PALYNOSTRATIGRAPHY OF THE PERMIAN AND LOWERMOST TRIASSIC SUCCESSION, FINNMARK PLATFORM, BARENTS SEA

A palynostratigraphic study of the Permian and lowermost Triassic succession on the Finnmark Platform in the southwestern parts of the Barents Shelf, off-shore Norway, resulted in the identification of the following palynozones: the Dyupetalum sp.-Hamiapollenites bullaeformis Assemblage Zone of ?Kungurian-Ufimian age, the Scutasporites sp. cf. S. unicus-Lunatisporites sp. Concurrent Range Zone of Kazanian-?Tatarian age, and the Lundbladispora obsoleta-Tympanicysta stoschiana Assemblage Zone of Griesbachian age. The ages of the zones are based on palynological correlation with similar assemblages recorded elsewhere in the present Arctic region, in particular areas where marine faunas allow dating in terms of standard marine stages.