Discovery of Permian sporopollen from Daftar, Taxkorgan, Xinjiang and their geological implications

Tectonically located in the West Kunlun–Karakorum orogenic belt at the junction between the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate, the Daftar area, Taxkorgan County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is one of the most important regions for the research on geological evolution of the Karakorum–Kunlun Mountains. Located in the very cold anoxic area in the core of central Asia, natural conditions on the West Kunlun–Karakorum area are very challenging and roads are bad making field work difficult. Because the regional geology has been little studied, Permian microfossils have not been reported before. After field collection and research, the Permian sporopollen Endosporites punctatus Gao, Wilsonites delicatus (Kosanke) Kosanke, Cordaitina spongiosa (Luber) Samoilovich, Alisporites splendens (Leschik) Foster and Sulcatisporites ovatus (Balme and Hennelly) Balme were found recently in a clastic sequence in the Daftar area. Based on the evidence from Permian sporopollen, and data previously published on biostratigraphy and isotopic geochronology, the authors consider that the clastic sedimentary strata in Daftar area, previously regarded as Permian, may be a mélange composed of Silurian and Permian as well as other horizons of different ages.