PALYNOSTRATIGRAPHY OF THE PERMIAN AND LOWERMOST TRIASSIC SUCCESSION, FINNMARK PLATFORM, BARENTS SEA

A palynostratigraphic study of the Permian and lowermost Triassic succ ession on the Finnmark Platform in the southwestern parts of the Baren ts Shelf, off-shore Norway, resulted in the identification of the foll owing palynozones: the Dyupetalum sp.-Hamiapollenites bullaeformis Ass emblage Zone of ?Kungurian-Ufimian age, the Scutasporites sp. cf. S. u nicus-Lunatisporites sp. Concurrent Range Zone of Kazanian-?Tatarian a ge, and the Lundbladispora obsoleta-Tympanicysta stoschiana Assemblage Zone of Griesbachian age. The ages of the zones are based on palynolo gical correlation with similar assemblages recorded elsewhere in the p resent Arctic region, in particular areas where marine faunas allow da ting in terms of standard marine stages.