Author	Loboziaka, S., Melo, J.H.G., Quadros, L.P., and Streel, M.
Year	1997
Journal	Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 96 ( 1997 ) 31-45Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 96 ( 1
Title	Palynological evaluation of the Famennian Protosalvinia (Foerstia) Zone in the Amazon Basin, northern Brazil: a preliminary study.

Abstract Loboziaka, S., Melo, J.H.G., Quadros, L.P., and Streel, M., 1997. Palynological evaluation of the Famennian Protosalvinia (Foerstia) Zone in the Amazon Basin, northern Brazil: a preliminary study. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 96 ( 1997 ) 31-45 Abstract Miospore assemblages recovered from a shallow borehole (Caima PH-2) and outcrops near the Tapajos River (Itaituba area), on the southern margin of the Amazon Basin, permit the correlation of the Protosalvinia Zone in this region with the equivalent of the uppermost part of the VCo miospore Zone in the eastern USA. Therefore it is dated as late (not latest) Famennian (postera to early expansa conodont Zones). The Protosalvinia Zone also exists in the eastern USA but cannot be considered there as one single floral zone, its age varying, from place to place, from the middle to the late (not the latest) Famennian (one of the marginifera Zones to one of the expansa conodont Zones). As demonstrated in well IRXlAM, miospore evidence points to an important intraformational gap separating the lower and upper parts of the Curiri Formation. The lower section (which contains the Protosalvinia Zone) lacks diamictites, and rests conformably on the upper, non-radioactive shales of the uppermost Barreirinha Formation, of similar late Famennian (VCo) age. The "upper Curiri unit" contains diamictites, and invariably displays a latest Famennian (late "Strunian", LE-LN) age; it may constitute the whole formation in areas where "lower Curiri" strata are missing, due to either erosion or non-deposition.