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Qiangtang Formation

Qiangtang Fm

Period: 
Neogene, Quaternary

Age Interval: 
early Pliocene (Zanclean) to middle Pleistocene (Calabrian), N2-Q2


Province: 
Qinghai

Type Locality and Naming

The type section is located at the Kunlun Pass section (E94°00′, N35°41′), south of Xidatan, Golmud City, Qinghai Province. Tang and Wang (1976) firstly reported the “Quaternary” lacustrine sediments in the Kunlun Pass Basin, but they didn’t give a name for this lithological unit. In the monograph of “Contribution to the Geology of the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau 4”, CGQXP Editorial Committee (1982) formally named the Qiangtang Fm. In this monograph, He (1982) gave a detailed description of lithology of the Qiangtang Fm, so he should be the nomenclature. BGMRQP (1991, 1997), Zheng et al. (1999) all didn’t collect this formation.


Lithology and Thickness

It is divided into six parts (from bottom to top): First (bottom) part is characterized by grey, greyish-white, greyish-black, and light brown clays and subclays containing sands and debris, producing aquatic herb and gastropod fossils; Second part consists of yellow and greyish-yellow gravels and sands, and steel grey, greyish-brown clays and subclays, containing herb debris and gastropod fossils; Third part is formed by grey clays and subclays, and greyish-yellow sands containing granules, its bottom producing Hipparion; Fourth part consists of greyish-black subclays interbedded with greyish-white sands; Fifth part is formed by yellow gravels and brown rock debris containing sands and subclays; Sixth (top) part is characterized by brownish-red gravels and greyish-brown subclays containing gravels, producing aquatic herb plant fossils. It contains abundant fossil plant fragments, mammals, fishes, ostracods, gastropods, and sporopollens. Its thickness is about 600 m. (Qian and Zhang, 1997)


Lithology Pattern: 
Sandy claystone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

In the type section, the Qiangtang Fm disconformably contacts with the underlying Jingxian Fm glacial and glaciofluvial deposit.

Upper contact

In the type section, the Qiangtang Fm is unconformably overlain by the Quaternary Wangkun glacial series.

Regional extent

The formation is restricted in the Kunlun Pass Basin.


GeoJSON

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Fossils

Mammals: Petenyia sp., Aepyosciurus sp., Nannocricetus mongolicus, cf. Orientalomys sinensis, Mimomys n. sp., Prosiphneus cf. P. eriksoni, Ochotona minor, Ochotona cf. O. lagreli, Rhinocerotidae indet., Hipparion (Proboscidipparion) pater, Qurliqnoria sp., Bovidae indet., cf. Panthera blytheae, Hyaeninae indet., Vulpes qiuzhudingi, aff. Arctomeles sp. (Li et al., 2014) Fishes: Gymnocypris sp., Triplophysa sp. Sporopollens: Chenopodiaceae, Ephedra, Sabina, Nitraria, Tamarit, Betula, Corylus, Gompositae, Abies, Picea, Pinus, Quercus. (Qian and Zhang, 1997)


Age 

For quite a long time, researchers often considered that the Qiangtang Fm is a series of Quaternary deposit, and repeatedly conducted paleomagnetic dating works at the type section. Qian et al. (1982) considered the age of the Qaingtang Fm is in range of ~2.7-1.4 Ma, while Qian and Zhang (1997), Qian (1999), and Song et al. (2005) had similar results that are ~2.9-0.65 Ma, ~3.1-0.65 Ma, and ~2.58-0.78 Ma, respectively. However, the mammalian fauna from the Qiangtang Fm displays a typical early Pliocene northern China composition, which is incongruent with these paleomagnetic interpretations. Li et al. (2014) re-interpreted the paleomagnetic dating as ~4.9-0.5 Ma.

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Zanclean

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.0

    Beginning date (Ma): 
5.34

    Ending stage: 
Calabrian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
1.0

    Ending date (Ma):  
0.77

Depositional setting

It is interpreted as an intermontane basin 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