Establishing Triassic boundaries

The Permian-Triassic boundary

The exact position of both the Permian-Triassic and Triassic-Jurassic boundaries has been the subject of great controversy for many years. The transition from latest Permian to earliest Triassic is nowhere represented by a continuous (conformable) succession of marine strata containing fossils that are not open to ambiguous age interpretation. The Germanic facies is of little value in the dispute, for there the continental Bunter Formation rests unconformably on Upper Permian strata of the Zechstein basin. The marine equivalent of the Bunter in the Alps is the Werfen Limestone; there the distinctive Lower Triassic bivalve genus Claraia is found in apparently conformable contact with the underlying Bellerophon Limestone, in which undisputed Permian faunas are found. However, recent studies suggest that the lowermost Werfen may contain Permian fossils. In the Himalayas Claraia occurs with the ammonoid Otoceras in the so-called Otoceras beds, but are these beds Permian or Triassic? A Triassic age is suggested by the presence of Claraia, but otoceratids also occur in undisputed Permian strata in the Dzhulfa (Julfa) region in Armenia near the Iranian border. It was agreed as long ago as the early 1900s that the Armenian otoceratids were not in the strictest sense identical with Otoceras and that the Himalayan Otoceras beds should define the base of the Triassic System. This issue, however, has been raised again by those who regard the Otoceras beds as Permian rather than Triassic.

At key localities where apparently conformable sequences occur, as in Armenia, Pakistan, Kashmir, Arctic Canada, Greenland, Spitsbergen, Tibet, China, Siberia, and northern Alaska, the boundary beds—often of limited thickness—usually contain mixtures of Permian-type and Triassic-type faunas or show evidence of an unconformity or paraconformity (that is, an unconformity in parallel strata that is virtually indistinguishable from a simple bedding plane because no effects of erosion are discernible). It is these transitional beds that are the crux of the boundary problem. In the Salt Range of Pakistan, for instance, Permian brachiopods are found in close association with undisputed Triassic fossils, which suggests the possibility of Permian relics living in earliest Triassic time. Yet recent studies suggest that both latest Permian and earliest Triassic strata are missing in this section. In East Greenland mixed faunas occur at the boundary, with Triassic ammonoids in association with Permian productacean brachiopods, but the latter appear to be derived, having been incorporated into Triassic sediments by reworking. A similar situation may prevail at the famous Guryul Ravine section in Kashmir. Studies on new sections in Tibet (Selong-Xishan) and China (Shangsi, Meishan) have not yet led to agreement on whether there is continuous sedimentation between the Permian and Triassic or a well-disguised unconformity. Tozer supports the latter view and, furthermore, believes that there is evidence of a worldwide unconformity (often difficult to recognize) at the base of the Otoceras zone. He advocates that this level should once again define the Permian-Triassic boundary, since it clearly records a universal geologic event of great significance to marine biotas. Accordingly, he has proposed a stratotype for the boundary at the base of the Blind Fjord Formation of northwestern Axel Heiberg Island in Arctic Canada, where the O. concavum zone (equivalent to the O. woodwardi zone of the Himalayas) rests unconformably on Permian strata. However, recent opinion indicates that a more suitable place for the global stratotype section and point (GSSP) for the Permian-Triassic boundary might be at Meishan, where it is taken to be the base of the Hindeodus parvus (the same as Orchard’s Isarcicella parva) conodont zone. This proposal awaits formal ratification by the Subcommission on Triassic Stratigraphy.

The Triassic-Jurassic boundary

The exact position of the boundary between the Triassic and Jurassic has been less contentious but not without its problems. Traditionally, marine rocks stratigraphically above the Keuper Marl in Germany and the New Red Sandstone in Britain have been regarded as either uppermost Triassic or lowermost Jurassic. These rocks contain the distinctive bivalve species Rhaetavicula contorta but no ammonoids. Rocks of this R. contorta zone in northwestern Europe have been correlated with the stratotype of the Rhaetian Stage, the marine Kössen beds in the Rhaetian Alps, mainly on the basis of the common occurrence of R. contorta. The Alpine Rhaetian contains a few ammonoids that are regarded as Late Triassic in affinity but not exclusively Rhaetian. The correlation of the Rhaetian of northwestern Europe with that of the Alps has been questioned, however, and it has been suggested that the former may actually be lowermost Jurassic in age. While most biostratigraphers would include at least the Alpine Rhaetian Stage in the Triassic, Tozer and others have advocated abandoning the term Rhaetian as a formal stage name and assigning Alpine Rhaetian rocks and their correlatives in North America and elsewhere to the uppermost Norian Stage. However, the Subcommission on Triassic Stratigraphy has recommended retaining its usage as a Triassic stage, and their recommendation has been followed in this article.