Title: Permian conodont biostratigraphy of the Harper Ranch Beds, near Kamloops, south-central British Columbia
Abstract: ln the area around the Kamloops quarry of Canada Cernent Lafarge Ltd., the Permian Harper Ranch beds comprise a succession of structurally stacked, bedded carbonate. 84 new conodont collections include 21 conodont taxa and are assigned to 5 faunas and 2 subfaunas which are dated as Late Wolfcampian (Late Sakmarian) through Late Leonardian. Sorne of the Harper Ranch conodonts are not known within autochthonous American sequences but are known from Japan and China, implying a western paleo-Pacific influence. Similarly, the range of some taxa, particularly Sweetognathus, are anomalous compared with North American sequences but are similar to Asialie records. Early Permian geographic separation from North America is favoured as an explanation, although divergent species concepts may also account for some discrepancies. The taxonomy of the stratigraphically important Neostreptognathodus, Neogondolella and Sweetognathus is reviewed. A study of fauna, conodont biofacies, and carbonate lithofacies of the Harper Ranch beds indicate a progressive increase in water depth in the study area during the Early Permian.