Trace fossils and sedimentary environments of the upper cretaceous in the Xixia Basin, Southwestern Henan Province, China

Abstract

The Upper Cretaceous Gaogou, Majiachun and Sigou formations in the Xixia Basin are composed of terrestrial clastic deposits, which are dominated by red-violet mudstones, muddy siltstones, siltstones, grayish fine-grained sandstones, intercalated with grayish, off-white medium-and coarse-grained sandstones or conglomerates. They contain 10 ichnogenera and 22 ichnospecies and Rhizoliths, including Arenicolites isp., Archaeonassa isp., Beaconites antarcticus, B. capronus, B. coronus, Cylindricum isp., Gastruichnus xixiaensis, Palaeophycus megas, P. tubularis, P. heberti, P. sulcatus, P. cf. sulcatus, P. striatus, Planolites beverleyensis, P. isp., Scoyenia gracilis, Skolithos verticalis, S. linearis, S. isp., Taenidium irregularis, T. serpentinum and T. barretti. From north to south across the basin, alluvial fan, braided and meandering fluvial and fluvio-lacustrine systems are recognised on the basis of sedimentary features. In reference to them, four ichnoassemblages are recognised: (1) Skolithos-Gastruichnus ichnoassemblage in the channel environment of braided and meandering river, (2) Beaconites-Taenidium ichnoassemblage in the natural levee and crevasse splays, (3) Beaconites-Palaeophycus ichnoassemblage in the flood plain and (4) Taenidium-Scoyenia ichnoassemblage in the periodically exposed fluvio-lacustrine (pond or very shallow lacustrine) sedimentary environments. The present work not only enrich the trace fossils database of terrestrial origin but also offer new data to complete further continental ichnofacies mode and also provide the constraints on palaeoenvironments of the Xixia Basin.

An Ornithopod-Dominated Tracksite from the Lower Cretaceous Jiaguan Formation (Barremian–Albian) of Qijiang, South-Central China: New Discoveries, Ichnotaxonomy, Preservation and Palaeoecology

“…All of these ichnogenera pertain to the Scoyenia ichnofacies [ 20 ] and are fodinichnia type traces. Scoyenia and Beaconites reflect intermittent emergence in a low-energy ultra-shallow water environment [ 20 – 21 ]. In river systems, the Scoyenia ichnofacies typically appears in over-bank deposits, such as floodplains, ponds, and flood fans [ 22 – 23 ].…”

An ichnofossil assemblage from the fluvial deposits of the Upper Pliocene–Pleistocene Pinjor Formation (Siwalik Group), northwestern Himalayas, India: Palaeoenvironmental implications

“…The major trace fossils in this ichnoassemblage are the feeding traces Taenidium barretti, Planolites beverleyensis, Palaeophycus isp., and Scoyenia gracilis (table 1). It has been well documented that usually the trace fossils that are profuse and are of low diversity are in order along, or inclined at a high angle to, the bedding plane (Wang et al 2016). The ichnofauna from Nadah area records an instance of the Scoyenia ichnofacies.…”

“…The four types of ichnoassemblages described from the Nadah area can now safely be classified under the Scoyenia ichnofacies, which is usually characterised (Buatois and Mángano 1993, 2004Wang et al 2016) by (1) meniscate backfilled burrows (Scoyenia and Taenidium), (2) simple horizontal traces (Planolites and Palaeophycus), (3) the presence of calcareous concretions, (4) a mixture of invertebrate and plant traces, and (5) low ichnodiversity (confined to a small area) with high abundance.…”

“…Elsewhere in the world, ichnoassemblages and palaeoenvironments similar to Nadah area have also been recorded from various stratigraphic units, for instance: ephemeral lacustrine deposits of the upper Silurian and lower Devonian of the Anglo-Welsh Basin, United Kingdom (Morrissey et al 2012); the Tupe Formation of Carboniferous age, representing desiccated floodplain deposits in western Argentina ; fluvial deposits of the Permian Ikakern Formation (Argana Basin, Western High Atlas, Morocco, Abdelkbir et al 2012); fluvial floodplain deposits of the Middle Triassic Youfangzhuang Formation in western Henan, central China (Wang et al 2014); the non-marine Upper Triassic of the Haßberge area (Franconia, southeastern Germany, Schlirf et al 2001); fluvio-lacustrine deposits in the early Mesozoic of Argentina (Melchor et al 2006); the nonmarine Cretaceous of the Hasandong and Jinju formations of the Namhae Area, Kyongsangnamdo, southeast Korea (Kim et al 2002); the Upper Cretaceous fluvial and lacustrine deposits in the Sichuan Basin (Hu and Wu 1993) and Xixia Basin, Henan of China (Zhang et al 2004); and Upper Cretaceous channel, levee and crevasse splay, floodplain, and fluvio-lacustrine deposits of the Gaogou, Majiachun and Sigou formations in the Xixia Basin of southwestern Henan province, China (Wang et al 2016). In all of the above-mentioned localities, which belong to different geological ages, most of the ichnofauna is characterised by a low diversity of simple forms and shallow trace fossils that were formed as an amalgamation of grazing, dwelling and locomotion structures (Wang et al 2016).…”

“…The present authors did extensive field work at the Nadah section and collected numerous ichnofossils. In this study, we focus on fluvial deposits, which contain some of the most varied and plentiful trace-fossil assemblages recorded in non-marine depositional systems (Fordyce 1980;D'Alessandro et al 1987;Nadon 1993;Buatois et al 1997Buatois and Mángano 2002, 2004, 2007Kim et al 2002;Zhang et al 2004;Melchor et al 2006;Krapovickas et al 2009;Abdelkbir et al 2012;Wang et al 2016). Thus, the purpose of this paper is to systematically classify these unidentified materials by providing additional ichnological data from these much neglected freshwater trace fossils and to provide an up-to-date ichnotaxonomy.…”