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CSPG Special Publications

Abstract


Pangea: Global Environments and Resources — Memoir 17, 1994
Pages 621-646
Sedimentation

Biogeography of Permian Corals and the Determination of Longitude in Tectonic Reconstructions of the Paleopacific Region

Paul Belasky

Abstract

A number of suspect terranes in North American Cordillera (e.g., Eastern Klamath, Cache Creek) contain Permian taxa that were endemic to the Tethyan region. Trend-surface analysis of modern and Permian biogeographic data and probabilistic estimates of taxonomic diversity and similarity constitute a new approach to understanding the origin of these faunas and constraining the paleolongitude of the terranes which contain them. The method also provides constraints on the Permian locations of suspect terranes whose faunas are of non-Tethyan affinity and are more closely related to those of the northwestern margin of Pangea (e.g., Stikinia, Wrangellia).

The gradual decline in diversity of modern coral genera eastward across the Pacific Ocean represents a measure of longitude that may be used to find the location of an island if its paleomagnetically-derived latitude and the value of coral diversity are both known. Thus the locations of thirty five Pacific islands were constrained with an average error of 1900 km. The same technique was applied to data on Permian rugose corals. Results indicate that: (1) South China was the center of diversity of the Tethyan coral province and was located near the Permian equator and the western margin of the Paleopacific Ocean, (2) the extreme eastern boundary of the Tethyan coral province was situated 1500 - 2000 km west of the North American craton, (3) the Eastern Klamath terrane and Stikinia were proximal to one another and located up to 6700 km west of the North American craton during the Early Permian, (4) the Wrangellia terrane was situated to the southeast of Stikinia, up to 5000 km west of the craton, and (5) the Late Permian location of the Eastern Klamath terrane was constrained to an area 3000 - 5800 km west of the craton at 11°N - 21°N.

The proposed method of reconstruction can be applied to other faunas of Tethyan or Indo-Pacific affinity in the circum-Pacific region. However its application is recommended for those time intervals of the Phanerozoic during which continental barriers (e.g., Pangea) prevented warm water from the Tethys from entering the Paleopacific Ocean from the east and affecting the eastward decline in temperature across the tropical Pacific basin.


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