FINDINGS OF SMALL SHELLY FOSSILS IN LOWER PALEOZOIC DEPOSITS OF THE TALAS-ALA-TAN (NORTHERN TIEN-SHAN)

Recent paleontological data on the ancient deposits of the Talas Ala T au contradicts accepted viewpoints on their stratigraphic subdivision. By using chemical preparation in a detailed stratigraphic study, smal l shelly fossils (chiolites, hyiolitelmints, and sponges) as well as a lgae were obtained from the flysch sequences (the Chatkaragai Subgroup ) of the Karagai Group of the northern slopes of the Talas Ala Tau. Ac cording to these findings, the age of carbonates enclosed in the Urmar al Formation of the Chatkaragai Subgroup is considered to be the Early Paleozoic (the undivided Cambrian-Ordovician). Earlier, these sedimen ts were attributed to the Upper Riphean.