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Danxia Formation
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Danxia Fm base reconstruction

Danxia Fm

Period: 
Cretaceous, Paleogene

Age Interval: 
Late Cretaceous- Paleogene, K2-E1d, (42a)


Province: 
Guangdong

Type Locality and Naming

Feng Jinglan (1928) named the Danxia Beds according to the strata of the Danxia Mountain in Renhua. The No 761 Geological Team of Guangdong called the strata as the Danxia Group. Zheng Jiajian et al. (1973) revised it as the Danxia Formation. The type locality is at the Danxia Mountain section (113º44', 25º1') in the Renhua County, Guangdong.


Lithology and Thickness

The Danxia Formation is composed of brownish red, purple red thick-bedded conglomerate, conglomerate-bearing sandstone, sandstone and feldspar quartz sandstone, with intercalations of feldspar quartz siltstone, sandy mudstone. The thickness is varied in different places, ranging from 210 m to 4278 m.


Lithology Pattern: 
Coarse-grained sandstone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

The formation rests on older strata unconformably in eastern Guangdong, on the Nanxiong Gr in northern Guangdong.

Upper contact

Regional extent

It is wider distributed in Heyuan, Huizhou, Shaoguan, Shantou, and Xingning areas.


GeoJSON

{"type":"Feature","geometry":{"type":"MultiPolygon","coordinates":[[[[114,24.9],[114.08,24.9],[114.19,24.78],[114.29,24.64],[114.32,24.48],[114.31,24.41],[114.28,24.3],[114.25,24.2],[114.2,24.17],[114.13,24.19],[114.08,24.24],[114.05,24.32],[114.02,24.41],[113.99,24.49],[113.91,24.61],[113.83,24.75],[113.84,24.84],[114,24.9]]]]}}

Fossils

The formation yields fossils like ostracods Eucypris sanshuiensis, Yumenella sp., charophyte Grambastichara yuntaishanensis, dinosaur egg Oolithes elogatus, gastropod Sanshuispira hexalamella, spore and pollen.


Age 

The fossil group shows a Late Cretaceous to early Paleogene age. [For graphic purposes, inserted here as early Maastrichtian, in order to show adjacent latest-Maastrichian-Danian Shanghu Fm]

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Maastrichtian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.0

    Beginning date (Ma): 
72.17

    Ending stage: 
Maastrichtian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.5

    Ending date (Ma):  
69.11

Depositional setting


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

Wan Xiaoqiao