Abstract
Newly discovered marine dinoflagellates from the lower-middle parts of the Lower Cretaceous Muling Formation of the Jixi Basin, eastern Heilongjiang Province, China, were identified as Circulodinium cingulatum He et al., C. attadalicum (Cookson et Eisenack) Helby, Palaeoperidinium cretaceum Pocock, Oligosphaeridium totum Brideaux and Sentusidinium sp. Most of these species are distributed in the marine Lower Cretaceous strata of Europe, North America, Africa, Australia and Asia. It demonstrates that a transgression occurred in eastern Heilongjiang Province during the deposition of the Muling Formation, which was previously considered to be a coal-bearing continental stratigraphic unit. The marine dinoflagellates indicated that the Muling Formation is Barremian in age. The Palaeogeographic framework of eastern Heilongjiang Province in Late Mesozoic era should be rebuilt through systematic facies analyses of the marine, paralic and terrestrial deposits.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Krasser, F., Fossile Pflanzen aus Transbaikalien, der Mongolei und Mandschurei, Denk. K. Akad. Wiss. Wien. Mat-Nat. Cl, 1906, 78: 589–633.
Gu, Z. W., Jurassic and Cretaceous of China (in Chinese), Beijing: Science Press, 1962, 1–84.
Oishi, S., Morita, G., Subdivision of Mesozoic from Manchoukuo, Jap. Jour. Geology (in Japanese), 1943, 50(595): 111–113.
Shi, T. M., Division and correlation of Mesozoic from eastern Heilongjiang Province. Acta Geologica Sinica (in Chinese), 1960, 40(2): 187–204.
Zhou, Z. Y., Chen, G. Y., Shan, W. et al., Late Mesozoic stratigraphy and aspect of fossil plants of Jixi and Muling, Heilongjiang Province, Bull. Nanjing Inst. Geol. & Palaeont., Acad. Sinica (in Chinese), 1980, 1: 56–75.
Ju, R. H., Zheng, S. L., Yu, X. H. et al., Stratigraphy of Longzhaogou and Jixi groups in eastern Heilongjiang Province, Bull. Shenyang Inst. Geol. Min. Res., Chinese Acad. Geol. Sci. (in Chinese), 1982, 5: 1–44.
Sha, J. G., A different opinion on the geological age of the Longzhaogou and Jixi groups of eastern Heilongjiang, China, Acta Geologica Sinica, 1992, 5(2): 209–318.
Sha, J. G., Fursich, F. T., Grant-Mackie, J. A., A Revised early Cretaceous age for the Longzhaogou and Jixi groups of eastern Heilongjiang, China, previously considered Jurassic: Palaeogeographic implications, Newsletters on Stratigraphy, 1994, 31 (2): 101–114.
Wang, H. S., Geology and mineral resources of Mishan and Muleng, Kirin, Bulletin of the Geological Survey of China (in Chinese), 1929, 13: 25–31.
Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources of Heilongjiang Province, Stratigraphy (lithostratic) of Heilongjiang Province (in Chinese), Wuhan: China University of Geosciences Press, 1997, 198–206.
Zhou, Z. Y., Li, P. J., Approach on the division, correlation and the geological age of Mesozoic from China according to fossil plants (in Chinese), Beijing: Geological Publishing House, 1980, 82–91.
Oishi, S., Takahasi, E., Notes on some fossil plants from the Moulin and the Mishan coalfields, Prov. Pinchiang, Manchoukuo, J. Fac. Sci. Hokkaido Imp. Univ., Ser. 4 Geol. Min., 1938, 4 (1–2): 57–62.
Zhang, W., Zhang, Z. C., Zheng, S. L., Palaeontological Atlas of Northeast China (Mesozoic and Cenozoic volume) (in Chinese), Beijing: Geological Publishing House, 1980, 222–307.
Zheng, S. L., Zhang, W., Fossil plants from Longzhaogou and Jixi groups in eastern Heilongjiang Province (in Chinese), Bull. Shenyang Inst. Geol. Min. Res., Chinese Acad. Geol. Sci., 1982, 5: 277–382.
Zhang, C. B., Spores from the Muling Formation, Heilongjiang and its strata significance (in Chinese), Research of Nanjing Inst. Of Geol. & Palaeont, Acad. Sinica, 1965, 4: 163–198.
Pu, R. G., Wu, H. Z., Spore-pollen from the late Mesozoic beds in eastern Heilongjiang Province (in Chinese), Bull. Shenyang Inst. Geol. Min. Res., Chinese Acad. Geol. Sci., 1982, 5: 383–456.
Gu, Z. W., Chen, J. H., Sha, J. G., Preliminary study on Jurassic and Cretaceous bivalves of eastern Heilongjiang Province, China, Fossils from the Middle-Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous in Eastern Heilongjiang Province, China, Part II (ed. Research team of the Mesozoic coal-bearing formations in eastern Heilongjiang) (in Chinese), Haerbin: Heilongjiang Science and Technology Publishing House, 1984, 49–220.
Sha, J. G., Cai, H. W., Gu, Z. W. et al., Age of the bivalve fossil faunas from the Longzhaogou and Jixi groups, Proceedings of the Third National Stratigraphical Conference of China (ed. Committee of the Proceeding of the Third National Stratigraphical Conference of China) (in Chinese), Beijing: Geological Publishing House, 2000, 265–269.
Wan, C. B., Qiao, X. Y., Yang, J. G. et al., Sporopollen assemblage of the early Cretaceous in Jixi Basin, Heilongjiang Province, Selected Papers of Palynology of Petroliferous Basins, China (eds. Zhu, Z. H., Zheng, G. G., Zhao, C. B.) (in Chinese), Beijing: Petroleum Industry Press, 2000, 83–90.
He, C. Q., Wan, C. B., Yang, M. J., Hauterivian-Barremian dinoflagellates from the Longzhoagou Group of the H87-3well in Hulin Basin, eastern Heilongjiang, NE China, Acta Palaeontologica Sinica (in Chinese), 1999, 38 (2): 183–202.
He, C. Q., Sun, X. K., Late Hauterivian dinoflagellates from the lower part of the Chengzihe Formation in Jixi Basin, eastern Heilongjiang, NE China, Acta Palaeontologica Sinica (in Chinese), 2000, 39 (1): 46–62.
Li, W. B., Liu, Z. S., The Cretaceous palynofloras and their bearing on stratigraphic correlation in China. Cretaceous Research, 1994, 15: 333–365.
Sha, J. G., Cai, H. W., He, C. Q. et al., Studies on the early Cretaceous Longzhaogou and Jixi groups of eastern Heilongjiang, northeast China, and their bearing on the age of supposedly Jurassic strata in eastern Asia, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 2002, 20: 141–150.
Gao, R. Q., He, C. Q., Qiao, X. Y., Cretaceous Non-marine Dinoflagellates, Chlorophytes and Acritarchs from the Songliao Basin (in Chinese), Nanjing: Nanjing University Press, 1992, 5–19.
Qiao, X. Y., He, C. Q., Gao, R. Q., Early Cretaceous freshwater dinoflagellates from Songliao Basin, NE China, Acta Palaeont. Sin. (in Chinese), 1992, 31(1): 30–38.
Gao, R. Q., He, C. Q., Qiao, X. Y., A new genus and species of Cretaceous dinoflagellates from two transgressive beds in Songliao Basin, NE China, Acta Palaeont. Sin. (in Chinese), 1992, 31(1): 17–29.
Gao, R. Q., Zhao, C. B., Qiao, X. Y. et al., Cretaceous oil strata palynology from Songliao Basin (in Chinese), Beijing: Geological Publishing House, 1999, 58–63.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Yang, X., He, C., Li, W. et al. Marine dinoflagellates from Lower Cretaceous Muling Formation of Jixi Basin, China and their palaeoenvironmental significance. Chin.Sci.Bull. 48, 2480–2483 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1360/03wb0008
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1360/03wb0008