Newsletter of the Subcommission on Permian Stratigraphy Number 46

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
FOR ISSUE 47
It is best to submit manuscripts as attachments to E-mail messages.
Please send messages and manuscripts to my E-mail addresses;
hard copies by regular mail do not need to be sent unless
requested. Please only send a single version by E-mail or in <strong>the</strong>
mail; if you discover corrections before <strong>the</strong> deadline, <strong>the</strong>n you
may resubmit, but indicate <strong>the</strong> file name <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> previous version
that should be deleted. Manuscripts may also be sent to <strong>the</strong> address
below on diskettes prepared with a recent version <strong>of</strong>
WordPerfect or Micros<strong>of</strong>t Word; printed hard copies should accompany
<strong>the</strong> diskettes. Word processing files should have no
personalized fonts or o<strong>the</strong>r code and should be prepared in single
column format. Specific and generic names should be italicized.
Please refer to this issues <strong>of</strong> Permophiles (e.g. Nurgalieva et al.)
for reference style, format, etc. Maps and o<strong>the</strong>r illustrations are
acceptable in tiff, jpeg, eps, bitmap format or as CorelDraw or
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should also be attached as separate attachments as bitmaps or as
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as part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> image; include <strong>the</strong> captions as a separate
section within <strong>the</strong> text portion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> document. If only hard copies
are sent, <strong>the</strong>se must be camera-ready, i.e., clean copies, ready
for publication. Typewritten contributions are no longer acceptable.
All <strong>the</strong> contributors must provide electronic versions <strong>of</strong> your
text and elctronic or camera-ready hard copies <strong>of</strong> figures.
Please note that we prefer not to publish articles with names <strong>of</strong>
new taxa in Permophiles. Readers are asked to refer <strong>the</strong> rules <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
ICZN. All manuscripts will be edited for consistent use <strong>of</strong> English
only.
I currently use a Windows 2000 PC with Corel Draw 12, Adobe
Page Maker 7.0, Adobe Photoshop 7 and Micros<strong>of</strong>t Office programs;
documents compatible with <strong>the</strong>se specifications will be
easiest to work with.
E-mail: szshen@nigpas.ac.cn
shen_shuzhong@yahoo.com
Mailing address:
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Shuzhong Shen
Nanjing Institute <strong>of</strong> Geology and Palaeontology
Chinese Academy <strong>of</strong> Sciences
39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu
210008, China
Submission Deadline for Issue 47
is Friday, June 9, 2006
Permophiles Issue #46 December 2005
6
REPORTS
International Correlation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Marine Permian Time
Scale
Charles M. Henderson
Applied Stratigraphy Research Group, Department <strong>of</strong> Geology and
Geophysics, University <strong>of</strong> Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N
1N4 (charles.henderson@ucalgary.ca)
The international subdivision <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Permian comprises nine
stages and three series including <strong>the</strong> Cisuralian stages Asselian,
Sakmarian, Artinskian, and Kungurian; <strong>the</strong> Guadalupian stages
Roadian, Wordian, and Capitanian; and <strong>the</strong> Lopingian stages
Wuchiapingian and Changhsingian. The Permian as originally
envisaged by Murchison in 1841 includes most <strong>of</strong> what is today
correlated with <strong>the</strong> Kungurian to Capitanian. Although <strong>the</strong>re are
many different stage names used locally in various regions, it is
<strong>the</strong> goal <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Subcommission</strong> on Permian Stratigraphy (SPS) that
by formalizing definitions for <strong>the</strong> international stages <strong>the</strong>y will be
used increasingly by Permian workers. These local stage names
exist for stratigraphic successions in <strong>the</strong> Boreal realm and where
continental deposits predominate because <strong>of</strong> correlation problems
owing to provincialism or <strong>the</strong> lack <strong>of</strong> key marine fossils. Correlation
with <strong>the</strong> international scale may be difficult, but it is not impossible
if a multidisciplinary approach using different biotic groups
(palynology, for example), geochemical signatures, paleomagnetic
reversals, and radioisotopic ages is utilized, particularly in areas
that border provincial boundaries, or in marginal settings where
cyclic non-marine and marine facies occur in succession.
The accompanying time scale (Fig. 1) is based on Wardlaw
et al. (2004) with modifications based on Chuvashov et al. (2002a,
2002b), Glenister et al. (1999), Henderson and Mei (2003), Jin et al.
(2001, 2003), and Mei and Henderson (2001). The purpose <strong>of</strong> this
International Permian Time Scale is not to replace local stratigraphic
schemes (Leonardian or Tatarian, for example), but ra<strong>the</strong>r to provide
a common language and calibration. This time scale should be
included on all <strong>of</strong> our correlation diagrams alongside local
stratigraphic schemes. As <strong>the</strong> use becomes more prevalent, <strong>the</strong>re
will be little need to continue to establish new time scales for o<strong>the</strong>r
regions, which is a practice that should be discouraged if we are to
truly communicate <strong>the</strong> correlation <strong>of</strong> Permian geohistory events
around <strong>the</strong> world. This chart provides <strong>the</strong> occurrences <strong>of</strong> key
conodonts, fusulinaceans, and ammonoids as well as
geochronologic dates and paleomagnetic reversals; <strong>the</strong> latter two
may be very useful in attempts to correlate <strong>the</strong>se marine standards
into continental deposits. The SPS has formally proposed Global
Stratotype Sections and Points (GSSP) for <strong>the</strong> base-Asselian, base-
Roadian, base-Wordian, base-Capitanian, base-Wuchiapingian and
base-Changhsingian and <strong>the</strong>se have all been ratified by <strong>the</strong>
International Commission on Stratigraphy and <strong>the</strong> International
Union <strong>of</strong> Geological Sciences. Only three GSSPs remain to be
defined, including <strong>the</strong> base-Sakmarian, base-Artinskian, and base-
Kungurian. All <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se GSSPs are defined by conodont
evolutionary events in <strong>the</strong>ir type sections, but are correlated
elsewhere by using all possible means <strong>of</strong> physical correlation. The
following paragraphs highlight <strong>the</strong> definitions <strong>of</strong> each <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se
stages and discuss some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> correlation problems.