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Fires and storms—a Triassic–Jurassic transition section in the Sichuan Basin, China
- Source :
- Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. 98:29-47
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2018.
-
Abstract
- The Upper Triassic Xujiahe and Lower Jurassic Zhenzhuchong formations of the Sichuan Basin, China, are important sources of plant fossils and windows into the intervening extinction event. However, there is an on-going debate as to whether the environment represented by the Xujiahe and Zhenzhuchong formations was continental or included an important marine component. We studied the Xujiahe–Zhenzhuchong section near Qili Town of Xuanhan County, in the east of the basin and report hummocky and swaley cross-stratification in the Xujiahe Formation. This, along with minor Skolithos and heterolithic bedding, provides strong evidence for shallow marine conditions and favours an interpretation as the deposits of a wave-dominated coast. It also suggests common and extreme storm activity, possibly hurricanes, at what was a mid-latitude (c. 34–40°N) location in the Late Triassic. Charcoal is found in most samples throughout the section. The predominant fossil wood morphology is consistent with Xenoxylon. Together, the sedimentological evidence of storms and fire suggests a highly disturbed environment.
- Subjects :
- Extinction event
010506 paleontology
Global and Planetary Change
Ecology
Bedding
Biodiversity
Paleontology
Geology
Storm
Structural basin
010502 geochemistry & geophysics
01 natural sciences
Skolithos
Section (archaeology)
Fossil wood
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 18671608 and 18671594
- Volume :
- 98
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........d91937f4e91c65a74b048ad86a1432fc