Occurrences of Permian ra-diolarians in central and east-ern Nei Mongol (Inner Mon-golia) and their geological sig-nificance to the Northern China Orogen

Abstract

The Zhesi (Jisu) Formation of the Middle Permian in Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia) was commonly considered to be a shallow marine sequence. Here I report the radiolarians found in the argillite bed of that formation in Zhesi and Xilinhot areas. This fact indicates a deep marine sedimentary facies persisted during the Middle Permian, and suggests that the ocean between the North China Block and Siberian Craton was not closed until the Late Guadalupian. The suture of this two blocks is probably extends along the Linxi ophiolite belt, south of the Hegenshan ophiolite belt.