Elsevier

Cretaceous Research

Volume 27, Issue 2, April 2006, Pages 168-188
Cretaceous Research

Nonmarine ostracode zonation and long-distance correlation based on analysis of regional ostracode successions in China, Korea, Japan, and Mongolia

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2005.11.007Get rights and content

Abstract

Based on field investigations and published literature, regional nonmarine ostracode successions of Cretaceous age have been investigated in Japan, Korea, China, and Mongolia. Analysis of 25 ostracode assemblages from 24 formations has facilitated 17 correlations among 20 formations in East Asia. For these correlations, four new zones of ostracode assemblages in the Lower Cretaceous and two new zones with two subzones in Upper Cretaceous have been established. This is the first useful nonmarine ostracode zonation for long-distance and international correlation among continental deposits in East Asia. Each zone has been evaluated with respect to chronologic age and geographic extent.

Introduction

In Europe, Cretaceous nonmarine ostracode biostratigraphy is well studied, and international correlations have been demonstrated in nonmarine deposits (e.g., Babinot et al., 1996). In East Asia, especially in China, a number of regional studies on ostracode biostratigraphy have revealed regional successions of Cretaceous nonmarine Ostracoda, many of which have been reviewed in Hou et al. (2002). In spite of many regional ostracode biostratigraphic zonations in China, a useful zonation for long-distance and international correlations has not been proposed up to the present. In the international research project on Cretaceous terrestrial paleoenvironments in East Asia, I made a new attack on these problems with the assistance of many Chinese, Korean, and Mongolian ostracode investigators. It has resulted in many reliable correlations among many formations distributed in China, Korea, Japan, and Mongolia, and brought an effective ostracode zonation on the scale of East Asia, which consists of four zones in the Lower Cretaceous and two zones with two subzones in the Upper Cretaceous.

Section snippets

Areas and method

Six areas scattered over four countries of East Asia are selected for this study; they are Japan, Korea, southeast China, south China, central China, and Mongolia (Fig. 1). The study area in Japan includes Kitakyushu City and Kurate County, northern Kyushu, and contains 24 localities that are precisely shown in Hayashi, 1998, Hayashi, 2001. All of the localities in Korea are in the Kyongsang Basin, southeastern Korea, and are shown in Paik et al. (1988) and Choi (1990). The authors of these

Japan

Nonmarine deposits are sporadically distributed in the Inner Zone of southwest Japan, of which those in northern Kyushu are distributed most widely. They are lacustrine deposits of the Wakino Subgroup, the lower half of the Kanmon Group, and they yield fossil ostracodes in abundance. The Wakino Subgroup is lithologically subdivided into the Sengoku, Nyoraida, Lower Wakamiya, and Upper Wakamiya formations, in ascending order (Fig. 2). The Sengoku Formation consists of laminated or massive black

Zonation and distribution

Ostracode biostratigraphic zonation in East Asia has been established on the ostracode successions in six regions described above and the correlations between them (Fig. 9). Four assemblage zones in the Lower Cretaceous and two zones with two subzones in the Upper Cretaceous described and discussed herewith regard to their reliability and their geographic extent.

Before the discussion of the Cretaceous ostracode fauna, the Middle and Upper Jurassic fauna is briefly reviewed to better understand

Concluding remarks

Six regional ostracode successions in East Asia are described and compared with each other in the contexts of large-scale geographic changes and the rise and fall of higher taxa. Using this zonation, seven correlations among 12 formations scattered across East Asia are established, and ten correlations among 12 formations are proposed.

In the Lower Cretaceous, nonmarine Ostracoda compose the Latonia-Rhinocypris-Cypridea Assemblage (Assemblage 1), the Darwinula-Cypridea Assemblage (Assemblage 2),

Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by a Grant-in-Aid for University and Society Collaboration from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (Matsukawa, no. 11791012, 1999–2001). I am greatly indebted to Dr. M. Matsukawa, Tokyo Gakugei University, for his encouragement and support during the field and laboratory work. Acknowledgements are also due to many investigators in China, Korea, and Mongolia for their help in sampling in the field and in some cases offering

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