Gaozhuang Fm

The type section is located at exposures (E112°53′, N37°01′) between the villages of Gaozhuang and Zhaozhuang, about 10 km southwest of the county of Yushe, Shanxi Province. It was named by Qiu et al. (1987).

The Gaozhuang Fm is divided into three members: lower Taoyang Mbr is characterized by a thick series of golden-brown and rusty yellow fine large interlaced medium-grained sandstones interbedded with purplish-red laminations of clay. middle Nanzhuanggou Mbr consists of rusty yellow and purplish-red clays with three layers of greyish-green marlstones. upper Culiugou Mbr is formed by purple and brownish-red coarse-grained sandstones with gravels. It contains abundant fossil fishes, turtles, mammals, insects, gastropods, ostracods, charophytes, plants, and sporopollens. Its thickness is about 450 m.

Mammals: Blarinini indet., Soriculus praecursus, Desmana kowalskae, Yanshuella primaeva, Scaptochirus sp., Eutamias ertemtensis, Sciurus sp., S. yusheensis, Sinotamias sp., Pliopetaurista rugosa, Castor anderssoni, Dipoides majori, Myomimus sp., Cricetinus sp., Allocricetus sp., Neocricetodon grangeri, Nanocricetus mongolicus, Chardina truncatus, Prosiphneus eriksoni, Mesosiphneus praetingi, Mimomys sp., Germanomys sp., Rhizomys shansius, Dipus fraudator, Apodemus qiui, Micromys chalceus, M. tedfordi, Karnimata hipparionum, Chardinomys yusheensis, Huaxiamys downsi, Hystrix sp., Alilepus annectens, Trischizolagus sp., Hypolagus sp., Ochotona lagrelli, Nyctereutes tingi, N. sinensis, Eucyon davisi, E. zhoui, Canis sp., Agriotherium sp., Ursus sp., Plesiogulo brachygnathus, Martes sp., Thalassictis sp., Chasmaporthetes kani, Pachycrocuta pyrenaica, Metailurus sp., Mammut borsoni, Sinomastodon intermedius, Stegodon zdanskyi, Hipparion platyodus, H. houfenense, H. pater, H. insperatum, H. licenti, Dicerorhinus ringstroemi, Shansirhinus ringstroemi, Sus erymanthius, Paracamelus sp., Moschus sp., Paracervulus cf. P. killgusi, Metacervulus sp., Muntiacus cf. M. lacustris, Axis speciosus, Cervavitus demissus, Eucladoceros proboulei, Procapreolus sp., Gazella gaozhuangensis, G. nihensis, G. yushensis, cf. Protoryx yushensis, cf. Tragocerus laticornis (Tedford et al., 1991; Qiu and Qiu, 1995; Flynn et al., 1997). Fishes: Xenocypris yushensis, Cyprinus carpio, Carassius auratus, Culter cf. C. mongolicus, Hemiculterella longicephalus, Leuciscus tchangi, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Pseudorasbora changtsunense, Mylopharyngodon piceus, Ctenophary ngodonidellus, Parasilurus asotus, Sinoperca wusiangensis, Ophicephalus argus (Liu and Su, 1962). Amphibian: Rana yushensis (Liu, 1961). Ostracods: Ilyocypris cornae, I. manasensis, I. gibba, I. biplicata, I. salebrosa, I. dunschanensis, I. qingxuensis, I. pulchra, I. errabundis, I. bradyi, Cypris subglobosa, Eucypris inflata, Eucypris cf. E. concinna, Cyprinotus salinus, C. yusheensis, C. chiuhsinensis, C. formalis, C. reticulata, Potamocypris sp., Cypridopsis sp., Candona yaozitouensis, C. kirgizica, Candoniella albicans, C. suzini, C. mirabilis, Leucocythere mirabilis, Cyprideis littoralis (Huang et al., 1991) Gastropods: Cincinnatia alticonula, Stothyra glabra, Neumayria sp., Bithynia phrygica, Hydrobioides yusheensis, Parafossarulus? sp., Galba turritella, Radix pereger, Acella sp., Bulinus sp., Gyraulus albus, G. compressus, G. sibiricus, G. Borealis, Polypylis succinea, Planorbarius corneus, Nesopupa wesleyana, Vertigo lilljeborgi, Gastrocopta armigerella, G. paucidentata, Pupilla bituberculata, Vallonia tenuilabris, V. asiaticae, Succinea oblonga, S. altaica (Wang, 1992). Bivalves: Sphaerium rivicolum, S. subsolidum, Pisidium amnicum (Huang et al., 1991). Sporopollens: Pinus, Picea, Abies, Larix, Tsuga, Betula, Quercus, Corylus, Tilia, Castanea, Carpinus, Ulmus, Ephedra, Artemisia, Chenopodiaceae, Compositae, Labiatae, Poaceae, Leguminosae, Polygonaceae, Cyperaceae, Typha, Potamogeton, Sinopteridaceae. (Li et al., 2002) Charophytes: Grambastichara weinanensis, Lychnothamnus subeiensis, Chara cf. C. sejuncta, Nemegtichara sp. (Huang et al., 1991). Plants: Hemiptelea sp., Quercus miovariablis, Quercus cf. Q. dentate, Quercus cf. Q. liaotungensi, Quercus cf. Q. mongolica, Carpinus cf. C. miofangiana, C. subcordata, Acer florinii, A. subpictum, A. diabolicum, Zelkova ungeri, Ulmus cf. U. parvifolia, Juglans sp., Pterocarya sp., Cudrania sp., Broussonetia sp., Populus latior, Salix cf. S. wallichiana, Albizza sp., Spiraea sp., Evodia sp., Koelreuteria cf. K. integrifolia, Tyhpa sp. (Cao and Cui, 1990).

It is interpreted as a river-lake environment.