PERMIAN BRACHIOPOD FAUNAS OF WESTERN-AUSTRALIA - GONDWANAN-ASIAN RELATIONSHIPS AND PERMIAN CLIMATE

The Western Australian Permian brachiopod faunas are reviewed on a zonal basis and are shown to include a mixture of Gondwanan, endemic Westralian and Asian (Tethyan) genera. The presence or absence of Tethyan genera is largely temperature dependent, there being no apparent physical geographical barriers to the migration of such genera into the intracratonic basins of Western Australia during the Permian. On the basis of generic presence/absence data a palaeotemperature curve is proposed for the marine Permian of Western Australia. The curve indicates peak warm temperature conditions during the Sterlitamakian and Late Baigendzhinian and subtropical conditions during the Dzhulfian.