A Permian Overtoniid Brachiopod in Early Triassic Sediments of Axel Heiberg Island, Canadian Arctic and its Implications on the Permian—Triassic Boundary
The ventral valve of an overtoniid productacean brachiopod generally thought to have been restricted to the late Paleozoic Era is described from the Blind Fiord Formation, Axel Heiberg Island, of Griesbachian (Early Triassic) age. It is not clear whether the specimen was derived from Permian rocks or was really of Griesbachian age. The latter appears likely from the fact that no similar specimens are known from underlying Permian. Genuine occurrences of Permian-type brachiopods in early Triassic rocks are rare. Half of the examples reported, from Armenia, Iran, and West Pakistan, are shown here to be dated erroneously, occurring in middle or late Permian rocks misdated as Triassic, Other examples, such as those from Green-land, are probably reworked because the Triassic beds conformably overlie mid-Permian rocks, and contain similar mid-Permian brachiopods, probably reworked from the underlying deposits.