Paul L. Brenckle

LATE VISEAN (MISSISSIPPIAN) CALCAREOUS MICROFOSSILS FROM THE TARIM BASIN OF WESTERN CHINA

The Yeyungou Formation near the town of Wushi on the north side of the Tarim Basin contains late Visean (Tulsky–early Aleksinsky) calcareous foraminifers, algae and incertae sedis deposited in mixed siliciclastic-carbonate lithologies within shelf and slope-to-basinal settings. Similarities with coeval assemblages found in middle and western Asia and on the Russian Platform confirm the relatively unrestricted biotic communication between continental plates across the Paleotethyan seaway at that time. The carbonates at Wushi are both in situ and reworked from the collapse of upslope platform beds. The latter are composed of shallow-shelf, grain-supported bioclastic lithologies and microbial-skeletal algae buildups that are widely developed on contemporaneous Paleotethyan platforms. Species described in this paper include the foraminifers Carbotarima postfinitima n. gen. n. sp., Mediocris ? liae n. name and Pojarkovella wushiensis n. emend., and the alga Asteroaoujgalia gibshmanae n. gen. n. sp. The microbiota is fully illustrated.

Graphic Correlation in Frontier Petroleum Provinces: Application to Upper Paleozoic Sections in the Tarim Basin, Western China

When they were graphically correlated against a composite standard database, paleontologic data sets from the Carboniferous and Lower Permian of the western Tarim basin revealed a punctuated stratigraphic succession in which most of geologic time is contained within regional hiatuses (up to 15 m.y. duration). These hiatuses occur beneath rock packages of late Bashkirian-middle Moscovian, late Moscovian-early Kasimovian, late Gzhelian-early Asselian, and early Sakmarian-Artinskian ages. This interpretation differs from other views that hold that Permian-Carboniferous deposition in the Tarim basin was continuous, or nearly continuous with only minor breaks. The results suggest that late Paleozoic sedimentation in the Tarim basin was controlled primarily by local processes, not by third-order, global, sea level cycles (1-3 m.y. duration). The graphic correlation technique is capable of superior biostratigraphic resolution because it uses the ranges of all fossils within a data set, not just guide fossils or those associated with zonal definitions. Moreover, a composite standard that is linearly calibrated to geologic time makes possible inferences regarding rates of rock accumulation within stratigraphic sequences and the durations of sequence-bounding hiatuses. The resulting chronostratigraphic framework enables and constrains sequence stratigraphic and seismic stratigraphic interpretations.

Progress toward Reconciliation of Lower Mississippian Conodont and Foraminiferal Zonations

Calcareous foraminifers and algae and conodonts indicate that the late Osagean Keokuk Limestone near its type section correlates with Visean strata in Belgium. This discovery necessitates shifting the Mamet foraminiferal zonal scheme so that the Keokuk is no older than Zone 10 and possibly as young as Zone 13, rather than corresponding to Zones 8 and 9. The occurrence of the conodonts Eotaphrus burlingtonensis and Polygnathus mehli near the top of the Burlington Limestone in its type area suggests that the Tournaisian-Visean boundary probably corresponds with the Burlington-Keokuk contact.

2000 JOSEPH A. CUSHMAN AWARD: CHARLES A. ROSS

The Directors of the Cushman Foundation enthusiastically selected Charles A. Ross to receive the 2000 Cushman Award for Excellence in Foraminiferal Research in recognition of his long and productive career in fusulinid and Late Paleozoic stratigraphic studies. Following completion of his doctorate at Yale under Carl O. Dunbar in 1959, Dr. Ross worked for the Illinois State Geological and thereafter began a long association (1964–1982–1992–present) with Western Washington University in Bellingham where he became Professor, Geology Department Chairman and now Research Associate. From 1982 to 1992 he was employed in both technical and supervisory positions by the Gulf and Chevron oil companies in Houston. During that time he was mostly involved in regional geologic/biostratigraphic studies of Paleozoic rocks from North and South America and central Asia. Research published in the 1960s established Dr. Ross’ reputation …

A MEMORIAL TO DAGMARA MAKSIMILIANOVNA RAUZER-CHERNOUSOVA

Dagmara Maksimilianovna Rauzer-Chernousova, The Joseph A. Cushman Awardee for 1985, passed away on June 12, 1995 at the age of 101. She was an outstanding micropaleontologist, Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Honorable Soros Professor, Sci. D. in Geology and Mineralogy, and was internationaly known for her studies of late Paleozoic Foraminifera. She also received the ‘Fighting Order of the Red Star’, the ‘A. P. Karpinski Medal’, the ‘Lenin Medal’, and the ‘Red Star for Labor’. Dr. Rauzer-Chernousova graduated in 1918 from the St. Petersburg Higher School for Girl Students where she majored in Geology. She joined a geological expedition to northern Pechora and, on at least one occasion, she overwintered in the far north living among the Eskimo or Inuit natives. She felt a personal warmth for these people …