从山西延长统中发现中国肯氏兽化石探讨武乡古动物群的地质时代和地层意义

THE DISCOVERY OF SINOKANNEMYERIA PEARSONI YOUNG IN THE YENCHANG SERIES AS A MEANS OF ASCERTAINING THE AGE OF THE FAUNA AND THE STRATIGRAPHICAL SUCCESSION OF THE TRIASSIC BEDS IN WUHSIANG, SHANSI

1958年笔者在山西兴县保德陕西府谷神木一带沿黄河地区进行普查,于上三迭系延长统中发现了大量脊椎动物化石。由于交通困难和保管不好,所采化石大部分遭遗失或损坏破碎,只有一小部分带回北京,经杨钟健鉴定结果。

In the Triassic beds along the Yellow River basin within the provinces of Shansi andShensi, the reptilian fossil remains of Sinokannemeyeria pearsoni Young were extensivelyfound. The present collection of various fossil remains was taken from the two localities:Loyuikou, Hsin district, Shansi, and Lochiatan, Shenmo district, Shensi. They were foundin the purplish dark brown argillaceous beds, both underlain and overlian by the arkosicsandstone and micaceous sandy shale. In the latter shale series the following plant fossilsas determined by Hsu Jen were collected: Neocalamites carrerei (Zeiller) Halle, Danaeop-sis fecunda Halle, Neocalamites carcinoides Harris, Coniopteris hymenophylloides Brongn. Neocalamites carrerei (Zeiller) Halle is generally considered to be derived from thebeds of Lias to Rhaetic in age. Danaeopsis fecunda Halle could not last to later thanKeuper-Rhaetic period. They were never found in the Jurassic sediments. So Prof. P'anChung-hsiang ascertained the age of the Yenchang Series as Keuper-Rhaetic. The bed which contains Sinokannemeyeria pearsoni Young was considered to be upperTriassic in age by Prof. C. C. Young. From 1955-1956 the Vertebrate PaleontologicalLaboratory of Academia Sinica further found at Yingchiao and Shikpi of the Wuhsiangdistrict, Shansi, a kind of Cotylosauria. designated as Neoprocolophon; a kind of Dicyno-dontia as Lystrosaurus and Sinokannemeyeria pearsoni Young. Such a fauna Prof. C. C.Young named as the Wuhsiang fauna and ascertained to be of lower Triassic in age.From the study of Prof. C. C. Young there arise three questions: 1. The bed, which contains Sinokannemeyeria pearsoni Young fossil remain, can bequalified as a distinct Triassic horizon in Wuhsiang, Shansi. 2. The question of the age of the Shihchienfeng and the Yenchang Series; it is pos-sible that the Yenchang Series is to be of lower Triassic in age? 3. The question of correlation of the Wuhsiang fauna with that of the Karoo Systemof South Africa. From the writer's geological data that the Sinokannemeyeria pearsoni fossil remainshave been extensively found in the Yenchang Series, the Wuhsiang fauna can not be con-sidered as a distinct fossil horizon. As mentioned in the text, the Yenchang Series shouldbe considered as upper Triassic, Keuper-Rhaetic, in age. The Karoo System contains bedsof uppermost carboniferous rocks up to the basal parts of the Jurassic sediments. Hencesuch a correlation with the Wuhsiang fauna yields some difficulty.