Cambrian Stratigraphy and Trilobites of the Samur Dağ Area, South of Hakkâri, Southeastern Turkey

Authors: WILLIAM T. DEAN

Abstract: Carbonates of the higher Koruk Formation at Yayla Tepe, near the Samur Dağ in southeastern Turkey and about 17 km north of the Iraq border, contain peri-Gondwanan Middle Cambrian trilobites typical of the Mediterranean Subprovince; these comprise at least seven genera and include the easternmost records in the Near and Middle East of Eccaparadoxides and the biozonal genus Pardailhania. In the lower half of the succeeding, largely clastic Seydişehir Formation, Upper Cambrian trilobites from six levels in decalcified limestone interbeds include four new species [Coosinoides parthianus, Elegantaspis? montis, Prochuangia turcica, Taishania bassifrons] in addition to Chuangia? sp. and Palaeadotes sp. Unlike underlying Middle Cambrian faunas both here and elsewhere in southern Turkey, the affinities of the Yayla Tepe Upper Cambrian trilobites lie particularly with those of, among others, the Kushanian, Changshanian and Fengshanian stages of north and northeast China. Relationships of these and other Upper Cambrian faunas in Turkey and peri-Gondwanaland are reviewed.

Keywords: trilobites, Cambrian, biostratigraphy, Southeastern Turkey

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