Contents Notes from the SPS Secretary ...........................................................................................................................1 Charles Henderson Subcommission on Permian Stratigraphy Annual Report by the Chair ............................................................1 Bruce R. Wardlaw Proposal for the Base of the Sakmarian Stage: GSSP in the Kondurovsky Section, Southern Urals, Russia .......................................................................................................................................4 Boris Chuvashov, Valery Chernykh, Ernst Leven, Vladimir Davydov, Sam Bowring, Jahandar Ramezani, Brian Glenister, Charles Henderson, Tamra Schiappa, C.J. Northrup, Walter Snyder, Claude Spinosa, Bruce Wardlaw Progress report on the base of the Artinskian and base of the Kungurian by the Cisuralian Working Group ..............................................................................................................................13 Boris Chuvashov, Valery Chernykh, Ernst Leven, Vladimir Davydov, Sam Bowring, Jahandar Ramezani, Brian Glenister, Charles Henderson, Tamra Schiappa, C.J. Northrup, Walter Snyder, Claude Spinosa, Bruce Wardlaw Radiolarian biostratigraphy of the Sakmarian Stage (Lower Permian) in Southern Urals ...........................16 E.O. Amon and B.I. Chuvashov Transitional Ufimian-Kazanian marine deposits in the southeastern seaboard of the Kanin Peninsula ................................................................................................................................................26 T. Grunt, D. Lisitzyn, I. Morozova, O. Malysheva, G. Kanev, A. Minikh, and O. Shilovsky Global Permian tetrapod footprint biostratigraphy and biochronology ..........................................................30 Spencer G. Lucas Permian-Triassic boundary conodonts from Jolfa-Abadeh Belt along Northwest and Central Iran .............................................................................................................................34 H. Partoazar Definition of the Lopingian base with the FAD of Clarkina postbitteri postbitteri .......................................41 Heinz W. Kozur Reply to Kozur “Definition of the Lopingian base with the FAD of Clarkina postbitteri postbitteri”.........50 Bruce R. Wardlaw Reply to Kozur “Definition of the Lopingian base with the FAD of Clarkina postbitteri postbitteri”.........52 Charles M. Henderson The Newwellian Substage; Rejection of the Bursumian Stage ......................................................................53 Garner L. Wilde In Memorial: Garner Wilde and Alan McGugan ............................................................................................63 Spencer Lucas and Charles M. Henderson Announcements: XV ICCP 2003, 32nd IGC 2004, Memoir 19 ......................................................................64 Cover Photos of Cisuralian in Russia and Canada: Upper: View of proposed GSSP for the base of the Sakmarian stage (see Chuvashov et al., this issue, p. 4). Middle: Alan McGugan (p. 63) in front of the intra-Permian unconformity (I) at Banff, Alberta with Roadian (R) above and Artinskian (A) and a very thin part of the Kungurian (K) below; a microkarst separates Artinskian and Kungurian in the Johnston Canyon Formation. Lower: The SPS Secretary at the same Tunnel Mt. outcrop in Banff; my feet are on Kasimovian dolomitic sandstone (Kas). The condensed 1.5 metres of rock above my hand is Upper Asselian to Lower Sakmarian (S). Bedded rocks above are uppermost Sakmarian to Artinskian (A). Permophiles Issue #41 2002 EXECUTIVE NOTES Notes from the SPS Secretary job of preparing Permophiles easier. Please follow the format (es- Charles M. Henderson pecially for references); you too can add those commas and co- lons! Permophiles now has an ISSN number and it is increasingly referred to in many papers, which means that our reports should be Introduction and thanks professional and address scientific rather than personal issues. The primary function of Permophiles is for discussion of Permian I want to thank those individuals who contributed articles for issues so we are always interested in replies to the various contri- inclusion in the 41st issue of Permophiles and those who assisted butions. These must also follow the format as outlined elsewhere. in its preparation. Bruce Wardlaw and I did all of the editorial work Our database is still missing a number of e-mail addresses so if for this issue during a hectic 3 days at the USGS in Reston, Vir- you haven’t written to me recently I would appreciate receiving a ginia. We thank Robert Nicoll, Prof. Dr. G. Kowalczyk, Marc Durand, very short e-mail after receiving Permophiles 41; put Permophiles J. Keith Rigby, Brian F. Glenister, Robert Stanton, Smiljana as the subject. Send to [email protected] (after Sept. 1, Stojanovic, Gregory P. Wahlman, Hisaharu Igo, W. John Nelson, 2003 to [email protected]). Edward C. Wilson, Prof. Giuseppe Cassinis, Michael Mawson, Juergen Kullman, Yugan Jin, Xiangdong Wang, Wei Wang, Shen Report on the SPS vote for the Guadalupian-Lopingian boundary Shuzhong, Neil Archbold, and Garner Wilde for financial contribu- tions to the Permophiles publication fund in support of this issue. A proposal (only very slightly revised from that reported in We also thank Laurie Vaughan (Department of Geology and Geo- Permophiles 39) and ballot was sent in January 2003 to SPS voting physics, University of Calgary) for handling the donations. Con- members. A successful and conclusive vote requires 60% of the tinuing publication and mailing of Permophiles requires additional group to vote at least a 60% majority. The SPS Voting Members contributions; readers are referred to the last page of this issue. have voted 14-1-1 in favour (88%) and it is here declared that the Permophiles is currently distributed to 285 individuals and institu- Guadalupian-Lopingian boundary as defined by the FAD of tions and donations have not typically covered expenses. How- Clarkina postbitteri postbitteri at the base of bed 6k at the ever, I am pleased that so many generous donations came in this Penglaitan Section has passed the Subcommission on Permian year; we have sufficient funds to print this and the upcoming Stratigraphy. issue. Thankyou! Please remember to specify Canadian or USA The results are as follows: dollars ($25US = $40Can.). Permophiles is recognized by the ICS Prof. Giuseppe Cassinis Yes as an exceptional newsletter and the continuing support of our Dr. Boris I. Chuvashov Yes readers is necessary to maintain that quality. Dr. Clinton Foster Yes Prof. Brian F. Glenister Yes Previous SPS Meetings and Minutes Prof. Charles M. Henderson Yes Dr. Jinzhang Sheng Yes There are no meetings to report. Dr. Makoto Kato Yes Dr. Galina Kotlyar Yes Business Arising from the Minutes Dr. Heinz Kozur No Prof. Ernst Ya. Leven Yes There is no business arising. Dr. Manfred Menning Abstain Dr. Claude Spinosa Yes Future SPS Meetings Dr. John Utting Yes Dr. Bruce R. Wardlaw Yes The next scheduled SPS meetings will be held at the XV Inter- Dr. Yugan Jin Yes national Congress on the Carboniferous and Permian (ICCP) at Dr. Zhouting Liao Yes Utrecht, the Netherlands, August 10 –16, 2003. Please visit the XV ICC-P website for information [http://www.nitg.tno.nl/eng/iccp/ index.shtml]. The SPS business meeting will be held during the SUBCOMMISSION ON PERMIAN STRATIGRAPHY Permian Stratigraphy Workshop, currently scheduled for the morn- ing of Tuesday, August 12, 2003. ANNUAL REPORT 2002 Future Issues of Permophiles 1. TITLE OF CONSTITUENT BODY International Subcommission on Permian Stratigraphy (SPS) Issue 42 will be finalized in September 2003 and we request 2.-3. OVERALL OBJECTIVES, AND FIT WITHIN IUGS that all manuscripts be sent such that Charles Henderson receives SCIENCE POLICY them no later than Friday September 12, 2003. Issue 42 will be Mission Statement and Goals compiled at the University of Calgary. Please see the attached The Subcommission’s primary goal is to define the note regarding the preferred method of manuscript submission series and stages of the Permian, by means of internationally and format. Following the format as closely as possible makes our agreed GSSPs, and to provide the international forum for 1 Permophiles Issue #41 2002 scientific discussion and interchange on all aspects of the These articles are: Mei, Henderson and Cao, Conodont Permian, but specifically refined regional correlation. population approach to defining the base of the Fit within IUGS Science Policy Changhsingian Stage, Lopingian Series, Permian, in a The objectives of the Subcommission relate to two main aspects special volume of the Geological Society, London; and of IUGS policy: Lambert, Wardlaw, Nestell and Nestell, Latest Guadalupian (i) The development of an internationally agreed scale of (Middle Permian) conodonts and foraminifers from West chronostratigraphic units, fully defined by GSSPs where Texas, in Micropaleontology. appropriate and related to a hierarchy of units to maximize (iii) SPS Newsletters 39 and 40 were produced in 2002 and relative time resolution within the Permian period; circulated to a mailing list of 280 and placed on our internet (ii) Establishment of frameworks and systems to encourage site hosted by Boise State University. The newsletter, international collaboration in understanding the evolution Permophiles, now has an ISSN number (ISSN 1684-5927). of the Earth during the Permian Period. 8. CHIEF