New data on acritarchs from the Upper Ordovician of the Tungus basin, Siberian platform

Abstract

© 2014, Estonian Academy Publishers. All rights reserved. Distinctive late Ordovician acritarch assemblages have been discovered for the first time from about a 100 m sedimentary succession exposed along the Bol′shaya Nirunda River in Siberia. The studied stratigraphic interval includes the uppermost Baksian, Dolborian, Nirundian and Burian regional stages, which correspond to the Katian-?lowermost Hirnantian global stages. Acritarch assemblages from the Dolbor Regional Stage are exceptionally diverse and include aside from the longranging taxa several unique (endemic) morphotypes and a number of distinctive stratigraphically valuable species, well known outside Siberia. The occurrence of the acritarchs widespread outside Siberia is potentially important for interregional biostratigraphic correlations and might also play a significant role in biogeographic reconstructions. Having in mind that the Siberian palaeocontinent was located in a low-latitude tropical area during the entire Ordovician, the presence of taxa typical of cold-water settings along the Peri-Gondwana margin can be regarded as an additional evidence for penetration of cool-water currents into the epicontinental Tungus basin in the Upper Ordovician.