Abrupt uplift of Tibetan Plateau at the end of early Pleistocene and Australasian impact event

The latest sharp uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and adjacent mountains occurred at the end of the early Pleistocene. The uplift of the Plateau resulted from Late Mesozoic--Cenozoic compressional structure due to the subduction of the Indian Plate beneath the Asian continent. This event definitively effected the formation of basin-mountain relief, Cenozoic basin deformation, large scale aridity and desertification of western China. The Australasian meteorites impact event happened ca. 0.8 Ma ago, located in the triangle area of the Indian Ocean ridge (20°S/67°E). The impact may have resulted in an acceleration of speeding of the Indian Ocean ridge pushing the Indian Plate to subduct rapidly northward. Thus, the impact event can give reasonable explanation for the dynamic background of the latest rapid uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the continental deformation of western China and even of the Middle Asia.

New fossils of the Early Pleistocene Equus huanghoensis(Equidae,Perissodactyla)from Nihewan in Hebei Province of China

This paper describes new fossils of Equus huanghoensis from an Early Pleistocene bed in Nihewan, Hebei Province, which confirms the classification of E. huanghoensis by Chinese researchers. The new fossils include a relatively complete male skull and mandible with all upper and lower dentition, a broken female skull with fragment of mandible and a broken Mc III of Equus sp. The fossils were collected from the Yangshuizhan site of Nihewan. The age of the formation is about 1.6 Ma. The new materials verify some classification characteristics based on teeth published in previous descriptions. These characteristics include large teeth size, short protocone, and tilted protoloph and metaloph. We have added to these characteristics of large skull size, a developed protuberantia supramagna, pentagonal nuchal side, weak Pli cabaline, simple enamel plications; a series of new characteristics strikingly different from the other Equus horses. The broken Mc III is similar to Equus qingyangensis from Qingyang, Gansu.

Longgudong,an Early Pleistocene site in Jianshi,South China,with stratigraphic association of human teeth and lithics

In this paper we report on Longgudong,an Early Pleistocene cave site in south China which was systematically excavated in 1999 and 2000,and where human teeth and associated stone artifacts were discovered within the same stratigraphic layer.The age of this site was estimated from faunal comparisons and palaeomagnetism and has been attributed to the Early Pleistocene,most probably the earlier Early Pleistocene.The human teeth from this site have been well studied.However,the stone artifacts are still unknown to most scholars.This paper thus presents an analysis of the lithics as the first firmly demonstrated stone tools associated with Early Pleistocene human fossils in south China.

A New Mid Early Pleistocene Mammalian FaunaDiscovered in Choukoutien，China and Its Application in Biostratigraphy

This paper deals with a new Early Pleistocene micromammalian fauna found in Choukonden (Zhoukoudian) and its application in biostratigraphy.The new locality (east cave ), discovered in 1985,is located on the north slope of the Taipingshan Hill, about 2 km northeast of the Loc.1 in Choukoutien and is about 140-150m in altitude. At this locality,abundant fossil mammals are found in thick cave-fissure deposit. This fauna comprises 30mammalian taxa. Based on the comparison of the fauna, as Well as the sporo-pollen, climate events and paleomagnetic polarity section with those in other areas,we come to the conclusion that the sediments (Taipingshan Formation) in east cave were formed during the Period about from 1.67 Ma B. P. to 0.97 Ma B. P., and the fauna is about 1.20 Ma B. P. in ags.

Report on a new mammal fossil locality of Early Pleistocene at Zhoukoudian

In 1985, during the mapping on 1:50000 in the Zhoukoudian area, Cao Boxun et al. discovered a cave-fissure site (called east cave) with abundant mammal fossils. The site is located on the north slope of the Taipingshan Hill, about 2km northeast of the Loc. 1(the 'Peking man'site) and about 140m above the sea level. Cao et al. collected some mammal fossils from the locality and studied sediments in stratigraphy, sporopollen

First Asian record of Panthera(Leo)fossilis(Mammalia,Carnivora,Felidae)in the Early Pleistocene of Western Siberia,Russia

A lion-like pantherine felid is described as Panthera(Leo)fossilis from the late Early Pleistocene sediments of the Kuznetsk Basin(Western Siberia,Russia).The find of P.fossilis first recorded in Asia considerably extends the current notion of the eastward expansion of the most ancient lions.The Siberian lion is geologically the old­est form and is dimensionally among the largest members of the group of fossil lions on the Eurasian conti­nent.Although known by mandibular remains only,it is readily distinguished from Panthera(Leo)spelaea by a heavy built mandibular corpus with rectangular profile in the cheek teeth area,a deep,well-outlined and narrow anterior section of the masseteric fossa,and a largeр4 supported by a big unreduced anterior root.The Siberian lion shares these features with the European Middle Pleistocene P.fossilis and the American Late Pleistocene P.(Leo)atrox,which suggests their close relationship.P.atrox originated from P.fossilis and was isolated in North America south of the Late Pleistocene ice sheets.This explains why the American lion has retained more primi­tive features than the coeval Eurasian cave lion P.(L.)spelaea.

Upwelling Process of the Western Himalaya Mountains:Height and Velocity Estimation Evidenced by Formation and Evolution of the Zanda Basin,Tibet,China

Based on field geological survey, stratigraphic section measurement and indoor comprehensive investigation, the Zanda Basin＇s tectonic location in the Himalaya Plate was ascertained, and the formation and evolution of the Zanda Basin during the Pliocene to Early Pleistocene was classified as six stages： （a） primary rift-faulting stage, （b） quick rift-faulting Stage, （c） intensive rift-faulting stage, （d） stasis stage, （e） secondary rift-faulting stage, and （f） secondary quick rift-faulting stage. Based on this six-staged formation-evolution theory of the Zanda Basin, the upwelling process of the Western Himalaya Mountains from the Pliocene to Early Pleistocene was classified as the following five stages： （a） slow upwelling stage （5.4-4.4 Ma）, （b） mid-velocity upwelling stage （4.4-3.5 Ma）, （c） quick upwelling stage （3.5-3.2 Ma）, （d） upwelling-ceasing stage （3.2-2.7 Ma）, and （e） quick upwelling stage （2.7 Ma）. Research has shown that in the duration from the Early Pliocene （4.7 Ma） to the End of Pliocene （2.67 Ma）, which lasted 2.03 million years, the Himalaya Mountains had uplifted 1500 m at a velocity of 0.74 mm/a; this belongs to a mid-velocity upwening. During the 1.31 million years in the Early Stage of the Early Pleistocene, the Himalaya Mountains had risen up another 1500 m at a velocity of 1.15 mm/a; this is a rather quick upwelling. All of these data have shown that the upwelling of the Western Himalaya Mountains is along a complicated process with multi-stages, multi-velocities, and non-uniformitarian features.