Integrated radiolarian and conodont biostratigraphy of the Middle Permian Gufeng Formation (South China)

Radiolarians are usually abundant in chert sequences and they have thus been widely used for the biostratigraphy of deep-water sediments. However, there are many difficulties in the correlation of radiolarian biostratigraphic schemes with the standard conodont zones. In this study, 21 radiolarian species were extracted from the Gufeng Formation that crops out in the Luojiaba (LJB) section (western Hubei, China), together with 5 co-occurring conodont species. In this way, it is the first time that the Pseudoalbaillella globosa, Follicucullus monacanthus and F. scholasticus radiolarian zones can be directly correlated with the Jinogondolella nankingensis gracilis, J. aserrata and J. postserrata conodont zones. Accordingly, the 3 radiolarians zones are now firmly correlated with the Roadian to middle Capitanian interval (Middle Permian).