Precise comparison of the change in radiolarian faunas 3.5 m above a UPb zircon dated 199.6 ± 0.3 Ma tuff and approximately coincident with a negative δ13C anomaly in the Queen Charlotte Islands, B.C. (Canada) with Inuyama (Japan) sequences indicates that major global changes occurred across the TriassicJurassic (TJ) boundary. Nearly 20 genera and over 130 Rhaetian species disappeared at the end of the Triassic. The index genera Betraccium and Risella disappear and the final appearance of Globolaxtorum tozeri, Livarella valida, and Pseudohagiastrum giganteum sp. nov. are also diagnostic for the end of the Triassic. The low-diversity Hettangian survival fauna immediately above the boundary is composed mainly of small, primitive spumellarians with spongy or irregularly latticed meshwork and rod-like spines, and new genera Charlottea, Udalia, and Parahsuum s.l. first appear in the lowest Hettangian in both localities. Irrespective of different sedimentation rates and sedimentary environments, such as shelf to upper slope (Queen Charlotte Islands) and deep sea below carbonate compensation depth (CCD; Inuyama), radiolarians show a similar turnover pattern at the TJ boundary.
This paper summarizes 30 years of research on the biostratigraphy of Triassic radiolarians and presents a correlation of currently-used radiolarian zonations established in North America, Europe, Japan and Far East Russia. An up-to-date stratigraphic distribution of all hitherto described and still valid Triassic genera is provided. This new range chart consists of 282 genera and allows an accurate dating to substage level. It also clearly manifests general trends in radiolarian evolution through the Triassic. The end-Permian extinction, the most severe extinction in the history of radiolarians, was followed by a long recovery until the early Anisian. The middle and late Anisian were then characterized by a rapid explosion of new morphologies. Maximum generic diversity was attained during the early Carnian, but the first severe extinctions also occurred in the Carnian. A progressive decline of diversity took place through the Norian and Rhaetian, and ended in a mass extinction around the Triassic–Jurassic boundary.
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