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Saihan Formation
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Saihan Fm base reconstruction

Saihan Fm

Period: 
Cretaceous

Age Interval: 
Albian, (17d)


Province: 
Inner Mongolia

Type Locality and Naming

Erlian Basin. "The Bayanhua Gr, consisting of the Aershan Fm, Tenggeer Fm and Saihan Fm in ascending order, was deposited during the Early Cretaceous, is widely preserved in the basin, and constitutes the chief part of the basin-fill deposits."

Synonym: Saihantala Fm


Lithology and Thickness

Upward-fining cycles of coarse-sandstone to mudstone. It "can be subdivided into three intervals with a total maximum thickness of ca. 1200 m (Fig. 2). The basal and top intervals are characterized by alluvial fan–fluvial conglomerate, pebbly sandstone and sandstone, while the middle interval is mainly made up of fluvial and lacustrine mudstone and siltstone, interbedded with medium- to fine-grained sandstone."


Lithology Pattern: 
Clayey sandstone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Saihan Fm rests on the Upper Tenggeer Fm with an angular unconformity (named as T3 in seismic reflection sections.

Upper contact

Locally, overlain unconformably by the Hadatu Fm (uppermost formation in the Bayanhua Gr). Elsewhere, a major disconformity: "After the deposition of the Saihan Formation, a significant sedimentary hiatus occurred in most regions of the Erlian Basin. The Upper Cretaceous Erlian Fm was locally deposited in a few sub-basins in the northwestern basin, and the Saihan Formation was overlain by the Erlian Fm or the Cenozoic sediments with angular unconformities. The unconformity between the Saihan and Erlian formations is named as T2 in seismic reflection sections, and the unconformity between the Saihan Formation and the Cenozoic strata is named as T0."

Regional extent

Erlian Basin


GeoJSON

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Fossils

" It yields plant mega- and microfossils, the brackish-water Parabohaidina - Fromea – Nyktericysta - Vesperopsis dinocyst assemblage, conchostracans including Eosestheria, abundant ostracods, gastropods including Probaicalia gerassimovi, bivalves including Arguniella sp.

[=Ferganoconcha siberica], Sphaerium (S.) anderssoni [=S. jeholense] and Sphaerioides yixianensis [=Tetoria? yixianensis], and fish. The dinocyst assemblage can be compared with that from the Chengzihe Fm, Fuxin Fm, Tongfosi Fm and Damoguaihe Fm. These conclusions are drawn on the basis of the occurrence of the index genera Nyktericysta and Vesperopsis in these formations. Eosestheria, Probaicalia gerassimovi, Arguniella sp., Sphaerium (S.) anderssoni and Sphaerioides yixianensis are all common fossils in the Jiufotang Fm and Fuxin Fm." (quoted/modified from Kosenko et al., 2021)


Age 

[The summary chart in Guo et al. (2019; Fig. 14) based on their dating is 115 to 100 Ma; hence, using GTS2020, the age span implies latest Aptian through Albian. However, Jingeng Sha in Kosenko et al, 2021, place a Hadatu Fm in the upper Albian, which is not in Guo et al., 2019, chart]

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Aptian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.8

    Beginning date (Ma): 
114.84

    Ending stage: 
Albian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.5

    Ending date (Ma):  
106.85

Depositional setting

Basal and top intervals are alluvial fan and fluvial. Middle interval is mainly fluvial and lacustrine.


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

Guo, Z.X. et al. (2019, Early Cretaceous tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Erlian Basin, NE China, Marine and Petroleumm Geology, 110: 539-564)

Enhanced with Igor N. Kosenko, Jingeng Sha and Boris N. Shurygin (2021). Upper Mesozoic stratigraphy of Sikhote-Alin (Russian Far East) and northeastern China: Non-marine and marine correlations. Part 1: Upper Jurassic-Hauterivian AND 2. Barremian-Aptian. Cretaceous Research, 124: articles 104811 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104811) AND 104812 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104812)