The boundaries between the southern Laurasian and Northern Gondwana provinces and the Aquilapollenites and Normapolles palynofloras in East Asia

The boundaries between the southern Laurasian and Northern Gondwana provinces and the Aquilapollenites and Normapolles palynofloras in East Asia

rhizal fungi that have evolved with plants and animals, mycorrhizal fungi in the roots of epacrid deaths. and Distributional patterns in west Wallac...

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rhizal fungi that have evolved with plants and animals, mycorrhizal fungi in the roots of epacrid deaths.

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Distributional patterns in west Wallacea and their relationship to regional tectonic structures Michaux B., Sarawak Museum Journal, 1995, 48169 (163179).

A data base containing the distribution details for 384 Bornean species was compiled from The Sarawak Museum Journal.Itiscomposedofspeciesofbeetles, birds,caddisflies, geckos, annelid worms and lizards. Seventy-five distributions were for endemic species and were discarded. The remaining data were resolved into four distributional patterns. A summary of the geological history of the area is given in terms of the geological terranes present. It is concluded that geological and distributional patterns in west Wallacea are congruent. Some implications of understanding modern distribution patterns in terms of the Cretaceous breakup ofeastern Gondwana are discussed.

Early Permian brachiopod faunas from Peninsular India: their Gondwanan relationships Archbold N.W., Shah S.C. & Dickins J.M., Historical Biology, 1996, 1 l/1-4 (125-135). The early Permian brachiopod faunas of Peninsular India are revised in terms of current taxonomy. Genera such as Semilingula, Arctitreta, Etherilosia, Strophalosia, Aulosteges, Bandoproductus, Cyrtella, Neospirifer, Crassispirifer, Tomionsis and Gilledia confirm the Gondwanan asuect of the faunas and a close relationship, at the generic level, to the Early Permian brachiopod faunas of Western Australia. Peninsular Indian Early Permian brachiopod faunas belong to a complex of Gondwanan and peri-Gondwanan faunas from Oman and the Pamirs in the West to Australasia in the east. This distribution implies relative freedom of migration for the faunas along the northern margin of Gondwana during the Early Permian.

A review of the fossil-vertebrate literature indicates fluctuatingafflnitiesbetweenaquaticfaunasofChinaandAustralia during the Devonian Period. Within the South China Block, the close similarity of the highly endemic freshwater fish faunas located on the Yangtze and Huanan terranes demonstratethatthesemusthavebeenjuxtaposedinthemid-Palaeozoic. Analysis of the Triassic tetrapods suggests the faunas of Australia were quite distinct from those of China and Thailand. Although this evidence points to the Permo-Carboniferous as the time of separation between Australia and the various plates of southeastern Asia, unfortunately the vertebrate fossil record in these regions during those periods is so poor as to shed no direct light on the matter.

Notbofagus and Pacific biogeography Linder H.P. &Crisp

M.D., Cladistics, 1995, 11/l (5-32).

Cladistic biogeographers, working on plant material, have generally failed to find congruence among taxa expected from the southern Pacific disjunctions. New morphological and molecular data on the phylogeny of Nothofagus have reopened the issue, and these data are analysed to construct a new hypothesis of the biogeography of the genus. The data indicates extensive extinction, but also suggests that Australia has a more recent relationship to New Zealand than to southern South America. This is not congruent with the current geological theories, nor with the patterns evident from insect biogeography. We suggest that concordant dispersal is an unlikely explanation for this pattern, and propose that the solution might be found in alternative geological hypotheses.

STRUCTURAL TECTONICS

GEOLOGY

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Variscan tectonics of central Europe: postaccretionary intraplate deformation of weak continental lithosphere

Permian phytogeography in Gondwana

Krohe A., Tectonics, 1996, 15/6 (1364-1388).

Cuneo N.R., Palaeogeography, cology, 1996, 125/l-4 (75-104).

The area occupied by the Variscan belt of central Europe forms part of Gondwana-derived microplates (essentially Avalonia and Armorica) that, according to paleomagnetic data, juxtaposed Baltic and Laurentia from the Upper Ordovician to the Lower Devonian. The actual structure of this area is a puzzle of rather small fault-bounded crustal blocks, different in P-T-t-histories. which was created bv later tectonic processes, at around’360 to 320 Ma. According to a common view and by contrast to paleomagnetic data, the structural record of fault-bounded blocks is interpreted in terms of Mid-Devonian to Lower Carboniferous amalgamation of narrow continental plates represented by the faultbounded blocks themselves. However, this is not supported in this article. Instead, it is shown that fault-systems and faultbounded blocks were created by intraplate deformation of a weak domain of Gondwana-derived continental lithosphere, significantly after its accretion.

Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoe-

Phytogeographic patterns based on multivariate techniques are proposed for the Permian vegetation of Gondwana. In order to identify short term phytogeographic patterns, the Permian period was informally divided into five time slices. This kind of phytogeographic approach has proven useful for detecting some palaeogeographic problems, such as those involving the Patagonian subcontinent. In this regard, palaeogeographic reconstructions and palaeoclimatic models should be tested against these phytogeographic patterns.

The boundaries between the southern Laurasian and Northern Gondwana provinces and the Aquilapollenites and Normapolles palynofloras in East Asia Song Zhichen 8c Huang Fei, Cretaceous Research, 1997, 18/l (l-15).

The boundary between the S Laurasian and N Gondwana Provinces during the middle Cretaceous and the boundary between the Aquilapollenites/Normapolles palynofloras of the Late Cretaceous-Palaeocene in E Asia are discussed. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) The boundary between the S Laurasianand NGondwana Provincesin China is roughly equivalent to the boundary between the Early Cretaceous N China and S China palynofloras. (2) The boundary between the Aquilapollenites and Normapolles palynofloras in E Asia is about 36”N in Japan. It extends westwards to between 38” and 39”N in the coastal region of the Bohai Sea and northwestwards to NW Nei Mongol and the Republic of Mongolia.

Vertebrate biogeographic evidence for connections of the east and southeast Asian blocks with Gondwana Rich T.H. & Young G.C., Australian Journal Sciences, 1996,43/6 (625-634).

of Earth

Aspects of Jurassic magmatism and faulting in western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica: implications for Gondwana break-up Grantham G.H., ed B.C. Storey et al, (Geological Society, London; Special Publication, 108), Weddell Sea tectonics and Gondwana break-up, 1996, (63-71). Jurassic magnetism in Sverdrupfjella is manifested as saturated and undersaturated syenite intrusions and associated dykes. Dykes in the study area show two dominant orientations namely N-S and NE-SW. Faults and joints are oriented slightly north of east. In a Gondwana context, the NE dykes, which appear to be older (c.200 Ma), are oriented approximatelyparallel to e1 and perpendicular tous for the transpressional first stage of Gondwana break-up postulated by Cox in 1992. The N-S dykes and associated alkaline intrusions apepar to be c. 170 Ma old and do not correlate with any of the stages of Cox. Faulting and jointing, which postdate the Tvora Syenite intrusion, appear to correlate with stage 2 of