Permian and triassic palynology and the concept of “tethys twist”

Abstract

Both paleomagnetism and palynology may furnish useful diagnostic facts for recognizing long-distance movements of the earth's crust. With respect to the relative positions of North America and Eurasia, paleomagnetic and palynological data contribute evidence in support of the theory of continental drift. However, the conclusions based on paleomagnetic measurements sometimes disagree with palynological observations. Paleomagnetic data obtained in northeastern Italy, southern France and northern Spain differ considerably from those from Meso-Europe. In recent geotectonical considerations this has been attributed to the so-called Tethys twist having effected a post-Carboniferous westward displacement of the structural units of Italy, southern France and Spain.

Palynology, however, reveals a highly uniform geological history of both Meso-Europe and a part of Alpine Europe during Permian and Triassic times. Biostratigraphical correlations between the two realms are possible by studying the palynological assemblages obtained from Permian and Triassic evaporites or associated sediments. Contemporaneous, short periods of evaporite deposition in both Meso-Europe and the Mediterranean region are suggested by the striking uniformities in Lower Mesophytic vegetations as reflected by sporae dispersae. There is every indication that there was a comparable evolution in the physiographical and climatological conditions which opposes the hypothesis of a mobile Tethys belt during Permian and Triassic times.