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Haiyan Formation

Haiyan Fm


Period: 
Neogene

Age Interval: 
Early Pleistocene (Gelasian), Q1 , (17b)


Province: 
Shanxi

Type Locality and Naming

The type section is located at Haiyan (E112°45′, N37°05′), about 18 km northwest of the county of Yushe, Shanxi Province. It was firstly used as “Hanyan Bed” by Jia Hang in 1981 in his unpublished manuscript. Later, it was formally redefined and published by Qiu et al. (1987).

Synonym: Licent and Trassaert (1935) placed it at their “Yushe Zone III”. Pei et al. (1963) renamed as “Upper Yushe Fm”. Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources of Shanxi Province (BGMRS(Shanxi)P) (1989) named the Louzeyu Fm (=Mazegou Fm). Qiu et al. (1987) considered that the Haiyan Fm is above the Louzoyu Fm.


Lithology and Thickness

The Haiyan Fm is characterized by a series of earthy yellow loose sands and purplish-red, greyish-green clays. It contains mammalian fossils. Its thickness is about 46 m.


Lithology Pattern: 
Clayey sandstone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Unconformably contacts with the underlying Upper Pliocene Mazegou Fm.

Upper contact

In the type section, the Haiyan Fm is overlain by the Holocene deposits.

Regional extent

The formation is restricted in area of Yanliang, Hewa, Heyu, and Qingyangping, in the Yushe Basin.


GeoJSON

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Fossils

Mammals: Sorex sp., Ochotona sp., Ochotonoides complicidens, Marmota robusta, Trogontherium cuvieri, Hystrix sp., Dipus sp., Phodopus sp., Cricetulus barabensis, Youngia tingi, cf. Micromys minutus, cf. Micromys praeminutus, Chardinomys nihowanicus, Borsodia chinensis, Mimomys orientalis, Cromeromys gansunicus, Agriotherium, Meles, Pliohyaena, Homotherium, Canis, Cuon, Paracamelus, Axis, Muntiacus, Rusa, Eucladoceras, Elaphurus, Lyroceras, Budorcas, Archidikodon sp., Postschizotherium sp., Nyctereutes sinensis, Megantereon sp., Plesiohipparion, Hipparion (Proboscidipparion) sinense, Equus, Dicerorhinus, Bison palaeosinensis, Gazella sinensis. (Tedford et al., 1991; Flynn et al., 1997)


Age 

Teilhard and Young (1933) assigned this formation to the Sanmen Stage. The recent magnetic dating of the Hanyan Fm is in range of 2.0 to 2.5 Ma (Opdyke et al., 2013). Tao Deng et al. (2019; Neogene integrated stratigraphy and timescale of China) imply it is Gelasian.

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Gelasian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.0

    Beginning date (Ma): 
2.58

    Ending stage: 
Gelasian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
1.0

    Ending date (Ma):  
1.80

Depositional setting

It is interpreted as a river-lake environment.


Depositional pattern:  

Additional Information


Compiler:  

Tao Deng, Sukuan Hou, J.Z. Qigao, Q. Li, Q.Q. Shi, B.Y. Sun, S.Q. Wang, F.X. Wu