Rao Fu

Northwest University · Department of Geology

The abundant small shelly fossils (SSFs) from the Cambrian Series 2 recovered from the North China Paltform (NCP) represent an important resource for SSF taxonomy, transcontinental stratigraphic correlations, and palaeogeographic reconstructions (specifically, reconstructing the relative palaeogeographic positions of the NCP). In recent years, many...

寒武纪大爆发是地球动物门类爆发性出现和地球生态系统演化发生转折的重要时期。自此，地球海洋生态系统从前寒武纪菌藻类支撑的2极食物链生态系统转变为动物消费驱动的3极食物链生态系统，成为地球隐生宙和显生宙的分水岭，是研究和探索显生宙地球宜居性演化的关键。寒武纪大爆发以地球海洋突然大量、快速出现的两侧动物和矿化壳体为标志。这些帽状、管状的壳体化石，除了少量蜕皮类，大多数属于不明亲缘关系的冠轮动物。因此，寒武纪早期冠轮动物的起源与谱系演化是古生物学乃至现代生物学颇具争议的热门研究课题之一。腕足动物是地质历史上化石保存最为丰富，地史延限最长的冠轮动物重要分支类群，是寒武纪演化动物群的核心代表，其研究对于了解古生态学、古地理学和地球生物宏演化具有十分重要的意义。目前对于腕足动物起源存在多种假说，主要包括帚...

Brachiopods first appeared in the early Cambrian and persist till present. They are one of the main lineages of marine invertebrates that diversified throughout the Paleozoic and reached their maximum diversity of high-rank taxonomy during the Ordovician. During this time interval, brachiopods were mainly dominated by the articulated Orthida and St...

Sphenothallus is a tubular organism that is one of the most widely distributed and longest-ranging genera through the Palaeozoic. Despite its apparent cosmopolitan distribution, the genus has never been reported from North China. New specimens of Sphenothallus sp. have been discovered in the upper part of the Houjiashan and base of the Mantou forma...

The Ordos Basin is located in the western part of the North China Platform and is the second largest sedimentary basin in China; the basin has a huge thickness of the Early Palaeozoic marine deposits, especially the Ordovician ones. The Zhaolaoyu Formation is distributed in the Fuping area of the southern Ordos Basin, where brachiopods, gastropods,...

Burrowing organisms in the early Cambrian are often known for disturbing the microbial mat dominated seafloor, promoting the cycling of nutrients and oxygen and creating a mixed, loose layer in the substrate. Here we provide new insights on the influence that bioturbation had in modifying substrates in the Cambrian. Dense, morphologically complex b...