Moscovian (Carboniferous) microfossils (Bryozoa, Conodonta, and Fusulinida) from Novaya Zemlya, Arctic U.S.S.R.

Abstract

A considerable amount of geological material collected during a Norwegian expedition, led by Olaf Holtedahl, to Novaya Zemlya in 1921 has been re-examined in light of geological activities in the Barents Shelf area. Parts of the collections were described between 1924 and 1930, but the present work contains the first illustrated descriptions of Carboniferous bryozoans, conodonts and fusulinids from Novaya Zemlya. A total of 15 fusulinid taxa are identified, including the stratigraphically important species Pseudostaffella gorskyi (Dutkevich), P. paracompressa Safonova, Neostaffella cf. greenlandica (Ross and Dunbar), N. sphaeroidea (Ehrenberg), Profusulinella prisca (Deprat) and P. priscoidea Rauzer-Chernousova. A few conodonts were extracted and assigned to ldiognathodus cf. delicatus Gunnell, Streptognathodus cf. parvus Dunn, and Declinognathodus cf. noduliferus (Ellison and Graves). Four bryozoan taxa are described, including Prismopora holtedahli n.sp., a new species of the order Cystoporata. These faunas are similar to those from the latest Bashkirian and Moscovian of the Russian Platform, Svalbard, the Sverdrup Basin, and North America. The age of the investigated material is early Moscovian (Vereiskian to Kashirskian) according to the standard Russian scheme.