Occurrence of Early Carboniferous Radiolarians and Middle Triassic Conodonts from Ban Rai, Southwestern Uthai Thani, Central Thailand and Its Geological Significance

Abstract

A bedded chert succession, intercalated with layers of coarse-grained sandstone and chert conglomerate, and a limestone block with a long axis of about 10 m are distributed in the Ban Rai area, southwestern Uthai Thani, central Thailand. The chert yielded early Carboniferous (Tournaisian to Visean) radiolarians composed of 10 species of five genera; the limestone yielded Middle Triassic (early Anisian) conodonts comprising five species (P1 element). The lower Carboniferous chert was presumably deposited on the upper continental rise of the Sibumasu Terrane in the Paleotethys Ocean, based on radiolarian faunal characteristics. The Middle Triassic limestone was probably deposited on the continental shelf of the eastern margin of the Sibumasu Terrane, judging from the inclusion of silt-sized quartz grains. Because the blocks of the lower Carboniferous chert and Middle Triassic limestone are currently located in a narrow area, these blocks are inferred to have been mixed with each other by submarine sliding after at least the Middle Triassic at the eastern margin of the Sibumasu Terrane.