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Qianjiang Formation

Qianjiang Fm


Period: 
Paleogene

Age Interval: 
early Middle Eocene (21b)


Province: 
Hubei

Type Locality and Naming

Jianghan Basin - SE. The naming section is in a well in the Qianjiang area in south-central Hubei. Named by the Jianghan Petroleum Administration, 1965.


Lithology and Thickness

A sequence of dark gray mudstone, brownish red, purplish red and grayish green mud-gypsum rock and halite with sandstone, oil shale and oolitic marlstone. It is about 600–4000 m thick


Lithology Pattern: 
Gypsiferous claystone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

The formation has a conformable contact with the underlying Eocene Jingsha Fm.

Upper contact

The formation was deposited continuously with the overlying late Eocene Jinghezhen Fm.

Regional extent

It is distributed in west-central and eastern Hubei, northern Hunan and western Anhui.


GeoJSON

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Fossils

There are abundant fossils. The Second Member contains the ostracods Cyprinotus macronefandus-C. igneus assemblage and the charophytes Grovesichara kielani, Stephanochara globula, Charites jinjiachangensis and Croftiella laticellula. Ostracods in the First Member are represented by the Cyprois zhanggangensis-Cyprinotus jingheensis assemblage and charophytes include such species as Charites molassica and Maedlerisphaera chinensis. In addition, there are also the foraminifera genera Quinqueloculina and Triloculina, as well as fishes and sporopollen. The sporopollen assemblage is dominated by deciduous and broadleaf plants with a certain quantity of tropical and subtropical elements. Gymnosperms are mainly Taxodiaceae, Pinaceae and Ephedripites.


Age 

Isotopic dating gives ages of 43.1–47.8 Ma. Its age was previously considered to be Middle to Late Eocene (Zheng et al., 1999). However, recent study assigns this formation to early Middle Eocene corresponding to the Irdinmanhan Stage (Wang et al., 2019), which Wang, Y.Q., et al. (2019, Paleogene Integr. Strat. Timescale China; Sci. China: Earth Sci., 62) assign as mid-Lutetian to latest Lutetian.

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Lutetian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.4

    Beginning date (Ma): 
45.25

    Ending stage: 
Lutetian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.8

    Ending date (Ma):  
42.44

Depositional setting


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

Tao Deng, Yuanqing Wang, Qian Li, et al.