Formation (mid Katian to earliest Hirnantian, Czech Republic). Bulletin of Geosciences 90(1), 195-225.View article

LANKESTER, E.R. 1877. Notes on the embryology and classification of the animal kingdom: comprising a revision of speculations relative to the origin and significance of the germ-layers. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, New Series 17, 399-454.View article

LAPWORTH, C. 1873. On an improved classification of the Rhabdophora, Part I. Geological Magazine 10, 500-504.View article

LAPWORTH, C. 1875. Section Graptoloidea, 631-672. In HOPKINSON, J. & LAPWORTH, C. (eds) Descriptions of the graptolites of the Arenig and Llandeilo rocks of St. Davids. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 31.

LAPWORTH, C. 1876. On Scottish Monograptidae. Geological Magazine 13, 350-360, 499-507, 544-552.View article

LAPWORTH, C. 1877. On the graptolites from County Down. Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club (Appendix) 1876/ 77, 125-144.

LAPWORTH, H. 1900. The Silurian sequence of Rhayader. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 56, 67-137.View article

LEGRAND, P. 1977. Contribution a l’étude des graptolites du Llandoverien inférieur de L’Oued in Djerane (Tassili N’Ajjer oriental, Sahara algérien). Bulletin de la Société d’Histoire Naturelle de l’Afrique du Nord 67, 141-196.

LEGRAND, P. 1987. Modo de desarrollo del suborden Diplograptina (Graptolithina) en el Ordovicico Superior y en el Silurico. Revista Espanola de Paleontología 2, 59-64.

LI, J.J. 1984. Graptolites across the Ordovician-Silurian boundary from Jingxian, Anhui, 309-370. In NANJING INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY & PALAEONTOLOGY, ACADEMIA SINICA (ed.) Stratigraphy and palaeontology of systemic boundaries in China, Ordovician-Silurian boundary 1. Anhui Science and Technology Publishing House, Hefei.

LI, J.J. 1995. Lower Silurian graptolites from the Yangtze Gorge district. Palaeontologica Cathayana 6, 215-344.

LI, J.J. 1999. Lower Silurian graptolites from southern Anhui. Bulletin of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Academia Sinica 14, 70-157.

LIN, Y.K. & CHEN, X. 1984. Glyptograptus persculptus Zone-the earliest Silurian graptolite zone from Yangzi Gorges, China, 203-232. In NANJING INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY AND PALAEONTOLOGY, ACADEMIA SINICA (ed.) Stratigraphy and palaeontology of systemic boundaries in China, Ordovician-Silurian boundary 1. Anhui Science and Technology Publishing House, Hefei.

LOYDELL, D.K. 2007. Graptolites from the Upper Ordovician and Lower Silurian of Jordan. Special Papers in Palaeontology 78, 1-66.

LOYDELL, D.K., MALLETT, A.M., MIKULIC, D.G., KLUESSENDORF, J. & NORBY, R.D. 2002. Graptolites from near the Ordovician-Silurian boundary in Illinois and Iowa. Journal of Paleontology 76, 134-137.View article

MALETZ, J. 2014. The classification of the Pterobranchia (Cephalodiscida and Graptolithina). Bulletin of Geosciences 89(3), 477-540.View article

MALETZ, J., AHLBERG, P., SUYARKOVA, A. & LOYDELL, D.K. 2014. Silurian graptolite biostratigraphy of the Röstanga-1 drill core, Scania - a standard for southern Scandinavia. GFF 136(1), 175-178.View article

MATTHEWS, S.C. 1973. Notes on open nomenclature and synonymy lists. Palaeontology 16, 713-719.

MELCHIN, M.J. 1998. Morphology and phylogeny of some early Silurian ‘diplograptid’ genera from Cornwallis Island, Arctic Canada. Palaeontology 41, 263-315.

MELCHIN, M.J. 2008. Restudy of some Ordovician-Silurian boundary graptolites from Anticosti Island, Canada, and their biostratigraphic significance. Lethaia 41, 155-162.View article

MELCHIN, M.J. & HOLMDEN, C. 2006. Carbon isotope chemostratigraphy in Arctic Canada: sea-level forcing of carbonate platform weathering and implications for Hirnantian global correlation. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234, 186-200.View article

MELCHIN, M.J., McCRACKEN, A.D. & OLIFF, F.J. 1991. The Ordovician-Silurian boundary on Cornwallis and Truro islands, Arctic Canada: preliminary data. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 28, 1854-1862.View article

MELCHIN, M.J. & MITCHELL, C.E. 1991. Late Ordovician extinction in the Graptoloidea, 143-156. In BARNES, C.R. & WILLIAMS, S.H. (eds) Advances in Ordovician geology. Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 90-9.

MELCHIN, M.J., MITCHELL, C.E., NACZK-CAMERON, A., FAN, J.X. & LOXTON, J. 2011. Phylogeny and adaptive radiation of the Neograptina (Graptoloida) during the Hirnantian mass extinction and Silurian recovery. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 58, 281-309.View article

MELOTT, A.L. & THOMAS, B.C. 2009. Late Ordovician geographic patterns of extinction compared with simulations of astrophysical ionizing radiation damage. Paleobiology 35(3), 311-320.View article

MITCHELL, C.E. 1987. Evolution and phylogenetic classification of the Diplograptacea. Palaeontology 30, 353-405.

MITCHELL, C.E., MELCHIN, M.J., CAMERON, C.B. & MALETZ, J. 2013. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that Rhabdopleura is an extant graptolite. Lethaia 46, 34-56.View article

MU, E.Z., LI, J.J. & GE, M.Y. 1960. Ordovician graptolites from Xinjiang (Sinkiang). Acta Palaeontologica Sinica 8, 27-39. [in Chinese with English summary]

MU, E.Z. & NI, Y.N. 1983. Uppermost Ordovician and lowermost Silurian graptolites from the Xainza area of Xizang (Tibet) with discussion on the Ordovician-Silurian boundary. Palaeontologia Cathayana 1, 151-179.

MU, E.Z. & LIN, Y.K. 1984. Graptolites from the Ordovician-Silurian boundary sections of Yichang area, W. Hubei, 45-82. In NANJING INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY & PALAEONTOLOGY, ACADEMIA SINICA (ed.) Stratigraphy and palaeontology of systemic boundaries in China, Ordovician-Silurian boundary 1. Anhui Science and Technology Publishing House, Hefei.

NANJING INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES (ed.) 1983. Palaeontological atlas of east China, 1. Early Paleozoic. 657 pp. Geological Publishing House, Beijing.

NI, Y.N. & CHEN, X. 1997. Graptolites from bore cores of Northern Tarim Basin, Xinjiang. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica 36 (sup.), 155-167.

NICHOLSON, H.A. 1868. On the graptolites of the Coniston Flags; with notes on the British species of the genus Graptolites. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 24, 521-545.View article

NICHOLSON, H.A. 1869. On some new species of graptolites. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 4, 231-242.View article

OBUT, A.M. 1955. Graptolity, 136-139. In NIKIFOROVA, O.I. (ed.) Polevoy atlas ordovikskoy i silurskoy fauny Sibirskoy platformy. Gosgeoltechizdat, Moskva. [in Russian]

OBUT, A.M. & SENNIKOV, N.V. 1985. Osobennosti llandoveriyskikh planktonovykh soobschestv Sibirskoy platformy, 51-60. In BETECHTUNA, O.A. & ZHURAVLEVA, I.T. (eds) Sreda i zhizn v geologicheskom proshlom (Paleobasseiny i ich obitateli). Trudy Instituta geologii i geofiziki 628. Nauka, Novosibirsk. [in Russian]

OBUT, A.M., SOBOLEVSKAYA, R.F. & NIKOLAEV, A.N. 1967. Graptolites and stratigraphy of Lower Silurian parts of the uplifted Kolyma Massif. 162 pp. Nauka, Moskva.

PACKHAM, G.H. 1962. Some diplograptids from the British Lower Silurian. Palaeontology 5, 498-526.

PERNER, J. 1895. Studie o českých graptolitech II. 52 pp. Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost a umění, Praha.

PŘIBYL, A. 1949. Revision of the Diplograptidae and Glossograptidae of the Ordovician of Bohemia. Bulletin Internationale de l’Académie Tcheque des Sciences 50, 1-51.

RICKARDS, R.B. 1970. The Llandovery (Silurian) graptolites of the Howgill Fells, northern England. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society 123(524), 1-108.

RIVA, J. 1988. Graptolites at and below the Ordovician-Silurian boundary on Anticosti Island, Canada, 221-237. In COCKS, L.R.M. & RICKARDS, R.B. (eds) A global analysis of the Ordovician-Silurian Boundary. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Geology 43, 1-394.

SKOGLUND, R. 1963. Uppermost Viruan and lower Harjuan (Ordovician) stratigraphy of Västergötland and lower Harjuan graptolite faunas of central Sweden. Bulletin of the Geological Institutions of the University of Uppsala 42, 1-55.

ŠTORCH, P. & FEIST, R. 2008. Lowermost Silurian graptolites of Montagne Noire, France. Journal of Paleontology 82(5), 938-956.View article

ŠTORCH, P., MITCHELL, C.E., FINNEY, S.C. & MELCHIN, M.J. 2011. Uppermost Ordovician (upper Katian-Hirnantian) graptolites of north-central Nevada, U.S.A. Bulletin of Geosciences 86(2), 301-386.View article

ŠTORCH, P. & SERPAGLI, E. 1993. Lower Silurian graptolites from southwestern Sardinia. Bollettino della Societa Paleontologica Italica 32, 3-57.

ŠTORCH, P. & SCHÖNLAUB, H.P. 2012. Ordovician-Silurian boundary graptolites of the Southern Alps, Austria. Bulletin of Geosciences 87(4), 755-766.View article

UNDERWOOD, C.J., DEYNOUX, M. & GHIENNE, J.-F. 1998. High palaeolatitude (Hodh, Mauritania) recovery of graptolite faunas after the Hirnantian (end Ordovician) extinction event. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 142, 91-105.View article

WANG, H.H., LI, J.H., YANG, J.Y., ZHOU, X.B., FU, C.J. & LI, W.S. 2013. Paleoplate reconstruction and drift path of Tarim block from Neoproterozic to early Palaeozoic. Advances in Earth Science 28(6), 637-647.

WANG, Y. 2010. The sporomorphs from the Late Ordovician to Early Silurian in China and their palaeogeographical implication. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica 49(1), 1-9.

WAERN, B. 1948. The Silurian strata of the Kullatorp Core. Bulletin of Geological Institute of Uppsala 32, 433-474.

WILLIAMS, S.H. 1983. The Ordovician-Silurian boundary graptolite fauna of Dob’s Linn, southern Scotland. Palaeontology 26, 605-630.

ZALASIEWICZ, J. & TUNNICLIFF, S. 1994. Uppermost Ordovician to Lower Silurian graptolite biostratigraphy of the Wye Valley, central Wales. Palaeontology 37, 695-720.

ZHAO, W.J., WANG, S.T., WANG, J.Q. & ZHU, M. 2009. The subdivision and correlation of the Silurian fish-bearing strata and Caledonian movement in Kalpin and Bachu regions, the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang. Journal of Stratigraphy 33(3), 225-240.

ZHAN, S.G. 1996. Graptolite-bearing strata of the Well YM-2 in Tarim Basin. Journal of Xinjiang Petroleum Institute 8(1), 1-5.

ZHAN, S.G. 1997. Graptolite-bearing strata of Well Qk-1 and Well C-1 in Tarim Basin. Journal of Xinjiang Petroleum Institute 9(1), 1-6.

ZHOU, Z.Y. 2001. Stratigraphy of the Tarim Basin. 335 pp. Science Press, Beijing.

ZHOU, Z.Y., CHEN, X., WANG, Z.H., WANG, Z.Z., LI, J., GENG, L.Y., FANG, Z.J., QIAO, X.D. & ZHANG, T.Y. 1991. Ordovician, 56-130. In ZHOU, Z.Y. & CHEN, P.J. (eds) Biostratigraphy and geological evolution of Tarim. Science Press, Beijing.