Jurassic-Cretaceous Boundary Strata of the Somanakamura Group in NE Japan and their Correlation with Coeval Terrestrial Deposits in China

Defining the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary is a controversy in stratigraphic study of the world. It has been widely accepted that this boundary can be defined at the bottom of Berriasian in Tetbys, with the appearance of the ammonite Berriasellajacobi dating to ca. 145 Ma. However, it is difficult for the widespread terrestrial deposits in China to correlate with the international standard of marine facies. The Somanakamura Group in Japan is represented by a succession of marinecontinental transitional strata. It provides a bridge of marine and nonmarine stratigraphic correlation. The ammonite and radiolarian fossils preserved in this group suggest an age from Bajocian to early Valanginian. The J-K boundary was defined in or atop the Tomizawa Formation of the group according to the ammonite data. The present authors study the fossil spores and pollen newly found from the Tomizawa and Koyamada formations. Three assemblages have been recognized. They are Assemblage 1 （Cyathidites-Classopollis） from the upper part of the Tomizawa Formation, Assemblage 2 （Cyathidites-Jiaohepollis） from the lower part of the Koyamada Formation, and Assemblage 3 （Cyathidites-Spheripollenites-Ephedripites） from the middle to upper part of the Koyamada Formation. With the reference of ammonite evidence, the J-K boundary can be defined between Assemblage 1 and Assemblage 2. This palynological J-K boundary can be correlated with that of terrestrial sequence in China. However, local biostratigraphy imply that the continental J-K boundary in China is of 135 or 137 Ma age. It has a considerable discrepancy from the marine standard. Biogeographically, the distribution pattern of spores and pollen in southern China is in accordance with that in the Somanakamura Group, which parallels the Tuchengzi Formation in northeastern China. By the palynological correlation between the Somanakamura Group and the strata in southern China, and then with the sequence in northeastern China, it is suggested that the continental J-K boundary is located in the Tuchengzi Formation.

Sedimentary Petrology Characteristics and Their Implications for Provenance of Flowerpot Basin Jurassic System in Yanqing County, Beijing

The characteristics of sedimentary petrology are significant in determining geological provenance. By using field outcrop observation and indoor identification of thin sections, the characteristics of Jurassic system Tuchengzi Formation clastic rocks exposed in the Beijing Yanqing “flowerpot” basin, which include rock types, clastic composition and cement type, etc. have been analyzed systematically to identify the provenance direction and tectonic setting and nature of the provenance. Research shows that the sedimentary rocks in this area belong to analluvial fan and braided river sedimentary rock system and include mainly conglomerates, lithic sandstone, and feldspathic lithic sandstone. The main compositions of the conglomerate are dolomite and limestone. Nearly 50% to 70% of the sandstones are mainly polycrystalline quartz;10% to 15% are feldspar;and 40% to 55% are composed of debris from mainly magmatic and metamorphic rocks. A Dickinson triangular diagram indicates that the provenance type in this area is recycled orogny evolving from clastic recycled orogeny such as a collisional orogenic belt to a transitional recycled orogeny. On the basis of the geographic position and tectonic setting, three types of provenance can be identified in the Jurassic system Tuchengzi Formation. The far source provenances are Archean erathem basement metamorphic rocks in the northern basin and granite or adamellite that intruded rocks of the Late Jurassic epoch of the Yanshanian period in the northeast. The nearby provenance is the Mesoproterozoic erathem Changchengian system and Jixianianian system dolomite in both the east and west.