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Madongshan Formation
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Madongshan Fm base reconstruction

Madongshan Fm

Period: 
Cretaceous

Age Interval: 
Early Cretaceous, K1m, (15)


Province: 
Ningxia

Type Locality and Naming

Liupanshan Basin. The No.125 Geological Team under the Yinchuan Bureau of Petroleum Exploration erected the Madongshan bed in 1959. The type locality for the designation is in Madongshan of northwest Guyuan, Ningxia. The reference section is in Heshangpu of the Guyuan County (106°5′E; 35°41′N).


Lithology and Thickness

The Madongshan Formation is represented by blue gray, grayish green and gray medium and thick-bedded mudstone and limestone interbedded with shale, intercalated with marl and oolitic limestone. It is 95.72 m thick.


Lithology Pattern: 
Continental marl


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Its base marked by gray green medium- thick-bedded mudstone, limestone and oolitic limestone is distinguished from the underlying Lijiawa Fm. It shows a conformable contact with the underlying strata.

Upper contact

Its top marked by gray green thick-bedded mudstone with limestone, shale and oolitic limestone is distinguished from the overlying Naijiahe Fm. It shows a conformable contact with the overlying strata.

Regional extent

The present formation occurs extensively in Guyuan and Jingyuan of the Liupanshan area of south Ningxia. It is fine in lithology and reaches 1181.9 m at maximum. In Qingshan and Yaoshan of Tongxin, it is dominated by clayey sandstone, fine sandstone, mudstone and marl, intercalated with straw-hat-like limestone, gypsum and oil shale, ranging from 136.10 to 210.97 m in thickness. In Huating of Gansu, it is exposed sporadically and its top has been intersected by faults, with a thickness of only 62 m.


GeoJSON

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Fossils

In Shiyanzi of Guyuan, it yields Fish Lycoptera sp., ostracods Cypridea unicostata, C. concina, C. vitimensisi, C. porrecta, Lycopterocypris infantilis, Darwinula contracta, Ziziphocypris cf. rugosa, Mongolianella cf. palmosa; bivalves Sphaerium sp.; in Huoshizhai, Sanguankou, Qingshizui and Yaoshan, it yields Pisces Tongxinichthys microdus, Kuntulunia longipterus; estherias Neodiestheria wugouensis, N. xingergouensis, Brachygrapta sinensis, B. maginpostico, Yanjiestheria sinensis, floras Brachyphyllum sp., Pagiophyllum sp., Onychiopsis sp., Anomozamites sp., Zamiophyllum buchianum; and in Liujiadian of Huating of Gansu, estheria Eosestheria cf. middendorfii. It also yields insects and Charophytes.


Age 

Hao Yichun et al. (2000) assigned this formation to middle Cretaceous. In the two-epoch division of Cretaceous, the present lexicon regards its age as Early Cretaceous. Shown as uppermost Aptian through basal Albian by Dangpeng Xi, Xiaoqiao Wan, et al. (2019; Integrated Stratigraphy and TimeScale of China).

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Aptian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.85

    Beginning date (Ma): 
114.43

    Ending stage: 
Albian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.1

    Ending date (Ma):  
111.93

Depositional setting

It is of lacustrine deposition


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

Wan Xiaoqiao