Discovery of the Jehol Biota from the Celaomiao region and discussion of the Lower Cretaceous of the Bayingebi Basin, northwestern China

Abstract

Some typical components of the Jehol Biota, including conchostracans Eosestheria sp., the mayfly Ephemeropsis trisetalisEichwald, 1864, the aquatic beetle Coptoclava longipodaPing, 1928, and a fragmentary dragonfly, are reported for the first time from the Bayingebi Formation in the Celaomiao region, western Inner Mongolia, China. This discovery indicates that the middle Upper Member of Bayingebi Formation can be correlated with the upper Yixian and the lower Jiufotang formations in western Liaoning Province. Combining it with the radio-isotopic dating result, we further believed that the Upper Member of Bayingebi Formation could be roughly correlated with the Yixian, Jiufotang, and Shahai formations, and the overlying Suhongtu Formation with the Fuxin Formation in western Liaoning Province.In the major Bayingebi Basin, palaeontological and radio-isotopic dating evidence shows that the Bayingebi Formation has a long depositional history of over 30Ma: its Upper Member bearing the Jehol Biota and the early Fuxin Biota is probably coeval to the Yixian, Jiufotang and Shahai formations and has a Barremian–early Albian age; its Lower Member may be Berriasian–Hauterivian in age and could be correlated with the upper Tuchengzi, Zhangjiakou, and Dabeigou formations in northern Hebei Province. This suggests that the Bayingebi Formation should be promoted to the stratigraphic rank of group and subdivided into several secondary units (formations). Unlike the previous result, the Yingen Formation is considered across the Lower Cretaceous–Upper Cretaceous boundary and being late Albian–early Turonian in age.