Late Anisian radiolarian assemblages from the Yarlung-Tsangpo Suture Zone in the Jinlu area, Zedong, southern Tibet: Implications for the evolution of Neotethys

Abundant Triassic radiolarian fossils were obtained from varicolored bedded cherts exposed in the Buruocang section near Jinlu village, Zedong, southern Tibet. The radiolarian-bearing rocks represent fragmented remnants of the Neotethys oceanic sediments belonging to the melange complex of the east part of the Yarlung-Tsangpo Suture Zone. Two new middle Late Anisian radiolarian assemblages recognized from this section named Oertlispongus inaequispinosus and Triassocampe deweveri, respectively, are compared with those known from Europe, Far East Russia, Japan, and Turkey. These Anisian radiolarian fossils are the first reported in southern Tibet and the oldest radiolarian record within the Yarlung-Tsangpo Suture Zone. They improve time constraints for the evolution of Neotethys in southern Tibet.