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Sedimentary facies of dinosaur trackways and bonebeds in the Cretaceous Jiaolai Basin, eastern Shandong, China, and their paleogeographical implications
... Not only were dinosaur tracks found in the Lower Cretaceous Laiyang and Qingshan Groups (Li et al., 2005Li et al., , 2008Li et al., , 2011Li et al., , 2015 Xing et al., 2010 Xing et al., , 2012 Xu et al., 2013; Kuang et al., 2013a), but dinosaur bone and egg fossils were also found in the Upper Cretaceous Wangshi Group (Yang, 1954; Hu, 1973; Hu et al., 2001; Zhao et al., 2007; Liu et al., 2010; Xu et al., 2010; Hone et al., 2011; Kuang et al., 2013b Kuang et al., , 2014). The Wangshi Group was mainly composed of alluvial fan facies, where abundant dinosaur bones were buried in debris flow sediments (Liu et al., 2010Liu et al., , 2011). Many previous studies involving dinosaur palaeontology, including taxonomy (Yang, 1954; Hu, 1973; Hu et al., 2001; Zhao et al., 2007; Ji, 2010; Xu et al., 2010; Hone et al., 2011), taphonomy (Liu et al., 2009Liu et al., , 2010Liu et al., , 2011 He et al., 2012; Kuang et al., 2013b Kuang et al., , 2014), etc., have been carried out on the dinosaur fossils in the Zhucheng Basin, and important progress has been made. ...
... The Wangshi Group was mainly composed of alluvial fan facies, where abundant dinosaur bones were buried in debris flow sediments (Liu et al., 2010Liu et al., , 2011). Many previous studies involving dinosaur palaeontology, including taxonomy (Yang, 1954; Hu, 1973; Hu et al., 2001; Zhao et al., 2007; Ji, 2010; Xu et al., 2010; Hone et al., 2011), taphonomy (Liu et al., 2009Liu et al., , 2010Liu et al., , 2011 He et al., 2012; Kuang et al., 2013b Kuang et al., , 2014), etc., have been carried out on the dinosaur fossils in the Zhucheng Basin, and important progress has been made. New potassiumÀargon (KÀAr) and ArÀAr geochronology results have also been obtained for the upper portion of the strata containing dinosaur fossils. ...
... An angular unconformity marks the boundary between the basement and the sedimentary cover (Shi et al., 2003 ). The Cretaceous is mainly composed of the Lower Cretaceous Laiyang Group, the Qingshan Group, and the Upper Cretaceous Wangshi Group (Liu et al., 2010Liu et al., , 2011). Magmatism in Shandong is well developed. ...
The mass burial of dinosaur bone fossils in the Late Cretaceous Wangshi Group in Zhucheng, Shandong Province has been a research focus in recent years. However, the provenance of the dinosaur bone fossils and the accurate depositional age of the bone beds remain ambiguous. Through U−Pb dating of detrital zircons collected from six conglomerate samples from dinosaur bone beds, we found that the youngest single grain age (YSG) of sample 090414-24-D was 77.3 Ma, representing the maximum depositional age of the dinosaur fossil beds and sediments. This also indicates that the Hongtuya Formation was deposited during the Campanian. The age range had an interval of 130∼100 Ma. Dating results revealed an age peak of 120∼110 Ma, which corresponds with the peak age of volcanic rocks of the Lower Cretaceous Qingshan Group. The volcanic rocks of the Qingshan Group are mainly exposed in Laiyang, to the north of Zhucheng, although a few also appear to the south and northwest. Through analysis of conglomerate composition and palaeocurrents in the sediments containing the bone beds, we found that the gravel composition of three groups of the conglomerate was volcanic or pyroclastic rock. Three groups of palaeocurrents suggested that the main sediment source of the Wangshi Group dinosaur bone beds was from the north−northwest of the Basin. Only one group had a provenance south of the basin. This study revealed that the areas of Laiyang and the Yishu Fault Zone were the main provenance areas of both dinosaur bone fossils and sediments of the Wangshi Group in Zhucheng. The southern margin of the Zhucheng Basin may be a secondary source area. This research provides an important basis for judging the deposition time and sediment source of fossil layers in the Wangshi Group, as well as reconstructing the palaeogeography of the Wangshi Group in the Jiaolai Basin.
... The longest single bone is 4.84 m, the shortest is about 10 cm, and many small skeletal fragments are also present. These fossils were buried in debris flows, or flood plain and braided channel deposits, with the debris flow deposits being the most important (Liu et al., 2003;The Fourth Institute of Geological and Mineral Resources Reconnaissance of Shandong Province, 2003;Liu et al., 2010Liu et al., , 2011. Abundant, well-preserved footprints of dinosaurs are present in the Huanglonggou quarry south of Zhucheng, where ca. ...
... The Baichihe fault is a south-dipping, listric normal fault, 50 km long, that was active during the Cretaceous (Dai et al., 1995;Chen and Dai, 1998). These major faults constrained the development of stratigraphic sequences in the Zhucheng depression, including the Lower Cretaceous Laiyang and Qingshan Groups, and the Upper Cretaceous Wangshi Group (Song et al., 2002;Shi et al., 2003;Zhang et al., 2006;Yin and Yang, 2005;Liu et al., 2010Liu et al., , 2011 Song et al., 2002;s Zhang et al., 2008;t Liu et al., 2010;u Qiu et al., 2001;v Hu and Chen, 1986;and w Yan et al., 2005). ...
... Paleo-earthquake records in the middle of the Early Cretaceous Yangzhuang Formation indicate that the seismic activity was periodical, frequent and related to weak compressional stress, corresponding to the assumed regional stress at that time . Both the stratigraphic sequences and tectonic activity recorded in the Yangzhuang and Qugezhuang Formations indicate deposition in continental extensional environments, and the environment changed from lacustrine to fluvial, with the lacustrine depocenter moving northwest of Huanglonggou (Ren et al., 2008;Liu et al., 2011). Diverse dinosaur tracks in the Early Cretaceous Laiyang Group are mainly footprints of theropods and ornithopods that were able to live in lacustrine and swampy environments (Zhao et al., 2007;Li, 2010). ...
... The result of this work, comprising the entire tracksite, was presented at the Eleventh National Symposium on Palaeogeography and Sedimentology in Jingzhou, Hubei, China, and later at the Twelfth Mesozoic Kuang et al. (2013a). 1: Young, 1958;Zhao, 1962;Li and Zhang, 2000;2: Xing et al., 2012;3: Xu et al., 2010;Hone et al., 2011;Li et al., 2011Li et al., , 2012Liu et al., 2011Liu et al., , 2012Lockley et al., 2012a,b;Lockley et al., 2015;4: Xing et al., 2010a;5: B.H. Wang et al., 2013;6: Li et al., 2005a6: Li et al., ,b, 20086: Li et al., , 2015Kuang et al., 2013a;Peng et al., 2013;7: Chen et al., 2013;Kuang et al., 2013a;Peng et al., 2013;Xing et al., 2013;8, 9: Kuang et al., 2013a;Peng et al., 2013;10: Kuang et al., 2013a;Peng et al., 2013;Xing et al., 2010b;11: Li et al., 2002;12: Kuang et al., 2013a. Terrestrial Ecosystems Symposium in Zhucheng in December 2010, "Earth Science Frontiers" , the Twelfth National Symposium on Palaeogeography and Sedimentology in Qingdao in October 2012, and the Qijiang International Dinosaur Tracks Symposium in December 2012 (Liu et al., 2012), successively. ...
... Lockley et al. (2015) argued that H. "referred to some previous work but not other reports," such as Lockley et al. (2012a,b). Actually, the research of H. is the basis of the full analysis of the previous works (Li and Zhang, 2000;Liu et al., 2010Liu et al., , 2011Xing et al., 2010a;Li et al., 2011Li et al., , 2012He et al., 2012). It is worth pointing out that the so-called reports of Lockley et al. (2012a,b)) are merely two abstracts within the meeting abstract volume, which had limited circulation and was possibly unpublished (the Eleventh Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems Symposium in South Korea, August 15-18, 2012, see reference). ...
Zhucheng, located in eastern Shandong Province, China, is well-known for its abundant Early Cretaceous dinosaur footprints and Late Cretaceous dinosaur bone fossils. Recently, Lockley et al. (2015) presented a sketch study on the Huanglonggou tracksite in the Zhucheng area, and critically commented on our paper (H. Xu et al., 2013), which conducted a detailed and comprehensive study of the tracksite. Here, we demonstrate that some of their assumptions and comments on our work are subjective and incorrect. Tracks at the Huanglonggou tracksite, including a dominant theropod (large theropod, Grallator yangi/Paragrallator, Corpulentapus lilasia), and subordinate sauropod, suspected ornithopod, and turtle tracks were preserved in the Yangjiazhuang Formation with estimated ages of 129 to 122 Ma, rather than in the Longwangzhuang Formation as proposed by Lockley and his associates. Contrary to Lockley et al. (2015), our mapping of the Huanglonggou tracksite exhibits the previous work by Li et al. (2011) and focuses on the 50 well-preserved trackways and their orientations. Based on the stride length to footprint size index diagram and the Grallator-Anchisauripus-Eubrontes (GAE) plexus, our statistical constraints on the three species of theropods are better than those of Lockley et al. (2015). Lockley argued that tracks at the site were preserved on at least five levels, of which the majority on level 4 were of excellent preservation. In fact, the tracks identified throughout the site have been from only one level. The false appearance of multiple levels is interpreted as the result of sedimentation at the shoreline and differential excavation of the tracksite.
... The result of this work, comprising the entire tracksite, was presented at the Eleventh National Symposium on Palaeogeography and Sedimentology in Jingzhou, Hubei, China, and later at the Twelfth Mesozoic Kuang et al. (2013a). 1: Young, 1958;Zhao, 1962;Li and Zhang, 2000;2: Xing et al., 2012;3: Xu et al., 2010;Hone et al., 2011;Li et al., 2011Li et al., , 2012Liu et al., 2011Liu et al., , 2012Lockley et al., 2012a,b;Lockley et al., 2015;4: Xing et al., 2010a;5: B.H. Wang et al., 2013;6: Li et al., 2005a6: Li et al., ,b, 20086: Li et al., , 2015Kuang et al., 2013a;Peng et al., 2013;7: Chen et al., 2013;Kuang et al., 2013a;Peng et al., 2013;Xing et al., 2013;8, 9: Kuang et al., 2013a;Peng et al., 2013;10: Kuang et al., 2013a;Peng et al., 2013;Xing et al., 2010b;11: Li et al., 2002;12: Kuang et al., 2013a. Terrestrial Ecosystems Symposium in Zhucheng in December 2010, "Earth Science Frontiers" , the Twelfth National Symposium on Palaeogeography and Sedimentology in Qingdao in October 2012, and the Qijiang International Dinosaur Tracks Symposium in December 2012 (Liu et al., 2012), successively. ...
... Lockley et al. (2015) argued that H. "referred to some previous work but not other reports," such as Lockley et al. (2012a,b). Actually, the research of H. is the basis of the full analysis of the previous works (Li and Zhang, 2000;Liu et al., 2010Liu et al., , 2011Xing et al., 2010a;Li et al., 2011Li et al., , 2012He et al., 2012). It is worth pointing out that the so-called reports of Lockley et al. (2012a,b)) are merely two abstracts within the meeting abstract volume, which had limited circulation and was possibly unpublished (the Eleventh Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems Symposium in South Korea, August 15-18, 2012, see reference). ...
Zhucheng, located in eastern Shandong Province, China, is well-known for its abundant Early Cretaceous dinosaur footprints and Late Cretaceous dinosaur bone fossils. Recently, Lockley et al. (2015) presented a sketch study on the Huanglonggou tracksite in the Zhucheng area, and critically commented on our paper (H. Xu et al., 2013), which conducted a detailed and comprehensive study of the tracksite. Here, we demonstrate that some of their assumptions and comments on our work are subjective and incorrect. Tracks at the Huanglonggou tracksite, including a dominant theropod (large theropod, Grallator yangi/Paragrallator, Corpulentapus lilasia), and subordinate sauropod, suspected ornithopod, and turtle tracks were preserved in the Yangjiazhuang Formation with estimated ages of 129 to 122 Ma, rather than in the Longwangzhuang Formation as proposed by Lockley and his associates. Contrary to Lockley et al. (2015), our mapping of the Huanglonggou tracksite exhibits the previous work by Li et al. (2011) and focuses on the 50 well-preserved trackways and their orientations. Based on the stride length to footprint size index diagram and the Grallator–Anchisauripus–Eubrontes (GAE) plexus, our statistical constraints on the three species of theropods are better than those of Lockley et al. (2015). Lockley argued that tracks at the site were preserved on at least five levels, of which the majority on level 4 were of excellent preservation. In fact, the tracks identified throughout the site have been from only one level. The false appearance of multiple levels is interpreted as the result of sedimentation at the shoreline and differential excavation of the tracksite.
... Zhuchengtyrannus was pruned from the tree because of the uncertainty regarding its geologic age. Hone et al. [30] cite Liu et al. [60] who constrain the top of the formation in which Zuchengtyrannus is found at 73.5 Ma. Liu et al. [60] do not include any radioisotopic data to substantiate this claim, nor cite any papers to support it. ...
... Hone et al. [30] cite Liu et al. [60] who constrain the top of the formation in which Zuchengtyrannus is found at 73.5 Ma. Liu et al. [60] do not include any radioisotopic data to substantiate this claim, nor cite any papers to support it. The paper suggests the formation is somewhere between 120 Ma and 73.5 Ma, but again, without any geochronologic details to substantiate such a claim. ...
The Late Cretaceous (∼95-66 million years ago) western North American landmass of Laramidia displayed heightened non-marine vertebrate diversity and intracontinental regionalism relative to other latest Cretaceous Laurasian ecosystems. Processes generating these patterns during this interval remain poorly understood despite their presumed role in the diversification of many clades. Tyrannosauridae, a clade of large-bodied theropod dinosaurs restricted to the Late Cretaceous of Laramidia and Asia, represents an ideal group for investigating Laramidian patterns of evolution. We use new tyrannosaurid discoveries from Utah-including a new taxon which represents the geologically oldest member of the clade-to investigate the evolution and biogeography of Tyrannosauridae. These data suggest a Laramidian origin for Tyrannosauridae, and implicate sea-level related controls in the isolation, diversification, and dispersal of this and many other Late Cretaceous vertebrate clades.
... Abundant fossils have been recovered from the Laiyang Group, including plants, insects, conchostracans, various other invertebrates, and dinosaur tracks (Chow, 1923;Grabau, 1923;Hong and Wang, 1990;Zhang, 1992;Young, 1960;Zhang, 2000, 2001). The Qingshan Group consists mainly of volcanic rocks interbedded with sedimentary rocks (Liu et al., 2011), and contains the ceratopsian dinosaur Psittacosaurus (Young, 1958;Zhao, 1962), pterosaurs (Young, 1958;Zhou, 2010), and the turtle Peishanemys (Chow, 1954a). The fossil assemblage in the Laiyang and Qingshan groups is similar to the Jehol Biota, and forms the Laiyang Jehol Biota (Wang et al. 2010). ...
Here we briefly review the history of research on the Laiyang dinosaur and dinosaur egg faunas, summarize the contributions of C. C. Young and other elder paleontologists to the discoveries of the Late Cretaceous dinosaurs and dinosaur eggs from Laiyang, and introduce the new discoveries and the advances in the research on the Laiyang faunas. The new investigations in Laiyang from 2008 have found a series of valley developed in plain and more than ten new dinosaur or dinosaur egg fossil beds. In 2010, we began the massive excavations at two localities in Jingangkou and collected abundant dinosaurs and other vertebrate fossils, such as a new saurolophine, some theropod material and a new taxon of turtle egg. The bone beds in Locality 2 with the typical sedimentary and burial patterns of mudflow, and these fossil deposits are interpreted as having been carried and deposited by mudflow. The re-observation and the CT scanning data of the crest of Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus (IVPP V 725) show that the crest is fractured and solid. However, based on the re-observations of its cranial and postcranial specimens, we consider that Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus is a valid taxon of lambeosaurines, which have the hollow crest. Therefore, the crest of Tsintaosaurus might not belong to the skull of this individual, and the true form of the crest needs to be confirmed in the future work. We reassess the three species of Tanius, and obtain several results. 1) Tanius sinensis and Tanius chingkankouensis are the valid species of Tanius; 2) Tanius laiyangensis is invalid.; 3) the sacrum and ilium of Tanius chingkankouensis with typical hadrosaurid features should not be referred to Tanius.
... al. [2007] ). Despite a large range in their physical and taphonomic attributes (e.g., Fastovsky et al., 1995; Eberth et al., 2000 Eberth et al., , 2006 Rogers, 2005; Van Itterbeeck et al., 2005; Lauters et al., 2008; Britt et al., 2009; Scherzer and Varricchio, 2010; Liu et al., 2011), several general similarities exist, including (1) broadly lenticular to tabular shape; (2) thickness ranging from decimeters to one meter; (3) composed of poorly sorted pebbly to conglomeratic, massive or ungraded to normally graded deposits; (4) presence of some floating skeletal elements and intra-or extra-basinal clasts; (5) lack of imbrication and preferred orientation of elongate elements; and (6) frequent occurrence above a paleosol or sequence boundary. ...
A bs t r ac t Sedimentologic and taphonomic analyses of a paucitaxic bonebed (0.4–1.5 m thick) containing thousands of hadrosaur skeletal elements in the Two Medicine Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of western Montana (Willow Creek anticline) indicate transport and deposition by an unconfined fluid debris flow to hyperconcentrated flow. Deposition occurred as a single sedimentation event across a low relief alluvial plain characterized by small, low-gradient sandy fluvial channels and adjacent interchannel areas composed of crevasse splay and vertical accretion deposits. The normally graded, clast-to matrix-supported conglomerate consists of predominantly pebble-to boulder-size intraformational clasts of micrite, mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone mixed with disarticulated hadrosaur bones in a sandy mudstone matrix. Subrounded lithic clasts, abraded bones, and bones broken across cobbles indicate significant turbulence and clast interaction during transport. Bones are minimally weathered, unburned, and show only rare evidence of gnawing or boring, suggesting minimal residence time (10-1 to 10 1 years) at the surface before transport. The sediment transport event collected disarticulated bones from the land surface and ripped up underlying floodplain deposits, likely incorporating some previously buried bones in the process, and transported them together in a mud-rich flow. Skeletal disarticulation suggests the debris flow–producing event was not responsible for death of the hadrosaurs. Our analysis fails to support previous interpretations of this bonebed as a catastrophic mass-death assemblage of a large hadrosaur herd that resulted from a volcanic eruption.
... Prior to the catastrophic mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, East Asia had provided a wealth of inland habitats (including lakeshores and alluvial plains) for hadrosaurines (Gradziński, 1970;Lauters et al., 2008;Liu et al., 2011) (Fig. 1). The first published Asian hadrosaurine species is Saurolophus angustirostris Rozhdestvensky, 1952 from the early to middle Maastrichtian Nemegt Formation of Mongolia (Jerzykiewicz and Russell, 1991). ...
The close affinity between Edmontosaurus and Shantungosaurus is corroborated on the basis of the following shared features: an occipital condyle deflected strongly posteroventrally; a posterodorsally reflected, lip-shaped oral margin of the premaxilla, with a deep, oval concavity at the anteromedial corner of the bone; a well-demarcated posterodorsal margin of the deeply excavated circumnarial fossa formed by a prominent arched ridge along the entire posterior half of the lateroventral border of the nasal; an anteroposteriorly broad jugal process of the postorbital; a strongly concave dorsal surface of the paired frontals; seven teeth per alveolus in the middle of the dentary tooth row; and a circular distal blade of the pubis that is much more expanded ventrally than dorsally. A revised phylogenetic analysis of Hadrosauroidea recovers a sister taxon relationship between Edmontosaurus and Shantungosaurus. Kerberosaurus is recovered as the sister taxon to the clade formed exclusively by these two genera. The clade Edmontosaurini could be defined as the least inclusive clade containing Kerberosaurus and Edmontosaurus, which is currently composed of the genera Kerberosaurus, Edmontosaurus, and Shantungosaurus. Zhuchengosaurus and Huaxiaosaurus, both from the Upper Cretaceous Wangshi Group in Zhucheng, are interpreted as junior synonyms of Shantungosaurus. Kundurosaurus is likewise considered a junior synonym of Kerberosaurus. The strict consensus tree together with biogeographic information indicates that the clade Edmontosaurini originated in Asia and subsequently dispersed into North America.
... This is the second valid turtle egg fossil found in China. Jingangkou Formation, and Changwangpu Formation (Hu et al. 2001), is mainly deposits of alluvial fan, mudflow and braided channel in the lower part, shallow lacustrine deposits and rhythmic fluvial sediments of mudstone, siltstone, sandstone or soils in the middle part, and rhythmic depositions of silty-muddy conglomerate, sandstone and siltstone of mudflow, braided-channel and flooding plain facies (Liu et al. 2011). ...
A new type of turtle egg fossil was established: Emydoolithus laiyangensis oogen. et oosp. nov.. Based on its elliptical morphological shape, rigid eggshells, and eggshell characteristics, it is different from other types of round chelonian egg fossils. It is the second chelonian egg fossil found in Cretaceous in China. This discovery shows the Laiyang ecosystem in Late Cretaceous is more diversified than previously thought.
In the dusk of the Mesozoic, advanced duck-billed dinosaurs (Hadrosauridae) were so successful that they likely outcompeted other herbivores, contributing to declines in dinosaur diversity. From Laurasia, hadrosaurids dispersed widely, colonizing Africa, South America, and, allegedly, Antarctica. Here, we present the first species of a duck-billed dinosaur from a subantarctic region, Gonkoken nanoi, of early Maastrichtian age in Magallanes, Chile. Unlike duckbills further north in Patagonia, Gonkoken descends from North American forms diverging shortly before the origin of Hadrosauridae. However, at the time, non-hadrosaurids in North America had become replaced by hadrosaurids. We propose that the ancestors of Gonkoken arrived earlier in South America and reached further south, into regions where hadrosaurids never arrived: All alleged subantarctic and Antarctic remains of hadrosaurids could belong to non-hadrosaurid duckbills like Gonkoken. Dinosaur faunas of the world underwent qualitatively different changes before the Cretaceous-Paleogene asteroid impact, which should be considered when discussing their possible vulnerability.
Gaomi City, the hinterland of Jiaolai Plain in Shandong Peninsula, was selected as the research object. A total of 8197 surface soil samples were collected to determine the contents of eight soil heavy metals (HMs)including Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), Zinc (Zn), Nickel (Ni), Chromium (Cr), Cadmium (Cd), Arsenic (As), and Mercury (Hg). Statistical methods were used to find out the geochemical background (GCB) in the area, systematic clustering and factor analysis were used to study the homology between HMs, and single-factor evaluation method was used to evaluate the ecological risks in the study area. The results of the study show that the ecological risk of the surface soil in the study area is relatively low, dominated by a planar distribution, with only a few high-risk points. The uneven distribution of Hg in the surface soil is affected by human activities to a certain extent. The ratio of the GCB of the geological unit area to the GCB of the whole area shows that the Hg content of the Qingshan Group and Dasheng Group geological units is higher, and the Pb content in the subvolcanic rock area is slightly higher. The ecological pollution risk in the study area is generally low, and only exists individual high-risk areas, distributed radially in densely populated areas.
Cypridea Bosquet, 1852 is a non-marine ostracod genus of the Superfamily Cypridoidea, and the extinct Family Cyprideidae, which achieved high diversity in the Early Cretaceous. This genus plays an important role in the subdivision and correlation of strata, as well as in paleogeographic and paleoclimatic studies. Cypridea species are remarkably abundant and diverse, and are extensively distributed across East Asia. However, the lowermost occurrence of Cypridea species (LOOC) in East Asia is still being debated, varying from the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous. Here, we aim to conduct a preliminary investigation of the Cypridea-bearing strata of East Asia (China, Mongolia, Korea and Japan), and attempt to update the strata correlation, based on new progress of the ostracod correlations, as well as the progress of other research methods on the relative Jurassic/Cretaceous (J/K) strata of these areas. Results show that the LOOCs in most basins of East Asia are documented in Lower Cretaceous (∼Berriasian) strata. However, Cypridea species are extremely rare near the J/K boundary interval but flourish until Valanginian–Hauterivian in most basins of East Asia. Therefore, we propose that the LOOC in each corresponding basin of East Asia can be used as an auxiliary marker of the non-marine J/K boundary. Cypridea species may have travelled first from Africa (Kimmeridgian) to Europe (J/K period), and then East Asia (Early Cretaceous), which resulted in the LOOC in East Asia later than in the other continents.
East China experienced crustal extensions during the Early Cretaceous and the latest Cretaceous-Cenozoic. For a long time, previous studies have recognized a short-lived compressional event between these two extensional regimes during the early Late Cretaceous but not much attention has been paid to it, although it may shed new light on the tectonic evolution of East Asia and the mechanism of the North China Craton Destruction. The Jiaolai Basin, located at the margin of East China, consists of a thick succession of Cretaceous sedimentary rocks and thus may help in further interpreting the mechanism and influence of the short-lived compressional event. Here, we apply integrated sedimentological methods to sandstone samples of both the Lower Cretaceous Laiyang Group and Upper Cretaceous Wangshi Group. Our findings suggest that there was a provenance change in the Jiaolai Basin from the Early Cretaceous granitic and metamorphic rock origin to the Late Cretaceous basic-intermediate volcanic origin. Combined with the zircon U-Pb ages, we conclude that the provenance change was caused by the uplift of the coastal mountains along the East Asian margin, from the relatively distal Sulu orogenic belt and Jiaobei Terrane during the Early Cretaceous to the intra-basinal volcanic rocks of the Qingshan Groupduring the Late Cretaceous. After careful evaluation of the provenance histories, orogenic exhumations, widespread unconformities and paleoclimate changes that occurred in sedimentary basins both along the East Asian margin and in the hinterland, we finally estimate the possible range of influence and extent of the short-lived compression event during the early Late Cretaceous.
The Cretaceous is a crucial period in the Earth's evolutionary history. However, the lack of a consolidated chronology for continental strata has precluded a better understanding of terrestrial processes and the integration of marine and terrestrial records. Here, we present an integrated chronology for the Upper Cretaceous to Paleocene terrestrial strata in the Jiaolai Basin, eastern China, based on new magnetostratigraphic results and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar analyses of the Cretaceous Continental Scientific Drilling borehole (CCSD-LK-I). Our geochronologic results suggest that, in the Jiaolai Basin, the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary is within the magnetozone R6 (560.62–570.13 m) and that the age of the Hongtuya Formation (containing late Cretaceous dinosaur bone and egg fossils) ranges from 84 Ma to 73.5 Ma, thus corresponding mainly to the Campanian. The comprehensive geochronologic framework allows the accurate correlation of the terrestrial Upper Cretaceous strata in the Jiaolai Basin to marine strata and other continental sequences, and also lays the foundation for the study of the structural evolution of eastern China.
Tanius is the earliest named ornithischian genus from China. Since 1929, three species of this genus, namely T. sinensis (the type species), “T. chingkankouensis” and “T. laiyangensis”, have been reported based on remains from the Wangshi Group of Shandong, China, and were previously recognized as hadrosaurines. Following the recent achievement of consensus on the phylogenetic placement of T. sinensis outside Hadrosauridae, the assignments of the “T. chingkankouensis” and “T. laiyangensis” material of hadrosaurid origin to the genus Tanius become problematic. Related taxonomic issues of “T. laiyangensis” therefore need re‐appraisals. Here we provide an overall taxonomic revision of “T. laiyangensis” from the Jingangkou Formation of northeast Shandong, by means of approaches of comparative anatomy, phylogeny and geometric morphometrics. Our osteological comparisons confirm the hadrosaurine affinity of “T. laiyangensis”, given the presence of a suite of characters largely typical of Hadrosaurinae in the single specimen (i.e., a nearly complete sacrum and a partial right ilium), including a dorsoventrally narrow central plate of the ilium with the depth/length ratio less than 0.80. In the proposed phylogenetic framework, “T. laiyangensis” is inferred to be a member of Kritosaurini within Hadrosaurinae, as the sister taxon to Secernosaurus koerneri. The relative warp analysis on the lateral outline of the supraacetabular process also reveals a close resemblance of shape between the two species. Based on these different lines of evidence and considering no identification of any diagnostic characters from the specimen, we argue that the “T. laiyangensis” material comes from an indeterminate kritosaurin hadrosaurine in Asia.
Cretaceous strata are widely distributed across China and record a variety of depositional settings. The sedimentary facies consist primarily of terrestrial, marine and interbedded marine-terrestrial deposits, of which marine and interbedded facies are relatively limited. Based a thorough review of the subdivisions and correlations of Cretaceous strata in China, we provide an up-to-date integrated chronostratigraphy and geochronologic framework of the Cretaceous system and its deposits in China. Cretaceous marine and interbedded marine-terrestrial sediments occur in southern Tibet, Karakorum, the western Tarim Basin, eastern Heilongjiang and Taiwan. Among these, the Himalayan area has the most complete marine deposits, the foraminiferal and ammonite biozonation of which can be correlated directly to the international standard biozones. Terrestrial deposits in central and western China consist predominantly of red, lacustrine-fluvial, clastic deposits, whereas eastern China, a volcanically active zone, contains clastic rocks in association with intermediate to acidic igneous rocks and features the most complete stratigraphic successions in northern Hebei, western Liaoning and the Songliao Basin. Here, we synthesise multiple stratigraphic concepts and charts from southern Tibet, northern Hebei to western Liaoning and the Songliao Basin to produce a comprehensive chronostratigraphic chart. Marine and terrestrial deposits are integrated, and this aids in the establishment of a comprehensive Cretaceous chronostratigraphy and temporal framework of China. Further research into the Cretaceous of China will likely focus on terrestrial deposits and mutual authentication techniques (e.g., biostratigraphy, chronostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy and cyclostratigraphy). This study provides a more reliable temporal framework both for studying Cretaceous geological events and exploring mineral resources in China.
We provide a stringent age constraint on the Upper Cretaceous terrestrial strata based on ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of a continuous volcanic-sedimentary sequence drilled from Jiaolai Basin in Shandong Province, eastern China. The volcanic-sedimentary sequence, which is mainly composed of basaltic rocks interbedded with thin-bedded siltstone and fine sandstone, comprises the depth interval from 614 to 769 m of the Cretaceous Continental Scientific Drilling borehole (CCSD-LK-I), and belongs to Member S5 of the Shijiatun Formation by lithostratigraphic division. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of the basalts from CCSD-LK-I yielded a latest age of 73.5 ± 1.1 Ma at 614 m depth and a basal age of 79.7 ± 2.7 Ma at 757 m depth, corresponding to Campanian in age. Magnetostratigraphy revealed a correlation with the geomagnetic polarity time scale from lower Chron C33n to lower Chron C32n.2n, further demonstrating that the terrestrial volcanic-sedimentary sequence of the Shijiatun Formation is of middle-late Campanian age. The established chronological framework allows the interregional correlation of Member S5 of the Shijiatun Formation in Jiaolai Basin to the strata from other basins in northeastern China, northwestern China and central-southern China. In addition, the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age of 73.5 ± 1.1 Ma from the topmost basalt of the Shijiatun Formation indicates that the age of the overlying Jiaozhou Formation is younger than Campanian, and it also supports the location of the K/Pg boundary within the depth interval of 450–520 m in borehole CCSD-LK-I.
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