Honghe Formation
| Honghe Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Middle Eocene | |
| Type | Formation |
| Unit of | Weihe Basin |
| Underlies | Bailuyuan Formation |
| Thickness | c. 200 m (650 ft) |
| Location | |
| Region | Shaanxi |
| Country | China |
The Honghe Formation,[1][2] also called the Hongho Formation,[3] is a geologic formation in Shaanxi, China. The Honghe Formation preserves fossils dating back to the Middle Eocene epoch of the Paleogene period.
Geology
The Honghe Formation consists mainly of purple-red mudstones, fine sandstones, and sandy mudstones.[1] The Honghe Formation is the lowermost Cenozoic stratigraphic unit in the region, and underlies the Bailuyuan Formation.[1] Exposures of the Honghe are about 200 meters (650 feet) thick.[1]
Paleoenvironment
The paleoenvironment of the Honghe Formation was warm and humid, and consisted of tropical to subtropical evergreen broad-leaved and deciduous broad-leaved forests, as well as mixed deciduous broad-leaved and coniferous forests.[2]
Fossils
Mammals
Few mammal taxa have been securely identified in the Honghe Formation, all of them perissodactyls.[3]
| Genus/family | Species | Locality | Fossils | Notes/affinities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arctotitan[3] | A. honghoensis | Yinbocun | Part of a skull[1] | A very large brontothere |
| Breviodon[1] | B. minutus? | Cangyuancun | Two well-preserved teeth[1] | A lophialetid |
| cf. Deperetella[1] | cf. D. sp. | Yinbocun | A deperetellid | |
| Tapiroidea[1] | T. indet. | Cangyuancun | Small number of isolated teeth[1] | An indeterminate tapiroid. |
Reptiles
Fossils of trionychid turtles have been found at the Yinbocun locality.[1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Chow, Minchen (1978). "Tertiary Mammal Faunas of the Lantian Region, Shaanxi Province" (PDF). Professsional Papers on Stratigraphy and Paleontology (7): 98–108.
- 1 2 Lu, Huayu; Zhang, Hanzhi; Wang, Yichao; Zhao, Lin; Wang, Hanlin; Sun, Wenfeng; Zhang, Hongyan (2018). "Cenozoic depositional sequence in the Weihe Basin (Central China): A long-term record of Asian monsoon precipitation from the greenhouse to icehouse Earth". Quaternary Sciences. 38 (5): 1057–1067. doi:10.11928/j.issn.1001-7410.2018.05.01.
- 1 2 3 Mihlbachler, Matthew C. (2008). "Species Taxonomy, Phylogeny, and Biogeography of the Brontotheriidae (Mammalia: Perissodactyla)". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 2008 (311). doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2008)501[1:STPABO]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0003-0090.