Long-lived Paleotethyan pelagic remnant inside Shan-Thai Block:Evidence from radiolarian biostratigraphy

Newly identified radiolarians from ribbon chert in the Mae Hong Son-Mae Sariang area, northwestern Thailand covered Early Carboniferous, Late Permian, and Middle-Late Triassic in age, which indicate that there was a pelagic basin during the Late Paleozoic and Triassic in this region to- gether with the published radiolarian biostratigraphic data. This basin is joined with the Chiang Dao and Changning-Menglian oceanic basins, which represent the main oceanic basin of Paleotethyan Archi- pelago Ocean. The main oceanic basin was situated in the traditional "Shan-Thai Block". Therefore, "the Shan-Thai Block" was not a single block during that stage, but composed of the Paleotethyan Ocean and two continental terranes that affiliated to Gondwana and Cathysian domains respectively.