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Etouchang Formation

Etouchang Fm


Period: 
Mesoproterozoic

Age Interval: 
Jixianian (Calymmian) Jx


Province: 
Yunnan

Type Locality and Naming

East-central Yunnan. The Etouchang Fm was named by the Comprehensive Party of Geology, Yunnan Bureau of Geology in 1966. The reference section is at Xiaoxinchang-Huanglongzhai River, Lufeng County, Yunnan Province.

Synonym: (鹅头厂组)


Lithology and Thickness

The Etouchang Fm is composed of banded interbedding of dark-grey and grey-black siliceous slate with silty slate. The base contains carbonaceous and siliceous dolomite, and the lower part is sandwiched with muddy dolomite, chert, limestone and siliceous slate. The middle part is composed of meta-sandstone. The exposed thickness in Etouchang area is recorded as 816 m, but it is 1266 m in the Yimen Copper ore District, and 1020 m in the Yuanjiang District.


Lithology Pattern: 
Claystone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

It is stable in lithological character and in conformable contact with the underlying Luoxue Fm

Upper contact

It is in conformable contact with the overlying Luzhijiang Fm

Regional extent

East-central Yunnan. It is distributed in Lufang, Yuanjiang and Yimen.


GeoJSON

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Fossils

The microplants are: Trachysphaeridium etouchangense, T. dalongkouense, Sicyomorpha, Kildinella, Trematosphaeridium, Lignum, Polyporata.


Age 

Schematic stratigraphic section assigns as early Jixianian (early Calymmian).

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Calymmian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.0

    Beginning date (Ma): 
1,600.00

    Ending stage: 
Calymmian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.5

    Ending date (Ma):  
1,500.00

Depositional setting


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information

The carbonaceous slate and dolomite in the lower part of the formation are the copper-bearing horizons, which are up to commercial grade. In Dongchuan ore district the stratigraphic horizon equivalent to the copper-bearing stratigraphic unit is called Heishan Fm, the synonym of the Etouchang Fm, but there is some difference from each other in lithological character.


Compiler:  

Extracts from The Mesoproterozoic Erathem (chapter in Stratigraphic Lexicon of China, draft of 2022) by Gao Linzhi, Ding Xiaozhong, Zhang Chuanheng, Zhang Heng.