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Soluble organic matter had been separated from several palygorskite and bentonite samples in the Jiangsu-Anhui border area (across Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province) and Linze County in Gansu Province of China and was analyzed with the techniques and methods of organic geochemistry. The composition and distribution of hydrocarbons were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC). Organic stable carbon isotopic ratios (δC) in typical samples were determined. The abundance of soluble organic matter in all clay samples analyzed was low. In Jiangsu-Anhui samples, the preservation states of organic matter are different; hydrocarbons in organic matter have some features of aquatic plankton but are short of the input of terrigenous higher plants; organic δC in a palygorskite of Yongxiaoshan in Xuyi County, Jiangsu Province, is −6.72‰. These features may be typical of a sedimentary environment of closed or semi-closed and relatively isolated different waters near coast or seashore. On the contrary, in samples from Gansu, the preservation states of organic matter are good; the GC graphs of hydrocarbons show that the precursors of the organic matter are from a mixed source of aquatic organisms and land-sourced higher plants; organic δC of a palygorskite from Yangtai of Gansu is −15.62‰. It indicated that the sedimentary environment may be an inland salty lake. Preliminary results suggest that palygorskite minerals in the Jiangsu-Anhui area may be evolved from rapidly accumulated fine material or volcanic ash, but clays in Gansu Province may be transformed from terrigenous inorganic clastic components carried to the lake through river and then deposited. The generation process of the samples studied in the paper seems to be related to salty water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South Qinling Belt is a key area for understanding the collisional history of the South China and North China blocks during the Lopingian (late Permian) and Triassic. This paper establishes the first integrated timescale based on conodont biostratigraphy and δ13C carb records from a continuous end Permian to the end-Early Triassic succession at Yiwagou, South Qinling Platform (SQP). Ten Early Triassic conodont zones are established. They are, in ascending order, Hindeodus parvus , H. postparvus , Neospathodus dieneri , Eurygnathodus costatus and E. hamadai , Novispathodus waageni - Scythogondolella mosheri , Pachycladina - Parachirognathus assemblage, Triassospathodus hungaricus , Ns. robustispinus and T. clinatus zones. Our record of δ13C carb fluctuations shows close correspondence to known Early Triassic carbon isotope fluctuations and, in combination with the conodont data, helps achieve a high-resolution age model for the region. The use of E. costatus as a good auxiliary marker for the Induan-Olenekian boundary (IOB), within palaeolatitudes of 40°N-40°S, is supported but it can not replace the use of Nv. waageni , because the former is absent in higher-latitude and cooler regions. The conodont faunas from the Palaeo-Tethyan Yiwagou section closely resemble those from the Northern Yangtze Platform (NYP), but they differ somewhat from the contemporaneous Nanpanjiang Basin at species level. Thus, the Qinling Sea was likely well connected with the NYP in the Early Triassic, but was more isolated from the Nanpanjiang Basin. The remarkable reappearance of Hindeodus fauna around the IOB at Yiwagou implies that the shallow-water Qinling Sea was a refuge area for this genus long after its disappearance elsewhere. • Conodont biostratigraphy and δ13C carb records from end Permian to the end-Early Triassic succession at Yiwagou, South Qinling Platform. • Discussion of index conodont for the Induan-Olenekian boundary. • Comparison of the conodont faunas between the eastern Paleo-Tethyan Yiwagou, South China and the western Paleo-Tethyan Europe. • The shallow-water Qinling Sea was a refuge area for Hindeodus fauna after Griesbachian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a study of 49 conodont and 57 geochemical samples from the Upper Triassic, carbonate-dominated Dengdengqiao Formation, Qinling Basin, China, the Carnian conodonts and carbon isotope records are first reported. Two genera and four species have been identified amongst 87 conodont elements: Mosherella praebudaensis, Mo. longnanensis sp. nov., Mo. sp., and "Misikella" longidentata. The presence of Mo. praebudaensis indicates that the lower part (bed 2) of the formation is attributable to the Julian (lower Carnian) substage. A radiolarian fauna identified in a previous study belongs to the upper Carnian, but the sampling horizon is unclear. The δ13Ccarb curve shows a ∼1.8‰ negative excursion beginning from upper part of bed 3, but its stratigraphic location is uncertain. The Dengdengqiao Formation is clearly at least partly of Carnian age but could include younger strata. The abundant calcareous algae at the section is probably due to some transport rather than preserved in site. The unusual ecosystem with rare marine organisms may reflect long-term stressful and unfavorable conditions at Dengdengqiao. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]