Special Issue: 19th International Congress on the
Carboniferous and Permian, Cologne
2019. Palaeontological contributions

Hans-Georg Herbig, Michael R W Amler, Markus Aretz, Sven Hartenfels

► To cite this version:

Hans-Georg Herbig, Michael R W Amler, Markus Aretz, Sven Hartenfels. Special Issue: 19th Inter-national Congress on the Carboniferous and Permian, Cologne 2019. Palaeontological contributions. 19th International Congress on the Carboniferous and Permian, Jul 2019, Cologne, Germany. pp.403-407, 10.1007/s12542-022-00634-6 . hal-04927519

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# Special Issue: 19th International Congress on the Carboniferous and Permian, Cologne 2019. Palaeontological contributions

Hans-Georg Herbig<fnref n="1" /> ID · Michael R. W. Amler<fnref n="1" /> ID · Markus Aretz<fnref n="2" /> ID · Sven Hartenfels<fnref n="1" />,<fnref n="3" /> ID

Published online: 17 August 2022

© The Author(s) 2022

The 19th International Congress on the Carboniferous and Permian (19th ICCP) was hosted by the University of Cologne, Germany, from July 29th to August 2nd, 2019. The inspiring meeting, visited by exactly 200 scientists from 27 countries, integrated a wide range of topics contributing to a continuously growing inherent understanding and holistic view of the Carboniferous and Permian World (Herbig 2020; Herbig et al. 2021a). The congress series rooted from the famous “Heerlen Congress 1927” that took place in the formerly important coal mining district of South Limburg, southeastern Netherlands, and initiated the global standardization of Carboniferous chronostratigraphy. After three further congresses at Heerlen in the years 1935, 1951, and 1958, the congress series was named “Congrès International de Stratigraphie et de Géologie du Carbonifère” until the Permian was added in the 12th congress in Buenos Aires in 1991 (not Cracow, 1995, as erroneously stated by Herbig et al. 2021a). Since the Cracow congress, the name was shortened to “International Congress on the Carboniferous and Permian”, besides semantical shortening certainly a tribute to the progressive widening scientific topics. However, since the earliest beginning, biostratigraphy inevitably based

on sound palaeontological research is of special interest, as also seen in the wealth of corresponding contributions at the 19th ICCP. In this context, we like to stress that all ratified Palaeozoic and Mesozoic GSSPs of the International Chronostratigraphic Chart are based on the phylogenetic first appearances of organisms, in spite of recent criticism by Davydov (2020) who argued for usage of volcanic ash beds as primary chronostratigraphic markers and underlined this view with examples from the Carboniferous and Permian, including the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary and the Permian–Triassic boundary.

Nonetheless, it is our honour to present this thematic issue containing eight palaeontological contributions presented at the 19th ICCP as well as a supplementary paper. The contributions are mostly devoted to taxonomy and biostratigraphy, in part related to the quest for GSSPs in the Carboniferous and Lower Permian. In consequence, the contributions deal with the most important guide fossils—conodonts, smaller foraminifers, fusulinids, and ammonoids. Further contributions deal with taxonomy of tabulate corals, anatomical ultrastructures of palynomorphs, stratigraphic correlation, palaeobiogeography, and carbonate microfacies. Regionally, the papers include studies from Turkey, Iran, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan; they include different parts of Russia including its Far East and bridge to the western side of North America in British Columbia (Canada).

However, our joy about completing the present thematic issue is clouded by the grief for our friend and colleague George Sevastopulo, who passed away in mid-September 2021, and to whom we dedicate this issue. Wyse Jackson and Aretz (2022) contributed the obituary herein. George was a distinguished researcher of Carboniferous stratigraphy and palaeontology. He actively contributed to the 19th ICCP as first author and co-author with two oral presentations (Pointon et al. 2019; Sevastopulo et al. 2019), and took part in the post-congress field trip to the Mississippian Kulm Basin of the Rhenish Mountains. Finally, his co-authored presentation on uranium-lead dates from Livian (middle

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<footnote>Hans-Georg Herbig
herbig.paleont@uni-koeln.de</footnote>

<footnote>Michael R. W. Amler
michael.amler@uni-koeln.de</footnote>

<footnote>Markus Aretz
markus.aretz@get.omp.eu</footnote>

<footnote>Sven Hartenfels
shartenf@uni-koeln.de</footnote>

<footnote n="1">¹ Institut für Geologie und Mineralogie, Universität zu Köln, Zülpicher Straße 49a, 50674 Cologne, Germany</footnote>

<footnote n="2">² Université Paul Sabatier, Géosciences Environnement Toulouse (OMP), 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³ Geologischer Dienst Nordrhein-Westfalen - Landesbetrieb, De-Greiff-Straße 195, 47803 Krefeld, Germany</footnote>
Viséan) bentonites of the Namur-Dinant Basin, Belgium was printed last summer in the special Issue “19th International Congress on the Carboniferous and Permian, Cologne 2019. Stratigraphic contributions” (Pointon et al. 2021), and only some two and a half months before he deceased.

The articles in the present issue are arranged in strati-
graphical order. The stratigraphically oldest one by Nikolaeva
et al. (2022) contributes to the discussion on the redefinition
of the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary. This issue was
extensively discussed at the 19th ICCP and recently deepened
in a volume edited by Aretz and Corradini (2021). Nikolaeva
et al. provide a detailed description of the mostly shallow-
water, mixed carbonate-siliciclastic Berchogur (Birshogyr)
sections in the Mugodzhary (Mugalzhary) Mountains in

western Kazakhstan based on previous and supplemented by
new data, and illustrate its varied fossil content. Of special
interest within the finely subdivided biostratigraphic suc-
cession is the co-occurrence of ammonoids of the *Acutimi-
toceras* Genozone, the conodont *Siphonodella sulcata*, and
the foraminifer *Tournayellina pseudobeata* that indicate the
earliest Carboniferous faunal diversification. In general,
recognition of siliciclastic–carbonate cycles and combined
multibiostratigraphy enable a very close approximation of the
Devonian–Carboniferous boundary, in spite of the absence
of the conodont *Protognathodus kockeli* which is proposed
as another index for the boundary, and missing of the typical
“Hangenberg lithologies” developed in its type region in the
Rhenish Mountains, Germany.

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /></figure>
The presentation of the lower Famennian to latest Tourna-
sian conodont biostratigraphy of the Chelcheli section
in the eastern Alborz Mountains (North Iran) by Bahrami
et al. (2021) supplements the contributions from the 19th
ICCP. Almost 50 conodont species from 15 genera enabled
recognition of 15 conodont zones in a supposedly continu-
ous, predominantly calcareous shallow-water succession.
Comparable with the Berchogur sections presented above,
the index species *Protognathodus kockeli* and *Protognatho-
dus kuehni* and also *Siphonodella sulcata* do not occur at the
Devonian–Carboniferous boundary. In contrary, the charac-
teristic “Hangenberg lithologies” are developed which are
not known from other Devonian–Carboniferous boundary
sections in Iran. Unfortunately, the record of Tournaisian
conodont zones remains meagre. It is restricted to the undif-
ferentiated middle–upper Tournaisian *Siphonodella isosti-
cha*-Upper *Siphonodella crenulata* and *Gnathodus typicus*
zones and the overlying latest Tournaisian *Scaliognathus
anchoralis-Doliognathus latus* Zone.

Ohar (2022) deals with taxonomic description and biostratigraphic distribution of Tournaisian and lower Viséan tabulate corals from the Donets Basin, eastern Ukraine, which allow a fine insight into this less known faunal group. He differentiates eleven species, one of them new, belonging to six genera from four families. Faunal changes are congruent to those observed in rugose corals and at least in certain cases are connected to sea-level changes. Of special interest is the discussion and preliminary description of the historical type material of *Syringopora ramulosa* Goldfuss, type species of the genus, and *Syringopora reticulata* Goldfuss, both housed at the Goldfuß-Museum of the University of Bonn, Germany.

Smaller calcareous foraminifers underwent explosive
radiation during the Mississippian. They are the most impor-
tant stratigraphic index fossils in calcareous shallow-water
deposits and enable Palaeotethys-wide correlations, in spite
of some necessary taxonomic revisions and uncertainties on
locally delayed first occurrences or longer ranging refugee
taxa. Kulagina (2021) describes the middle to upper Viséan
succession of the Sikasya River Valley in the South Urals,
which is mostly calcareous in its lower part but contains
some important dolomitic intercalations in the upper Viséan
and lower Serpukhovian. She describes five foraminiferal
units and their correlation with the Belgian standard zona-
tion as well as with the zonation of the Russian Platform.
The still debated Viséan–Serpukhovian boundary is approxi-
mated by the index foraminifer *Eostaffellina decurta*.

Akbaş and Okuyucu (2022) present a detailed biostrati-
graphic study devoted to the fusulinid biozonation of
the Bashkirian–Moscovian successions from the Hadim
Nappe in the central Taurides, southern Turkey. Based on
rich, amply illustrated fusulinid assemblages, they defined
four first occurrence zones for each of the Bashkirian and

Moscovian stages. This contribution from a less-studied
region closes an important gap in the knowledge of Palaeo-
tethyan fusulinid faunas and enables correlation throughout
the realm, from northern Spain across the Donets Basin,
the Russian Platform, and Southern Urals to central Asia
and southern China, as well as to Iran. Particularly close
connections exist with the Russian Platform and enable cor-
relation with the substages/horizons of the Russian regional
chronostratigraphic subdivisions.

A second contribution on the Donets Basin within this
special issue analyses conodonts from the Moscovian–Kasi-
movian boundary interval in the Kalinovo section which is
one of the most continuous successions in eastern Ukraine.
Nemyrovska (2022) recognizes two evolutionary events in
conodont history. The lower one with the income of new
species of *Swadelina* results in the necessity to shift the
Moscovian–Kasimovian boundary in the Carboniferous
Stratigraphic Scale of the Ukraine according to the valid def-
inition of the Moscovian–Kasimovian boundary. A second
prominent conodont event upsection is characterized by the
income (FOD) of the conodont *Idiognathodus sagittalis* and
a number of new species of the genus that are described and
figured in open nomenclature. The potential of this index
conodont for future definition of the Moscovian–Kasimovian
boundary as well of some further conodonts is discussed;
however, correlation of Palaeotethyan and North American
conodont faunas is strongly hampered by provincialism of
the two realms.

Three papers of this special issue present results from the Permian. In a very detailed analysis Filimonova and Isakova (2022) describe four new species of smaller foraminifers from strata close to the Artinskian–Kungurian boundary from localities in the Middle and Southern Urals. Main focus is the Mechetlino Quarry section which is a potential GSSP candidate for the base of the Kungurian, the uppermost Cisuralian (Lower Permian) stage. The new, highly variable species of the genera *Hemigordius* and *Pseudoammodiscus* are very similar in equatorial sections, in number of whorls and size, but discrimination is very well supported in binary diagrams. New species of the genus *Nodosaria* show a multi-layered, poly- or plesiomonolamellar wall, a feature that might be a good marker of the upper Artinskian close to the Artinskian–Kungurian boundary.

In spite of a high number of presentations on Carbon-
iferous and Permian plants at the 19th ICCP, only a sin-
gle contribution could be obtained for this issue. This is
a sophisticated palynological study from the Middle Per-
mian (Roadian–Wordian) of the eastern part of the Russian
Platform by Foraponova (2022). She describes for the first
time in situ pollen of *Permotheca sardyensis* Zalessky, a
morphotaxon for pollen organs, now generally considered
to belong to peltasperm seed ferns, a supposedly basal gym-
nosperm group. The author also compares pollen grains of
other *Permotheca* species. Marked differences might indi-
cate that *Permotheca* is a heterogenous morphotaxon of sev-
eral similar, but unrelated pollen organs and doubts remain
that all *Permotheca* species belong to the Peltaspermales.

Finally, Nestell and Nestell (2021) present a fascinating
palaeobiogeographic connection between southern British
Columbia (western Canada), South Primorye (Russian Far
East), and Japan. The results are based on the taxonomic
analysis of in part exotic fusulinids, most probably of early
Capitanian (late Guadalupian, late Middle Permian, respec-
tively) age from the Cache Creek Terrane, among those
four new species. Moreover, 43 taxa of smaller calcareous
foraminifers are listed and illustrated. The fusulinid genera
*Sichotenella* and *Wutuella* were never reported from North
America before, but like further fusulinids and smaller fora-
minifers belong to taxa that are known from the Primorye
area, northeastern China and Japan. Further faunal elements
also show relations to the autochthonous Western Hemi-
sphere fauna of the Delaware Basin of West Texas.

This is the third and last issue of contributions resulting
from the 19th ICCP. A first issue, published in *Newsletters
on Stratigraphy* 54(3), assembled a set of seven papers deal-
ing with chronostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, and non-marine
lithostratigraphy (Herbig et al. 2021b). A second issue was
published by colleagues of the Geological Survey of North
Rhine-Westphalia (Geologischer Dienst Nordrhein-West-
falen) in ZDGG, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowis-
senschaften, 172(3). It contains nine papers of the
ICCP 2019 session "Mississippian carbonate rocks in North-
West Europe—reservoir for deep geothermal energy" and
supplementing contributions (Arndt and Salamon 2021).

Moreover, the scientific achievements of the 19th ICCP
were documented in the abstract volume that contains 179
contributions, up to two pages long, mostly including a key
figure and selected references (Hartenfels et al. 2019), and in
an extensive, fully coloured field guide volume (Herbig et al.
2019) with description of six field trips to the Carbonifer-
ous and Permian of Germany, adjacent Belgium, and to the
Carnic Alps and Karavanke Mountains along the borders of
Austria, Italy, and Slovenia. A general report on the congress
was given by Herbig (2020). With the end of the activities on
the 19th ICCP, it is now time to look forward and to pass the
baton to the 20th International Congress on the Carbonifer-
ous and Permian that will take place in Toulouse, Southern
France.

**Funding** Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

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