An Unusual Occurrence of Bashkirian (Pennsylvanian) Rugose Corals From the Sverdrup Basin, Arctic Canada

Abstract

The oldest known Carboniferous rugose coral fauna in the Canadian Arctic Islands was collected in the Yelverton Inlet area of northern Ellesmere Island, from Bashkirian carbonates of the lower Nansen and Otto Fiord formations. It includes the generaDibunophyllumThomson and Nicholson,LonsdaleiaMcCoy,PalaeosmiliaMilne-Edwards and Haime andTizraia? Said and Rodríguez. Such a generic assemblage is unknown elsewhere above the Serpukhovian. An upper? Bashkirian specimen ofParaheritschioidesSando, collected above the main fauna, is the oldest known representative of that genus. Faunal comparisons suggest Novaya Zemlya or northern Timan as the most likely source areas for the Yelverton Inlet fauna.