A Preliminary Study on the Red Beds in the Northern Heyuan Basin, Guangdong Province, China

摘要

The red beds of the northern Heyuan Basin (Guangdong Province, China) are more than 4,000 m thick. Based on the lithological characters, in ascending order these beds are divided into the Dafeng Formation, Zhutian Formation, and Zhenshui Formation of the Nanxiong Group, Shanghu Formation and Danxia Formation. The Nanxiong Group with relatively mature coarse clastic rocks attains about 2,940 m in thickness. The Dafeng Formation is 837 m thick, consisting of conglomerates and sandy conglomerates; the Zhutian Formation, which is 1,200 m thick, consists of purplish red sandstone with gravels, poorly sorted sandstone, feldspathic quartzose sandstone banded granular conglomerate, siltstone, and sandy mudstone. The Zhutian Formation is rich in calcareous concretions. Heyuannia (Oviraptoridae) and turtle fossils were found in this formation. The Zhenshui Formation deposited to a thickness of 900 m consists of coarse sediments, including granular conglomerate, and gravelly sandstone with well developed cross-beddings; the Shanghu Formation, which is 820 m thick, consists of purplish red granular conglomerate coarse sandstone intercalated with fine siltstone; the Danxia Formation characterized by the Danxia landform is composed of coarse clastic gravels and sandy gravels. The lower part of the Nanxiong Group whence dinosaur eggs and derived oviraptorosaurs come, belongs to the Late Cretaceous. No fossils are found in the Shanghu Formation or the Danxia Formation, but their stratigraphic order of superposition on the Nanxiong Group clearly shows their younger age.