Recognition of southern Gondwanan palynomorphs at Gondwana's northern margin—and biostratigraphic correlation of Permian strata from SE Turkey and Australia

Abstract This study focuses on the palynology of Guadalupian (Middle Permian) strata of SE Turkey, especially on late Wordian and earliest Capitanian deposits, which are dated by foraminifers and can be chronostratigraphically related to the geological timescale. Herein, palynological species, such as Altitriletes densus, Cymatiosphaera gondwanensis and Praecolpatites sinuosus, previously characteristic for Pakistan, Australia and Antarctica are recorded. Therefore, the Permian biozones of marine fauna and the palynology of SE Turkey and the rest of the Arabian area and Australia are compared and correlated. This long‐distance, eastern Gondwana‐wide biostratigraphical correlation, conducted for the first time in the Guadalupian epoch in this study, showed that Corisaccites alutas has a similar Last Occurrence Datum in SE Turkey and in Australia. The correlation also showed that in the late Wordian a number of species were present throughout eastern Gondwana, whereas the distribution of other certain species was influenced by provincialism. Hence, it may be concluded that certain species of parent plants probably co‐occurred Gondwana‐wide, while the distribution of others was dependant on climate. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.