Radiolarian and Archaeooides fossils from the Shangxi Group in southern Anhui Province and their palaeogeographic significance
Chen GuanbaoLi Hongsheng Xu Shutong Liu Yican Hu Yuanchao Zhou Li
1 Anhui Institute of Palaeontology, Hefei230001, Anhui
2 Geological Survey of Anhui Province, Hefei230001, Anhui
3 Institute of Geology and Geophysics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100029
4 School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei230026, Anhui
The Shangxi Group is distributed in the northeastern “Jiangnan Oldland” in southern Anhui Province. It was subdivided into:Zhangqian, Banqiao, Mukeng/Huansha and Niuwu Formations from the lower to upper, and was dated as the Mesoproterozoic based on the isotopic dating of the rocks. The hot discussion on “Oldland versus Orogen” of this region prevailing in the 1980s, mainly focused on the age of the Shangxi Group and it was the key problem in determining the age of the orogen as well. We recently found the Radiolarian and Archaeooides fossils in the Niuwu Formation near Shexian County, southern Anhui Province. It is a new important discovery. The newly discovered Radiolarian and Archaeooides fossils show that the host Shangxi Group, or at least the Niuwu Formation was deposited during the Early Cambrian. Its palaeogeographic background should be a palaeoocean environment but not an oldland. The uplifting and metamorphism in this region should have occurred later. Such a discovery is very important for the palaeogeographic research and prediction and exploration of mineral resources, especially the petroleum and natural gas in this region and in South China.
. Radiolarian and Archaeooides fossils from the Shangxi Group in southern Anhui Province and their palaeogeographic significance[J]. JOPC, 2007, 9(6): 589-596.
