Assigning Age and Environment to Fossil-Bearing Cretaceous Rocks – #UREES270 – 2018

Wang, Olsen, Sha, Yao, Liao, Pan, Kinney, Zhang, and Rao, 2016, Stratigraphy, correlation, depositional environments, and cyclicity of the Early Cretaceous Yixian and ?Jurassic-Cretaceous Tuchengzi formations in the Sihetun area (NE China) based on three continuous cores: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology, v. 464, p. 110-133.

What’s it about?

The Jehol Biota is a group of fossils that preserve some of the best examples of feathered dinosaurs available. The fossils come from several localities in the Sihetun area of the Liaoning Province of China. The authors here used three cores collected around the region, plus some study of outcrops, to investigate the relative ages and environments of different parts of the Liaoning Basin.

Why does it matter?

With this new correlation, not only can the more exact age relationships among outcrops be determined, it is also possible to better understand the climate and environment in which the dinosaurs lived.

Why did I read this?

I used this paper last year in my EES 207 class (principles of paleontology). This year, it will be re-used in EES 270 (vertebrate paleontology) as an excellent example of the application of geologic principles to do paleontology.

I reviewed this paper for #365papers last year.