Early Permian fusuline faunas from Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia: Faunal characteristics

and paleobiogeographic implications

Katsumi UENO*, Sumito NISHIKAWA

Department of Earth System Science, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka 814-0180, Japan;
katsumi@fukuoka-u.ac.jp
Isabel M. van WAVEREN, Menno BOOI
National Museum of Natural History, Naturalis, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
Fauzie HASIBUAN, SUYOKO, Eka P. A. ISKANDAR
Geological Research and Development Centre, Bandung 40122, Indonesia
Poppe L. de BOER, Christine I. KING, Johannes H. V. M. de LEEUW
Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands
Dan S. CHANEY
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560, U.S.A.

The Bangko area of Jambi province, geotectonically belonging to the West Sumatra Block,
is well-known among Late Paleozoic paleobotanists as one of classic, Permian fossil sites in
Sumatra of Indonesia, referred to as the “Jambi Flora” (Jongmans and Gothan, 1925). In this
area, fusuline foraminifers have also been reported in some earlier studies (Thompson, 1936;
Fontaine and Gafoer, 1989). They are, however, still far from being well understood. We
recently investigated the Bangko area to make clear details of fusuline faunas from the Early
Permian Mengkarang and Palepat formations, which would provide the key to understand
paleo(bio)geographic origin of the West Sumatra Block situated now in a geotectonically
enigmatic, outboard position to the Sibumasu Block of peri-Gondwana origin.
The Mengkarang Formation represents a typical paralic succession of about 360 m thick. In
its lower part, an about 5-m-thick limestone member is recognized at Telok Gedang on the
Merangin River, about 17 km southwest of Bangko. The limestone there is dark gray, impure
(partly sandy), and 5- to 40-cm-thick-bedded. Some limestone beds are rich in oncoids and
bioclasts/biomorphs, such as fusulines and brachiopods. We identified Pseudoschwagerina
meranginensis, Pseudofusulina rutschi, and others from this locality. Based on the
comparison of the Telok Gedang fauna with that reported from North Afghanistan by Leven
(1971), a Sakmarian (late Early Permian) age is broadly suggested for it.
The Palepat Formation is another Permian stratigraphic unit distributed in the Bangko area,
which has been referred broadly to the Early-Middle Permian by Indonesian geologists.
Fontaine and Gafoer (1989), however, concluded that the Palepat fusuline fauna is referable to
the late Asselian. We examined a fusuline-bearing limestone section at Batu Impi about 18 km
west of Bangko, where an about 21-m-thick, dark gray, medium- to thick-bedded limestone is
exposed along the right bank of the Mesumai River. The limestone is mostly impure and
moderate to rich in bioclasts/biomorphs. From this locality, Minojapanella, Toriyamaia,
Praeskinnerella, Chalaroschwagerina, Paraschwagerina, Laxifusulina?, and others were
discriminated. They indicate broadly a Yakhtashian or Bolorian age, most probably
Yakhtashian because of the substantial absence of definitely Bolorian-suggesting genera such
as Brevaxina and Misellina.
The above-mentioned age assignment for the Mengkarang and Palepat faunas, together with
their paleobiogeographic assessment that both are of typical Tethyan type, gives firm evidence
that the West Sumatra Block is distinct from the Sibumasu Block in terms of stratigraphy and
Permian faunal characteristics because neither Sakmarian fusuline-bearing limestone nor
Yakhtashian fusuline fauna comparable in generic diversity with that found from Batu Impi
has been reported from the eastern part of the Cimmerian Continent (Ueno, 2003).
Particularly, the Sakmarian in the Sibumasu Block is characterized by glacio-marine
sediments (cf. Ueno, 2003), so that the deposition of fusuline- and oncoid-bearing, warm-
water limestone is hardly expected there. Thus, a Cathaysian/Tethyan origin of the West
Sumatra Block is now evident by both its faunal and stratigraphic characteristics. The block
would be emplaced to the present outboard position of the Sibumasu Block by a large-scale
transcurrent fault movement as has been insisted by Barber and Crow (2003) from
geotectonic point of view, although its timing is still controversial.

References
Barber, A. J. and Crow, M. J., 2003. An evaluation of plate tectonic models for the
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Fontaine, H. and Gafoer, S., 1989. The pre-Tertiary fossils of Sumatra and their environments.
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Jongmans, W. J. and Gothan, W., 1925. Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Flora des Oberkarbons von
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Leven, E. Ja., 1971. Les gisements Permiens et les fusulinidés de l’Afghanistan du nord.
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