Lingshan Fm

The naming section is located at Xipo Village, Lingshan Township, Quyang County, southwest of Baoding, Hebei. Named by the Petroleum Geological Party, Hebei Bureau of Geology in 1960.

This formation is a sequence of lacustrine-swampy deposits dominated by clastic rocks with coal beds located above the pre-Tertiary. It was originally called the “Lingshan conglomerate” or “Lingshan coal measures”. The lithology and thickness vary greatly. Lithologically the formation is broadly subdivided into four members, in ascending order these are: Fourth Member is gray lime conglomerate with purplish red mudstone and siltstone, 60–586 m thick. Third Member is purplish red siltstone and muddy siltstone with sandstone and grayish green mudstone and conglomerate lenses, 232 m thick. Second Member is grayish green and light gray mudstone with bauxitic shale, grayish white limestone, organic limestone, fine sandstone and more than 20 beds of brown coal beds, 14–170 m thick. First Member is gray calcareous conglomerate; the upper part of which contains grayish green and grayish yellow sandstone and mudstone lenses, 86 m thick.

In addition, it also occurs at ~100 m depth below the Zhangbei-Kangbao area, 30-1074 m thick.

The fossils include the gastropod Valvata sp., the valve Sphaerium cf. rivicolum and S. nitidum，and fossil vertebrates such as fishes, turtles and Amphibian.

It is interpreted to a sequence of lacustrine-swampy deposits.