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Wanbaogou Gr
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Wanbaogou Gr base reconstruction

Wanbaogou Gr

Period: 
Neoproterozoic

Age Interval: 
Entire Neoproterozoic, Qb-Z (32)


Province: 
Qinghai

Type Locality and Naming

West-central Qinghai, north-slope eastern Kunlun Mts. The Wanbaogou Gr was named by the First Regional Geological Party of the Qinghai Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources and the First Team of the Plateau Geological Party, Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources in 1980. The type section is located in Wanbaogou of Naij Tal district (ca. 36°N, 94.5°E), Qinghai Province.

Synonym: （万宝沟组）


Lithology and Thickness

The Wanbaogou Gr consists of meta-clastic rocks, volcanic rocks and carbonate rocks and the group is subdivided into four parts from bottom to top: (1) a lower clastic rock formation of gray, gray-green quartz feldspathic litharenite, siltstone, silty carbonaceous slate, 785 m thick; (2) volcanic rock formation, gray-green, dark green schistose altered basalt with minor tuff, tuffite, tuffaceous sandstone, tuffaceous phyllite, phyllite and thin-bedded limestone, 3839 m thick; (3) carbonate rock formation light gray-gray white dolomite, banded siliceous dolomite with limestone, phyllite, meta-sandstone, slate with stromatolites in dolomite, 734 m thick; (4) an upper clastic rock formation of gray-green meta-sandstone with intermediate-basic volcanic rocks, limestone, dolomite, chert and slate (top unexposed), over 675 m thick. The total thickness is over 6073 m.


Lithology Pattern: 
Volcanics


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

The bottom is unexposed.

Upper contact

The top is unexposed. Next younger regional unit is the Naijtal Gr of middle Ordovician.

Regional extent

West-central Qinghai. The group is mainly distributed around Wanbaogou, Naji Tal area of the west part of north slope of eastern Kunlun Mountains, Qinghai Province.


GeoJSON

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Fossils

Stromatolites in dolomite of the 3rd formation include Conophyton metula, C. cylindricum etc.


Age 

Entire Neoproterozoic span given on schematic stratigraphic column.

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Tonian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.0

    Beginning date (Ma): 
1,000.00

    Ending stage: 
Ediacaran

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
1.0

    Ending date (Ma):  
538.80

Depositional setting


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information

The K-Ar isotopic date of 1067 Ma was obtained from volcanic rock in the 2nd formation, but a date of 600 Ma was also acquired from the same formation. Therefore, the group is assigned to the Qingbaikouan-Sinian systems.


Compiler:  

Extracts from The Neoproterozoic Erathem (chapter in Stratigraphic Lexicon of China, draft of 2022) by Gao Linzhi, Ding Xiaozhong, Zhang Chuanheng, Zhang Heng.