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Zhigou Formation

Zhigou Fm


Period: 
Carboniferous

Age Interval: 
C22−P1 (39), late Late Carboniferous to Early Permian


Province: 
Sichuan

Type Locality and Naming

The type section is located at Zhigou in southern Sichuan. It was named by Tong Zhengxiang et al. in 1990.


Lithology and Thickness

Limestone. The Lower part consists of gray to gray-white thin- to thick-bedded bioclastic micrite and micritic bioclastic limestone. Bioclastic limestone is quite common, but there are not many types of bioclasts. The brachiopods are not broken. The Upper part is dominated by gray and gray-white thick-bedded micritic calcirudite, characterized by flourishing organisms and strong hydrodynamic conditions.


Lithology Pattern: 
Reef limestone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Conformable contact with the overlying Lower Permian Waluo Fm

Upper contact

Conformable contact with the underlying Xinbagou Fm

Regional extent

Mainly distributed in the area west of the Yangtze Oldland and in the northwestern part of the NE-trending Jinghe structural belt in Yanbian of southern Sichuan (near Yunnan), extending northwestward from Ganhaizi via Xinbagou of Waluo to Yankou.


GeoJSON

null

Fossils

Lower part has fusulinids Triticites milleri and T. simplex; Conodont Streptognathodus elongatus; brachiopod Neospirifer striatus. Upper part yields Fusulinids Pseudoschwagerina sp., Robuschwagerina stanslavi and Zellia sp.; Brachiopod Schizophoria juresanensis.


Age 

late Late Carboniferous (base of Xiaodushanian regional stage) to Early Permian

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Kasimovian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.0

    Beginning date (Ma): 
307.02

    Ending stage: 
Asselian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.8

    Ending date (Ma):  
294.59

Depositional setting

It is interpreted as a carbonate platform. Lower part with unbroken brachiopods belongs to open sea platform deposits in a low-energy water body. Upper part characterized by flourishing organisms, unimpeded water flow and strong hydrodynamic conditions; therefore, implying that the water is not deep, being a normal sea, so that it belongs to open sea platform shoal deposits.


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

Fan Yingnian