Early Permian bryozoan faunas of the East Gondwana rift system: viewed from a global perspective

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This proposal aims to study Lower Permian bryozoan faunas from the East Gondwana rift system. Bryozoans are among the best-represented macroinvertebrates in the fossil record, because of the presence of a calcareous skeleton in the great majority of species and wide distribution in various marine biotopes. The East Gondwana rift system ran north-south with marine conditions present through a palaeolatitudinal range from 40° to ¬60°S and with open-marine conditions in the north (Timor) to more restricted marine conditions in the south (Perth Basin). Basins of the East Gondwana rift system record the history of Southern Hemisphere deglaciation episodes during the Early Permian, and contain Lower Permian shallow-marine carbonate facies dominated by bryozoan skeletons that previously have received very limited study. The main focus of the research will be the taxonomic study on bryozoans from the East Gondwana rift system, accompanied by petrographic and geochemical methods for environmental reconstructions. Expected outcomes of the intended study are new insights into the biogeography of Early Permian bryozoans with identification of taxonomic affinities of the east Gondwanan fauna, relationships to other Gondwanan (e.g., the Oman fauna), Palaeo-Tethyan and Northern Hemisphere faunas. Furthermore, new insights are expected into the distributional patterns of Southern Hemisphere Bryozoa along a north-south gradient spanning 20° of palaeolatitude and open-marine to more restricted marine conditions. Palaeoecological aspects of the study will illuminate the influence of glaciation and deglaciation events on the development and distribution of bryozoan faunas of East Gondwana, and improve their use for climate reconstruction. Biostratigraphic differentiation of faunas ranging from close to the Carboniferous-Permian boundary to the Kungurian may provide new tie points for improved correlation to the global time scale.