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Shihuadong Formation
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Shihuadong Fm base reconstruction

Shihuadong Fm


Period: 
Carboniferous

Age Interval: 
C21 (35a), Tournaisian-Visean (early to middle Early Carboniferous)


Province: 
Yunnan

Type Locality and Naming

The type section lies by the Shihuadong Reservoir of Yunrui Street, Baoshan County, Yunnan. It was named by Duan Lilan in 1973.

Synonym: Xiangshan Fm (upper) and Pumenqian Fm (lower) – see Additional information


Lithology and Thickness

Limestone. Gray, gray-yellow and gray-black moderately thick-bedded limestone, occasionally intercalated with thin-bedded micritic limestone, micritic pellet limestone, dolomitized micrite and micritic bioclastic limestone, with chert nodules and bands commonly developed. Thickness about 150 m, reduced to <100 m eastward.


Lithology Pattern: 
Siliceous limestone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Conformable contact with the underlying Yudong Fm

Upper contact

Conformable contact with the overlying Yunruijie Fm

Regional extent


GeoJSON

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Fossils

Fossils are abundant, including Conodonts Gnathodus semiglaber, G. texanus, G. pseudosemiglaber and G. typicus; Corals Siphonophyllia, Keyserlingophyllum, Kueichouphyllum, Palaeosmilia, Diphyphyllum, Zaphrentites, Lophophyllum, Michelinia, etc. as well as foraminifers, brachiopods, crinoid calyx Cribanocrinus, Amphoracrinus, Stomiocrinus, Platycrinites, Synbathocrinus, Yunnanocrinus, etc.


Age 

Visean, and Tournaisian for the bottom part. Wang et al. (2019, China Integrated Strat) shows a span of ca. 75% up in Tournaisian through lower half of Visean

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Tournaisian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.75

    Beginning date (Ma): 
349.87

    Ending stage: 
Visean

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.5

    Ending date (Ma):  
338.54

Depositional setting

It is interpreted as a


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information

In 1983, Yang Zongren divided the Lower Carboniferous of the Baoshan area into the Xiangshan and Pumenqian formations. However, it is difficult to distinguish the upper Xiangshan Fm and the lower Pumenqian Fm lithologically, as they both contain chert nodules and bands, and there lacks a boundary indicator to identify the units. Besides, they were put forward later than the Yudong, Shihuadong and Yunruijie formations (The Regional Stratigraphic Scale of Yunnan Province, 1978), and so they should be abolished.


Compiler:  

Wang Xiangdong