泥河湾层的研究现状和展望

PROSPECTS AND STATUS FOR THE RESEARCHES OF NIHEWAN FORMATION

泥河湾层是我国北方著名的第四纪河湖相地层，它以巨厚的沉积、丰富的哺乳动物化石和人类遗存为世人所瞩目。经过几代人近８０年的努力，泥河湾层在地层学、古生物学、沉积学、古地理学和古人类学等方面的研究上都取得了丰硕的成果，被誉为我国研究程度最高的第四纪地层之一。近年来，随着第四纪学科的发展和全球变化研究的深入，加大泥河湾层研究力度，提高“泥河湾层”研究水平的呼声日趋高涨。预计在新的世纪，泥河湾层研究将成为我国第四纪工作的热点，它将对第四纪科学和全球变化研究做出重大的贡献。

The Nihewan basin is located about 150km to the northwest of Beijing. Barbour (1924) first studied the thick fluvial-lacustrine beds in the basin and named as Nihewan Formation. Later it was determined as the marker bed for the Early Pleistocene of North China on the 18th IGU Congress in 1948. Nihewan Formation is famous for its rich mammalian fossil remains and the standard sequence of Lower Pleistocene in north China. Geologists, geographers and archaeologists have studied this formation in different point of views. However, many problems left unsolved. Previous studies indicated that 1) it has been identified as a time-transgressive unit from Upper Pliocene to Later Pleistocene, beating a vertical and horizontal changing sedimentary structure, but not a reliable standard profile; 2) the under water loess-alluvial-lacustrine succession established over last a few decades reflects clear climate change rhythm; 3) Using many analytical techniques, such as spore-pollen, clay mineral, stable isotope, paleoenvrionmental information is tentatively reconstructed; 4) studies on lots of archaeological sites in Nihewan Basin are contributed to paleoanthropology and archaeological culture evolution, but the archaeological culture sequence have not been established and early human fossil is not founded. At the same time, further studies need to be made in the following aspects: 1) the standard profile should be chosen and a reliable time scale needs to be established; 2) a spatiol-temperal sedimental structure should be developed; 3) to reconstruct the complete fauna and flora evolution picture is significant 4) more accurate paleoclimatical data should be gathered; 5) the origin and evolution of ancient people with its ecological background are expected clarified through further studies on Nihewan paleolithic remains. Further research of Nihewan Formation has great significance. Interdisciplinary efforts are indispensable in this respect.