Middle Permian Cephalopods from Central Peninsular Malaysia: Implications for Faunal Migration Through the Southern Tethys
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Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 19 *2001) 805±814 www.elsevier.com/locate/jseaes Middle Permian cephalopods from central Peninsular Malaysia: implications for faunal migration through the southern Tethys Masatoshi Sonea,*, Mohd Shafeea Lemanb, Masayuki Ehiroc aInstitute for Environment and Development LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia bSchool of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia cInstitute of Geology and Paleontology, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan Received 28 September 2000; revised 9 January 2001; accepted 24 January 2001 Abstract A Wordian *Middle Permian) cephalopod fauna consisting of four ammonoid species, Tauroceras aff. scrobiculatum *Gemmellaro), Agathiceras sp., Bamyaniceras orientale n. sp. and Pronoritidae gen. and sp. indet., and two nautiloid species, Tainoceras sp. and Orthocerida fam. indet., were recovered from the Bera South area, southern Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia. The outcrop represents the southernmost extent of the Bera Formation. Bamyaniceras and Tainoceras are recorded in Malaysia for the ®rst time. The presence of T. aff. scrobiculatum suggests a regional correlation with an ammonoid-bearing bed of Sungai Cheroh, western Pahang, and permits global correlations with strata of northeastern Iraq, northern Oman and Sicily *Italy). A possible eastwards faunal migration through the southern Tethys is suggested. q 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Middle Permian cephalopods; Southern Tethys; Peninsular Malaysia 1. Introduction 2. Regional geology and stratigraphy Cephalopods are uncommon in Permian strata of Malay- The regional geology of the Bera District was known sia, since only some eleven species have been recorded in previously from only two brief reports by Cook and ®ve reports *Gobbett, 1973, p. 77; Hashim, 1985; Lee, 1980; Suntharalingam *1970), MacDonald *1970). Leman et al. Leonova et al., 1999; Sone and Leman, 2000). In this study, *2000) recently proposed the Bera Formation for Permian six species of Permian cephalopods Ð four ammonoids and strata mostly exposed in road-cuts of the area. It is ¯anked two nautiloids Ð were recovered from a clastic rock stra- on the west by the Triassic Semantan Formation and on the tum on a road-cut of the Bera South *Bera Selatan as a local east by the possible Jurassic±Cretaceous Bertangga Sand- name) area, southern Pahang. This is the richest cephalopod stone *Fig. 1). Boundaries to these Mesozoic formations are faunule in Peninsular Malaysia, and occurs in the Bera not known to be exposed, but are most probably marked by Formation of Leman et al. *2000). faults, since the area is associated with a north±south trend- The main purpose of this paper is to determine the geolo- ing major fault zone as described by Tjia *2001). gical age of the cephalopod horizon based on correlations. A Two Middle Permian faunas from the Bera Formation Permian time-scale compiled by the International Commis- have been studied in detail; they are the low diverse fauna sion on Stratigraphy, Subcommission on Permian Stratigra- of possible early Guadalupian *Roadian or Wordian) phy *Jin et al., 1997; Wardlaw, 1999) is used in this paper, brachiopods and ammonoids in the Felda Mayam outcrop that is, the Middle Permian corresponds to the Guadalupian which is the northernmost extent of the formation *Sone and Series of the North American standard. All described cepha- Leman, 2000), and the moderately diverse brachiopod fauna lopod specimens are stored at the National University of of early Capitanian age in the Sungai Bera section *Sone et Malaysia *Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia) with registra- al., 2001). Cook and Suntharalingam *1970) reported the tion numbers pre®xed UKM-F. occurrence of a fusulinid, Parafusulina sp., from a lime- stone near Tasik Bera. This limestone is not found today, but implies that a carbonate facies is intercalated to, or an * Corresponding author. allochthonous limestone block is present in, sediments of E-mail address: [email protected] *M. Sone). the Bera Formation. A possible stratigraphy of the Bera 1367-9120/01/$ - see front matter q 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S1367-9120*01)00017-7 806 M. Sone et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 19 2001) 805±814 tional environment. The lithology consists of shale, siltstone and ®ne sandstone, which become slightly metamorphosed to slate towards the southeast. Surface sediment is bleached and is soft due to weathering. The fossil occurrences are limited to a 3 m thick bed in the middle of a sequence. The fossil bed is made up of thickly bedded siltstone, which is underlain by regularly laminated siliceous mudstone. They are overlain and underlain by ®ne sand- stone beds, which are similarly white but slightly tuffaceous *Fig. 3). The fossils are dominated by brachiopods and cephalopods *mostly ammonoids), and include more rare trilobites, bivalves and gastropods. An equivalent fossil bed crops out on the opposite side of the road, and yields similar fossils. 3. Faunal composition The Bera South cephalopod fauna is dominated by more than 30 individuals of Agathiceras Gemmellaro *Table 1). This is a cosmopolitan genus, and is one of the most common ammonoids in the Early±Middle Permian rocks. Its stratigraphic range is well established to be Moscovian *lower Upper Carboniferous) through Wordian, with the acme zone between the Roadian and Wordian *Glenister Fig. 1. Bera District and the possible distribution of the Bera Formation et al, 1990; Zhou et al., 1999). with locations of the Bera South outcrop, the Felda Mayam outcrop and the A key species of the Bera South assemblage is Tauro- Sungai Bera section *base map modi®ed from Leman et al., 2000). ceras aff. scrobiculatum *Gemmellaro). T. scrobiculatum, the type species of the genus, was reported originally from Formation, with respect to the age of the Bera South fauna, the classic Sosio limestone *Wordian) of Sicily, Italy will be proposed later. *Gemmellaro, 1887). It is relatively rare amongst many The present fossil locality, namely the `Bera South well-known Sosio ammonoids. The same species was outcrop' *0380400100N, 10284100600E) *Fig. 1), is 26.7 km reported by Blendinger et al. *1992) from limestones of south of Felda Sebertak junction along Bera Road, and the Rustaq and Ba'ad areas in northern Oman. Closely east of Tasik Bera, the largest natural lake in the peninsula. comparable forms were recorded by Lee *1980) as Popano- It corresponds to Locality BF1 of Leman et al. *2000), and ceras cf. scrobiculatum in western Pahang of Malaysia, and represents the southernmost extent of the Bera Formation. by VasÏÂõcÏek and Kullmann *1988) as T. cf. scrobiculatum in The outcrop sequence is about 90 m thick in the ®eld *Fig. Kurdistan of northeastern Iraq. The ammonoid faunas of 2) and is overturned, as indicated by a U-shaped burrow of a Oman and Iraq display strong af®nities with that of the trace fossil that possibly suggests a shallow water deposi- Sosio limestone *Blendinger et al., 1992; VasÏÂõcÏek and Kull- mann, 1988). Elsewhere, species of Tauroceras are recog- nised in southern Tunisia, Crimea and the Pamirs *C.I.S), Jilin and Xizang *China), West Texas *USA) and Coahuila *Mexico). Previously reported Wordian species of Popano- ceras are now thought to belong to Tauroceras *see Glen- ister and Furnish, 1988). The stratigraphic occurrence of Tauroceras is considered to be limited to the Wordian *Zhou et al., 1999). Bamyaniceras orientale n. sp. is the ®rst con®rmed occur- rence of the genus in Peninsular Malaysia, after Sone and Leman *2000) reported `Bamyaniceras or Propinacoceras' sp. from the Felda Mayam outcrop. Bamyaniceras is also of widespread occurrence, speci®cally in southwestern North America, Afghanistan, the Pamirs, Timor, Western Austra- lia and possibly in Sicily and South China. The genus seems Fig. 2. Bera South road-cut outcrop. rather common in the southern part of the Tethys. Leonova M. Sone et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 19 2001) 805±814 807 Table 1 Cephalopod species from the Bera South outcrop Species No. of specimens Ammonoids Agathiceras sp. 30 1 Tauroceras aff. scrobiculatum 5 *Gemmellaro, 1887) Bamyaniceras orientale n. sp. 9 Pronoritidae gen. and sp. indet. 4 Nautiloids Tainoceras sp. 2 Orthocerida fam. indet. 2 depression is present on the ¯ank of Specimens UKM- F402and 403. The suture is not well preserved; three subequal lateral saddles and corresponding lateral lobes are only faintly recognisable in some specimens *e.g. UKM-F404). Remarks. Lee *1980, p. 68, pl. 3, ®gs. 13±15) reported Agathiceras suessi, the type species of the genus, from Sungai Cheroh, western Pahang. His mate- rial, however, was not described in suf®cient detail to Fig. 3. Stratigraphic section of the Bera South outcrop in the Bera Forma- tion. permit con®rmation of the speci®c assignment. Species of Agathiceras generally possess considerably similar features, as previously discussed by some authors *e.g. *1998) considered that Bamyaniceras is indicative of Teth- Glenister and Furnish, 1961, p. 697). The speci®c yan or warm-water faunas. Its genozone ranges from Artins- assignment of Lee *1980)'s suessi is arguable. The kian through Wordian *Zhou et al., 1999). Pronoritidae gen. Sungai Cheroh form has a relatively large size, exceed- and sp. indet. and two nautiloids, Tainoceras sp. and Ortho- ing 50 mm in diameter; it may not be conspeci®c to A. cerida fam. indet., were also recovered. They are of little suessi, which is generally smaller *see Davis, 1972, p. biostratigraphic value, but Tainoceras marks the ®rst for 64). No particular similarities between the Bera South Malaysia. and Sungai Cheroh shells are established. Davis *1972, p. 63) considered that a deep depression on the ¯ank of A. suessi is distinctive of the type species. A 4. Systematic palaeontology similar, but less apparent, feature is present in some of the Bera South specimens *UKM-F402and 403±Fig.