Palaeogene marine stratigraphy in China

Palaeogene deposits are widespread in China and are potential sequences for locating stage boundaries. Most strata are non‐marine origin, but marine sediments are well exposed in Tibet, the Tarim Basin of Xinjiang, and the continental margin of East China Sea. Among them, the Tibetan Tethys can be recognized as a dominant marine area, including the Indian‐margin strata of the northern Tethys Himalaya and Asian‐margin strata of the Gangdese forearc basin. Continuous sequences are preserved in the Gamba–Tingri Basin of the north margin of the Indian Plate, where the Palaeogene sequence is divided into the Jidula, Zongpu, Zhepure and Zongpubei formations. Here, the marine sequence ranges from Danian to middle Priabonian (66–35 ma), and the stage boundaries are identified mostly by larger foraminiferal assemblages. The Paleocene/Eocene boundary is found between the Zongpu and Zhepure formations. The uppermost marine beds are from the top of the Zongpubei Formation (~35 ma), marking the end of Indian and Asian collision. In addition, the marine beds crop out along both sides of the Yarlong Zangbo Suture, where they show a deeper marine facies, yielding rich radiolarian fossils of Paleocene and Eocene. The Tarim Basin of Xinjiang is another important area of marine deposition. Here, marine Palaeogene strata are well exposed in the Southwest Tarim Depression and Kuqa Depression. They comprise mostly neritic and coastal lagoon facies of the Tethyan realm. Palaeontological evidence suggests that the Paleocene/Eocene boundary here is in middle of the Qimugen Formation. The Tarim Basin was largely drained by Late Oligocene. To the east, the marine offshore Palaeogene strata are widespread in the North Taiwan and East Zhejiang depressions of the continental shelf basin of East China Sea. Abundant fossils including foraminifera, calcareous nannofossils, ostracods, pollen and bivalves occur in the marine environment. Biostratigraphically, the sequence is well correlated with the international planktonic foraminiferal and nannofossil zonations.     

山西三叠系二马营组和铜川组SHRIMP锆石铀-铅年龄及其地质意义(英文)

采集了山西省二马营组和铜川组共4个层位的火山凝灰岩,在高灵敏度高分辨率二次离子质谱仪上以铀-铅法测定其中锆石的年龄。二马营组上部的样品测年结果为245.9 Ma±3.2 Ma, 铜川组一段样品测年结果为243.1 Ma±3.9 Ma, 二段上部两个样品年龄为238.6 Ma±2.6 Ma和234.6 Ma±6.5 Ma。结果表明出产陕北肯氏兽动物群的二马营组下部极有可能属于下三叠统,而铜川组时代可能从安尼期晚期到拉丁期。     

Lithostratigraphy, petrography and facies analysis of the Late Cenozoic sediments in the foreland basin of the West Kunlun

The Yecheng profile, lying in the southwest Tarim Basin at the northern foot of the West Kunlun Mountains, comprises 4.5 km of conformable Miocene to Pliocene strata. The lower part of the section, the Wuqia Group, is composed of interbedded red mudstone and pale-coloured fine sandstone with a thickness of 1700 m. The Artux Formation is 800 m thick and composed of mudstone, sandstone with thin gravel and conglomerate beds. The upper part of the section, known as the Xiyu Formation, consists of 2000 m of cobble and boulder conglomerate intercalated with massive siltstone lenses.Compositional study of the sandstones in the Wuqia Group and Artux Formation indicates that they were sourced from low relief areas of the Kunlun region and probably further south from Tibet. The provenance of the conglomerate in the Xiyu Formation is the West Kunlun Mountains. Compositional trends within the conglomerate indicate that Upper Palaeozoic marine, and Mesozoic to Tertiary terrestrial silicic rocks were eroded first, along with the Proterozoic to Lower Palaeozoic Proto-Tethys metasedimentary rocks. Erosion into deeper levels of the Kunlun Mountains provided igneous and high-grade metamorphic sediment, which first appears 640 m above the base of the Xiyu Formation.Lithofacies change from fine-grained mudstone and sandstone to coarse clasts coincides with the onset of aeolian sedimentation, indicating major shift of regional palaeoclimatic regime. Although climatic changes may have played an important role in controlling the sedimentary regime worldwide, our study of the lithostratigraphy and petrography of the Yecheng section suggests that the lithofacies change recorded the progressive unroofing history of the source rocks in the West Kunlun Mountains.     

Benthic foraminiferal assemblages between two major extinction events: the Paleocene El Kef section,Tunisia

The development of benthic foraminiferal assemblages from the Paleocene outcrops of the El Haria Formation near El Kef, Tunisia is discussed qualitatively and quantitatively. The aim of the study is to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental evolution between the K/Pg boundary interval and the late Paleocene event, and to compare this evolution with results from other sites along the southern Tethyan margin. Eighty-four samples, covering virtually the entire Paleocene, provide a dataset that allows detailed qualitative and multivariate analysis. The benthic foraminiferal faunas indicate a complex pattern of environmental changes during the Paleocene, marked by the succession of different benthic associations. Following the K/Pg boundary event, community restoration was characterized by the gradual build-up of faunal diversity. Decreasing dominance and the entry of taxa common to normal marine, outer neritic to upper bathyal environments indicate the completion of the ecosystem restoration in Zone Plb. A highly diverse benthic foraminiferal assemblage persisted throughout the remainder of the early Paleocene into the earliest late Paleocene. At the P3a-P3b zonal transition relative sea-level lowering is evidenced by the sudden disappearance or decreasing abundance of deeper-water taxa (e.g. Anomalinoides affinis, A. susanaensis, Gavelinella beccariiformis). Neritic deposition continued into Zone P4, when trophic levels at the seafloor increased as indicated by the entry and increasing dominance of species such as Anomalinoides cf. aegyptiacus, Bulimina midwayensis, and B. strobila, which we consider to be sensitive to eutrophication. The combined effect of shallowing and the subsequent eutrophication led to the establishment of assemblages similar to late Paleocene benthic foraminiferal assemblages from Egyptian sections, some of which record the latest Paleocene extinction event. These assemblages were interpreted to be indicative of a middle neritic, highly eutrophic environment. Enhanced vertical fluxes of organic matter along the southern Tethyan margin may have resulted from intensified upwelling. This eventually led to oxygen deficiency at the seafloor. It appears that oxygen-deficient, high-productivity shelves were a common feature of the southern Tethyan margin during the latest Paleocene.     

Benthic foraminiferal fauna during the time of the Indian-Asian contact, in southern Balochistan, Pakistan

Cretaceous and early Paleocene benthic foraminifera were studied from one section along the western Gaj River, southern Balochistan, Pakistan, to reconstruct the paleoenvironment of the Tethys Sea during the Indian-Asian contact. We recognize three lithostratigraphic units in ascending order: the Mughal Kot Formation, the Pab Sandstone, and the Jamburo Group. Both the Maastrichtian Mughal Kot Formation, which consists of shale with grey marly limestone, and the Maastrichtian Pab Sandstone, which consists of quartzose sandstone, indicate an open ocean environment as they have diversified planktic and benthic foraminiferal assemblages. The Maastrichtian-Paleocene Jamburo Group, consisting of dark grey, calcareous shale and marlstone with some sulfide grains, is characterized by low diversities of benthic assemblages. The change to the lower diversities may be associated with the development of poor circulation of deeper water that was caused by narrowing of the Tethys Sea.The Trochammina spp. Assemblage from the Jamburo Group, which can be correlated with flysch-type agglutinated foraminiferal assemblages, has a low benthic species diversity, indicating an unfavorable condition for calcareous foraminifera because of the development of oxygen-depleted water. The absolute abundance of agglutinated specimens shows a remarkable change from low numbers in the Maastrichtian to high ones in the Paleocene. The benthic foraminiferal evidence supports the hypothesis that the collision of the Asian and Indian plates occurred near the end of the Cretaceous.     

Ostracods from the Upper Cretaceous–Paleocene Jiaozhou Formation of Jiaozhou,Shandong, China and their biostratigraphic significance

Late Mesozoic–Cenozoic non-marine deposits are well developed in the Jiaolai Basin, eastern Shandong Province, China, yielding abundant fossils including ostracods. In order to further understand the geological settings of the basin during the Late Cretaceous–Paleogene, three boreholes (JK-1, JZK-01 and JZK-02) were drilled in the city of Jiaozhou. Nine genera and sixteen species (including six indeterminate species) of ostracods are described from the Jiaozhou Formation in the three boreholes, including Cypridea, Mongolocypris, Talicypridea, Candona, Eucypris, Cyprois, Porpocypris, Sinocypris and Timiriasevia. Of these, Porpocypris sphaeroidalis Guan, 1978 is reported from northern China for the first time, indicating that this species has great potential to be an indicator of the K/Pg boundary. Correlation of these species with the known Cretaceous–Paleogene ostracod assemblages suggests that the age of the Jiaozhou Formation could be latest Cretaceous–Paleocene in borehole JK-1, Campanian–Maastrichtian in borehole JZK-01, and Maastrichtian–Danian in borehole JZK-02. The exact position of K/Pg boundary, however, is unavailable for the present in the Jiaozhou Formation from boreholes JK-1 and JZK-01.     

西藏日喀则恰布林剖面大竹卡组孢粉组合及其时代和古环境、古地理意义

西藏日喀则沿雅鲁藏布江分布的大竹卡组为一套杂色的砂砾岩沉积.与新生代印度-劳亚板块的碰撞和青藏高原的隆升具有密切的联系.迄今为止,其中尚未有可靠的化石发现用于指示时代.当前研究根据从大竹卡组中的一些粉、细砂岩中获得的较丰富的孢粉化石,首次探讨其沉积时期的古植物区系和陆地生态环境特征.孢粉组合以榆科和胡桃科具孔类和壳斗科三(拟孔)沟类被子植物花粉占优势,也见有较多的蕨类植物孢子和裸子植物两气囊花粉,其时代可能是渐新世-早中新世.孢粉组合反映大竹卡组沉积期间恰布林一带的气候比较温暖、湿润,揭示印度、劳亚大陆碰撞早期的热带-南亚热带低山丘陵环境.植物区系横向对比表明,恰布林自始新世末以来向北位移了大约500km.     

西藏南部放射虫微体古生物研究进展

西藏南部的雅鲁藏布蛇绿岩带以及该带之南的沉积地层带（特提期沉积区,北喜马拉雅亚区）中广泛发育着大量含放射虫地层,放射虫研究在确定该区蛇绿岩的形成时代,解释造山带复杂的地层层序以及揭示印度板块与欧亚板块在古近纪碰撞老祖宗前的古海洋盆地的演化历史等方面发挥了重要作用。根据已发表的文献以及我们正在进行中的初步成果显示,藏南地区的含放射虫地层的时代分布之中三叠世（安尼期）至晚白垩（土仑期）。这些地层的岩性包括硅质岩,硅质泥岩,凝灰质细碎屑岩和泥晶灰岩等,尽管藏南的放射虫研究已取得一些成果,但系统的放射虫研究与地层研究仍然有待于进一步深入开展。     

Biology,distribution and ecology of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Didymosphenia geminata</Emphasis> (Lyngbye) Schmidt an abundant diatom from the Indian Himalayan rivers

Three years of studies on some Indian Himalayan rivers in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Sikkim revealed the presence of Didymosphenia geminata (Lyngbye) M. Schmidt, a large diatom, hitherto unreported from these areas. This is first report on the occurrence of this diatom in some Indian Himalayan rivers: Kishanganga in Jammu & Kashmir, Ravi in Himachal Pradesh in Western Himalaya and in Teesta river and its two tributaries, Lachen Chhu and Lachung Chhu from Sikkim in the Eastern Himalaya. D. geminata is the most abundant taxon in both suspended and benthic algal communities in these rivers. The species exhibits wide ecological amplitude, allowing it to inhabit both cold and warm waters. We also recorded the exotic brown trout, Salmo trutta fario in these Himalayan rivers. However, in Central Himalayan rivers, Alaknanda, Bhilangana, Mandakini and Dhauliganga in Uttarakhand, where this diatom was absent the trout were absent too. Our studies indicate that D. geminata may extend its distribution range to other Himalayan rivers, hitherto uninhabited by the diatom, depending on the mode of introduction of exotic trout in these rivers.     

Non-calcified warm-water marine macroalgae from the Ordovician strata of Spiti,Tethys Himalaya,India

The calcareous siltstones within the Ordovician section of the Takche Formation near Takche, Spiti region of Tethyan Himalaya, India, contain numerous specimens of non-calcified marine macroalgae in association with brachiopods, gastropods, tentaculitoids, and few trace fossils. The algal remains, representing five genera, are preserved as black or dark brown carbonaceous compression fossils, interpreted as warm-water marine macroalgae, namely, Inocladus sp., Callisphenus? sp., Algites sp. (siphonous algae), Fisherites sp., and Mastopora sp. (non-siphonous). Callisphenus is characterised by a radially symmetrical short pyriform thallus, with a central axis surrounded by short laterals whereas Inocladus sp. is characterised by an unsegmented simple thallus with internal parallel medullary siphons and cortical tubes. These algal remains, probably transported from a more near-shore living niche, co-occur with Cyclocrinitids, Tentaculitoids tube worms, trace fossils and brachiopods, suggesting that deposition of the studied units took place in low energy hydrodynamic conditions influenced by intermittent storm events. The study represents the first diversified macroalgal records from the Ordovician strata in the Tethyan realm of Indian subcontinent.     

High-elevation tree-ring record of 263-year summer temperature for a cold-arid region in the western Himalaya,India

The unavailability of weather records from the orography dominated high Himalayas restricts our understanding in long term perspective. However, remote high-altitude regions of Himalaya silently testify the regional climate and can provide valuable insights of real climatic challenges in the absence of instrumental observatories. The tree-species over such high-altitude regions with negligible anthropogenic pressure have the potential to reveal the clear climate upheavals in long-term perspective. In the present study tree-ring samples of Himalayan birch from a high-altitude cold-arid region of Lahaul-Spiti, Himachal Pradesh were analysed and two ring-width chronologies were developed. The response function analyses showed direct relationship between the summer temperature and ring-width chronologies of Himalayan birch. Using the relationship we have reconstructed mean summer temperature (June-July) back to AD 1752 for the Lahaul-Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh. We have developed the first record of summer temperature from the Indian western Himalaya using tree-ring-width chronologies that have direct relationship with summer temperature. Further, our study in accordance with instrumental as well as other tree-ring based summer temperature records suggested that the high-altitude western Himalaya is not warming unprecedently during summers. However, slight warming pattern have been observed in the summer temperature in the later part of the reconstruction. The temperature reconstruction also reflects strong spatial correlation with gridded temperature for the western Himalaya.     

A new libelluloid family from the Upper Paleocene of Argentina

A new family of dragonflies, Palaeomacromiidae, based on Palaeomacromia multicellulata gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Late Paleocene Maíz Gordo Formation of north-western Argentina. The present discovery demonstrates that the present knowledge of the Early Cenozoic insect fauna of the Neotropical region remains very poor.     

Saccamminopsis, Mississippian carbonate microproblematicum, a possible udoteacean algal gametophyte (Chlorophyta, Siphonales)

The carbonate microproblematicum Saccamminopsis is reinterpreted as a probable udoteacean algal gametophyte, and it is compared with different genera of problematical Udoteaceae or Dasycladaceae of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. No parallel is possible with other Palaeozoic or Recent microfossils. Saccamminopsis is virtually confined to the western Tethyan carbonates (Japan excepted) during the late Visean V3b/c (especially during biozones Cf6γ2-Cf6δ). Comparable algal genera extend up to the Eocene, with several Lazarus effects, probably due to the weakness of the aragonitic calcification.     

Foraminiferal biozonation,biostratigraphy and trans-basinal correlation of the Oligo-Miocene Qom Formation,Iran (northeastern margin of the Tethyan Seaway)

During the Rupelian–Burdigalian (early Oligocene–early Miocene), the Qom Formation was deposited along the northeastern margin of the Tethyan Seaway in the Sanandaj–Sirjan, Urumieh–Dokhtar, and Central Iran basins. The biostratigraphic data from a total of 1152 thin sections from 10 outcrop sections along over 1000 km of the Tethyan Seaway margin are presented. A larger benthic foraminiferal (LBF) biozonation, consisting of five biozones, is proposed for dating the Rupelian–Burdigalian Qom Formation. It is correlated with global planktonic zones, LBF zones, southeastern Asian “Letter Stages”, shallow benthic foraminiferal zones (SB-zones) of southern European basins, and newly revised zones of the Asmari Formation in southwestern Iran. This biozonation subdivides the Rupelian stage into “early Rupelian” and “late Rupelian”, based on the first appearances of lepidocyclinids in the latter one. The early Rupelian strata are characterized by the presence of Nummulites without lepidocyclinids which are reported merely from southwestern and southern Kashan, where the thickest Rupelian deposits of the Qom Formation are recorded. The basal layers of the Qom Formation in southeasternmost outcrops (northwestern Jazmurian Lake) are late Rupelian in age based on the co-occurrence of lepidocyclinids and Nummulites spp. By comparison of the well-documented transgression of the Tethyan Seaway over the Iranian plate (from southeast to northwest) and the limitation of all reported early Rupelian strata of the Qom Formation to southwestern and southern Kashan, the following scenarios can be supposed: 1) the oldest deposits could be deposited in southeastern Iran, but they have not been reported, yet; 2) during early Rupelian, there was a transgression from the Zagros Basin to southwestern and southern Kashan areas, then the transgression progressed both northwestward and southeastward.     

Stratigraphie et sédimentologie des « Couches rouges » continentales du Jurassique-Crétacé du Haut Atlas central (Maroc) : implications paléogéographiques et géodynamiques

In several synclines of the central High Atlas, the “Redbeds” following the closure of the marine Tethyan Atlasic trough during the Middle Jurassic are constituted by three successive formations or units of continental deposits dated recently with biostratigraphical elements. Some micropaleontological markers, mainly charophytes and ostracods, allow to precise the stratigraphy in agreement with a Bathonian-?Callovian assignment for the lower unit (Guettioua Formation), and in dating the middle and upper units. The Upper Jurassic, mainly the Kimmeridgian, is developed in the lower part of the middle unit (Iouaridene Formation). The Barremian has been recognized in this middle unit and in the upper unit (Jbel Sidal Formation). The Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary is thus delimited for the first time with micropaleontological data. These new data are very significant for the Atlasic history during the Mesozoic. The basaltic flows inserted in the continental Jurassic-Cretaceous deposits of the central High Atlas result from two separate events in the Middle Jurassic and in the Barremian. The tectogenesis in the basins is characterized by a polyphase process including notably a synsedimentary tectonic activity conspicuous in the Barremian. The evidence of marine to brackish intercalations allows moreover to date the first Cretaceous transgressive event on the NW boundary of the High Atlas during the Lower Barremian and to consider an Atlantic paleogeographical interaction. SW margin of the Tethyan trough in the Lower and Middle Jurassic, the central High Atlas is merged with the margin of the central Atlantic Ocean during the Lower Cretaceous.     

Evidence for diversification of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Calophyllum</Emphasis> L. (Calophyllaceae) in the Neogene Siwalik forests of eastern Himalaya

Here, we report fossil leaves, woods, and pollen grains comparable to Calophyllum L. (mainly to Calophyllum inophyllum L. and Calophyllum polyanthum Wall. ex Choisy) of Calophyllaceae from the upper (Kimin Formation, late Pliocene-early Pleistocene), middle (Subansiri Formation, Pliocene) Siwalik sediments of the Arunachal sub-Himalaya, and lower (Gish Clay Formation of Sevok Group; middle to late Miocene) Siwalik sediments of the Darjeeling foothills, eastern Himalaya. Their presence indicates a warm and humid tropical environment in the region during the period of Siwalik sedimentation. Considering all records of Calophyllum, it is suggested that Calophyllum was a frequent forest element throughout the period of Siwalik sedimentation during the Neogene (Miocene time). At present, C. polyanthum grows in the eastern Himalaya, but C. inophyllum is totally absent from north-eastern regions suggesting differential adaptability of these taxa to changing ecoclimatic conditions. Distinct climate change in the area, possibly related to the Himalayan Orogeny during Miocene–Pleistocene times, might have caused the disappearance of C. inophyllum from the entire eastern Himalaya and north-east Indian plains and a move to littoral/coastal and swampy forests of India and other adjoining south-east Asian regions, Polynesia, and the east coast of Africa. The past global distribution of Calophyllum is also discussed, and it is suggested that India may have been its primary centre of origin. This is the first time Cenozoic fossil leaves Calophyllum siwalikum Khan, R.A.Spicer & Bera, sp. nov. comparable to C. inophyllum are described using the both macro- and micromorphological characters.     

Integrated sedimentological,ichnological and sequence stratigraphical studies of the Koti Dhaman Formation (Tal Group), Nigali Dhar Syncline,Lesser Himalaya,India: paleoenvironmental,paleoecological, paleogeographic significance

Abstract

Integrated ichnology, sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of the Lower Quartzite Member to the Arkosic Sandstone Member of the Koti Dhaman Formation (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4), Tal Group, Nigali Dhar Syncline, Lesser Himalayan lithotectonic zone are presented. Trilobite traces of Gondwanan affinity i.e., Cruziana salomonis, Cruziana fasciculata, Rusophycus dispar and Rusophycus burjensis are recorded along with Arenicolites isp. and Skolithos isp. from the Lower Quartzite Member. A rich and diverse ichnoassemblage attributed to the Cruziana ichnofacies is described for the first time from the Arkosic Sandstone Member of the same formation. Seven ichnofossil assemblages, i.e., Cruziana-Rusophycus, Planolites-Palaeophycus, Cruziana problematica, Diplichnites, Cochlichnus anguineus, Bergaueria perata and Psammichnites gigas have been recognized in the Lower Quartzite to Arkosic Sandstone members of the Koti Dhaman Formation. Seven sedimentary facies i.e., sandstone–shale facies (FT1), cross-bedded (trough and planar) sandstone (FT2), bedded sandstone facies (FT3), shale facies (FT4), shale–sandstone facies (FT5), shale-rippled sandstone facies (FT6) and planar and trough cross-laminated sandstone (FT7) and four facies associations FA1-FA4 are identified in the Koti Dhaman Formation. The formation contains shallowing upward parasequences of a tidal flat complex. Overall, two major events are recognized: i) the break in sedimentation between the Lower Quartzite Member and the overlying Shale Member probably related to forced-regressive event and ii) the facies shift from FT6 to FT7 of the Arkosic Sandstone Member represents an erosive transgressive event; the surface is interpreted as wave ravinement surface, which also serves as a sequence boundary. Integrated ichnology, sedimentology and sequence stratigraphic studies indicate that the Lower Quartzite Member was deposited in a shallow subtidal sand sheet complex and tidal flat complex; the Shale Member was deposited in a mud flat setting of a tidal flat complex, and the Arkosic Sandstone Member in a mixed-flat (tidal flat complex) to sand sheet complex front and margin (subtidal sand sheet complex). Overall, the lower to middle part of the Koti Dhaman Formation represents a tide-dominated shallow subtidal–intertidal to mud-flat subenvironments of the tidal flat complex. A palaeogeographic reconstruction of lower Cambrian (516–514?Ma) is presented based on the distribution of trilobite traces from the Lesser Himalaya and the Bikaner–Nagaur area of Peninsular India (eastern Gondwana), Egypt, Jordan, Turkey (western Gondwana) and Canada (Avalonia).     

Provenance analysis of Cenozoic conglomerates: Insights from Lower Cretaceous radiolarians in chert clasts from the Xigaze area,southern Tibet

Conglomerates, exposed on either side of the Yarlung Tsangpo suture zone (YTSZ) in southern Tibet, have attracted wide attention in elucidating uplift and erosion histories of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen. However, the provenance of these conglomerates remains controversial. Although radiolarian-bearing chert clasts within these conglomerates have received little focus, identification of the radiolarian assemblages they contain could shed light on the provenance of these sedimentary units. We present the first report of Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous (upper Kimmeridgian–lower Barremian) radiolarian assemblages recovered from chert clasts within the Liuqu and Gangrinboche conglomerates in the Xigaze area. To extract radiolarian fossils from independent clasts in the conglomerates, a detailed and efficient experimental process is illustrated. The assemblages are well correlated to those in the YTSZ and Tethyan Himalaya, showing typical Tethyan characteristics. The lithology of chert clasts and ages of constituent radiolarian faunas suggest that the chert clasts in Liuqu and Gangrinboche conglomerates were derived from the Bainang terrane. This interpretation implies that Early Cretaceous accretionary complexes in the YTSZ had been exposed and eroded before deposited as clasts in the Cenozoic Liuqu and Gangrinboche conglomerates.     

新生代全球变化与中国古植物区系的演变

新生代是地质历史最年轻的一个时代 ,当时全球板块运动和岩浆活动强烈而频繁 ,中生代开始的大陆漂移活动继续进行 ,并于早第三纪末开始喜马拉雅运动 ,古地中海逐渐封闭 ,经过一系列的板块碰撞和洋底扩张 ,晚第三纪时地壳构造的基本轮廓和古地理面貌逐渐接近现代。受地壳运动的控制 ,全球新生代气候波动明显 ,早第三纪总体比较温暖 ,晚第三纪气候发生明显分异 ,气温显著下降 ,第三纪末期开始有冰川活动 ,一直持续到更新世末期 ,期间发生多次冰期和间冰期 ,全新世气候逐渐转暖。受上述全球变化的影响 ,我国新生代植物区系纵向演变和横向分异明显 ,早第三纪植物区系主要是纬向分带 ,从古新世到渐新世 ,我国植物区系主要分为北方区和南方区 ;晚第三纪初 ,由于喜马拉雅运动使青藏高原及东部的横断山脉地区持续抬升 ,逐渐形成独立的高原植物区。总体来说 ,晚第三纪植物区系和植被类型逐渐接近现代。第四纪由于青藏高原继续强烈抬升 ,激发了东亚季风 ,使我国的植物区系经向分带更加明显 ,植物区系和植被类型与现代已基本一致 ,到了全新世晚期 ,植物区系的演变除了受全球变化的影响外 ,人类活动的作用也越来越明显     

Molecular dating of a marine species,Eriocheir japonica (Decapoda: Grapsidae), corroborates cenozoic tectonic events and sea level fluctuation

Changes of coastal topography for Cenozoic Himalayan orogeny complicated the phylogeographical structure of marine species and deepened their divergences. To test the association between divergence and Cenozoic tectonic events, we analyzed the phylogeographical structure of Eriocheir japonica by combining molecular data and geographical environment events. The four distinct lineages obtained through phylogenetic reconstruction and network analysis demonstrated the significant genetic divergence among geographical populations. Furthermore, the divergence time between E. j. japonica in Japan and E. j. sinensis in China was about 10.5–11.5 mya, which was coincident with the opening of the Sea of Japan. The north-south divergence time (15.5–17.5 mya) was in the range of the occurrence of the Himalaya movement. We hypothesize that coastal topography, including the formation of Taiwan in the Himalaya movement and the opening of the Sea of Japan, contributed to the geographical subspeciation of marine species. Mitten crabs were inferred to originate from one ancient population with the oldest haplotype H6 and subsequently divide into northern and southern populations. Furthermore, the Japan lineage derived from northern population in China for the opening of the Sea of Japan.