Palaeontological Evidence for the Age of the Carboniferous and Permian Rocks of Central Vestspitsbergen

Abstract

Carboniferous and Permian fossils collected from Central Vestspitsbergen between 1938 and 1957 are listed according to formations and the age of each is assessed from these determinations. Resting unconformably on folded Devonian or metamorphosed Hecla Hoek the succession begins with plant-bearing continental facies and passes upwards into a marine succession with fusuline, coral and brachiopod faunas in limestones and dolomites associated with evaporites and cherts. Correlation with rocks elsewhere in Svalbard, which has been effected largely by lithological facies, is reassessed on palaeontological evidence; this consists of a sequence of plants from approximately Tournaisian to Namurian; of fusulines from the Fusulina Zone to the Pseudoschwagerina Zone, with the Carboniferous-Permian boundary falling in the middle of the Wordiekammen Limestones; and of brachiopods above this. The youngest fossils may be Upper Permian. The succession has few breaks and with further study will contribute to the correlation of Russian, West European, Greenland, and American rocks.