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Yanghugou Formation

Yanghugou Fm


Period: 
Carboniferous

Age Interval: 
C12 (26), early Late Carboniferous


Province: 
Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia

Type Locality and Naming

The type section is located in the Yanghugou coal mine, 5−6 km southwest of Yanghugou, Shandan County, Gansu. It was named by Grabau in 1924.


Lithology and Thickness

Sandstone, Siltstone and Limestone. Lower member consists of gray-white quartz grit, and the top with gray-black shale and sandy shale intercalated with thin coal seams, thin-bedded limestone and siderite nodules, 34.4 m thick. Middle member is formed by interbeds of soil-gray calcareous siltstone, black shale and limestone, intercalated with thin coal streaks, 47.5 m thick. Upper member is dominated by gray and black moderately thick-bedded limestones, intercalated with shale and chert, 41 m thick.

In the west part there are plenty of limestone interbeds, which decrease toward the east. It is 517 m thick around the Tongxin slope of Ningxia, and the thinnest is only 18 m in the areas of Sunan and Qilian of Gansu.


Lithology Pattern: 
Clayey sandstone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Conformable contact with the underlying Hongtuwa Fm

Upper contact

Disconformable contact with the overlying Early Permian Liuhuanggou Fm [Not in Permian Lexicon set]

Regional extent

Distributed in the east segment of Hexi Corridor and the areas from Shandan and Jingtai of Gansu to Zhongwei of Ningxia; also scattered in the areas such as Qilian and Sunan in the west segment of north slope of the Qilian Mts. The most complete sequences occur at Heishan of the Alxa Left Banner of Inner Mongolia, Xiaoyuchuan of Zhongwei of Ningxia and the Yushuliang-Hongtuwa section of Jingyuan of Gansu.


GeoJSON

null

Fossils

The Lower member contains Ammonoids Gastrioceras weristerence and G. (Lissogastriceras) fittsi, which correspond to the early G2 zone of the Westphalian (Western Europe); the Fusulinid Profusulinella paranibelensis zone; Conodonts Idiognathodus delicatus, I. sinuatus, Neoganthodus symmetricus, etc. At Yanghugou of Shandan, there are multiple limestone interbeds, yielding Fusulinid Fusulina cylindrica.


Age 

early Late Carboniferous. [NOTE: Regionally, if the extent is similar as Jianshan Fm with its top below the early-Permian Shanxi Fm, then 25% up in Zisongian (25% up in Asselian) according to Shuzhong Shen et al. (2019; Permian integrated stratigraphy and timescale of China). Needs clarification.]

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Bashkirian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.5

    Beginning date (Ma): 
319.28

    Ending stage: 
Asselian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.25

    Ending date (Ma):  
297.55

Depositional setting


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

Zhang Yan