AbstractIn many modern deepâwater slope environments, deposits formed by bottom currents (contourites) are rather common. However, reports on ancient contourites in deepâwater environments are scarce and most of them remain contentious. Based on the study of highâresolution sedimentological, sedimentary geological and magnetic fabric characteristics, this study presents the key evidence of bottom current activity in the Middle Ordovician Kelimoli Formation from the western margin of the North China craton, and reconstructs the deepâsea circulation pattern and the direction of deepâwater bottom currents in the middle and low latitudes during the Middle Ordovician. Six typical carbonate microfacies are identified in the Kelimoli Formation, which can be grouped into three sedimentary facies types related to the main interpreted depositional processes (bottom current, undifferentiated bottom current and hemipelagic settling, and hemipelagic settling). The evidence of bottom current deposits are fiveâfold. Firstly, it is possible to observe a variety of traction current structures, which mainly represent bedâloadâdominated transport of sediments. Secondly, there are multiâscale inverse grading and biâgrading, as well as inverselyâgraded and normallyâgraded sedimentary sequences, which reflect the periodic change of bottom current activity. Thirdly, gradual or sharp contact boundaries and small internal erosional surfaces indicate omission surfaces caused by the oscillating variation of bottom current velocity. Fourthly, the continuous rhythmic change of sedimentary fabrics on the microscopic scale reflects sustained, waxing and waning current intensities. Fifthly, the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility reveals the microscopic fabric characteristics of imbricated magnetic grains, which represent the continuous action of directional current, and the restored palaeocurrent direction indicates that the current is mainly parallel to the slope strike. After the palaeoânorth correction of the North China craton clockwise rotation of 120° to 150° since the Ordovician, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility shows that the direction of bottom current in the study area is towards the northâeast/east. Therefore, it is speculated that there was a clockwise deepâwater circulation in the middle and low latitudes of the southern hemisphere during the Ordovician. This study not only provides sedimentological evidence for the Ordovician bottom current activity, but also contributes to a better understanding of the Ordovician palaeoceanographical environment, especially the Middle Ordovician deepâsea circulation pattern.