Early Cretaceous flora from coal-bearing strata of Markovsky Peninsula in South Primorye, Russia

Global Geology, 15(1): 13-18(2012)doi:10.3969/is.1673-9736.2012.01.02Article ID:16739736(2012)01-0013-06early Cretaceous flora from coal-bearing strata of MarkovskyPeninsula in South Primorye, russiaTatiana Kovaleva, Elena volynets and SUN Gel.2.4I. Research Center of Paleontology Stratigraphy, Jilin University, Changchun 130026, China;2. Key-Lab for Euolution of Past Life Environment, MOE, China(Jilin University), Changchun 130026, China3. Institute of Biology and Soil Science, FEB, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok 690022, Russia4. College of Paleontology, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang 110034, ChinaAbstract: The Early Cretaceous flora from the coal-bearing strata( Ussuri and Lipovtsy formations in theTarkovsky peninsula of South Primorye, Far East Russia, is reported in some detail in this paper. The floracontaining over 80 species of about 50 genera can be divided into two assemblages. The paleofloristic character-istics and the comparisons of this flora with its coeval floras from the adjacent region of the eastern Heilongjiangof Northeast China, indicate the flora and its coal-bearing strata of the Markovsky peninsula can be comparedthose of the Chengzihe and Muling formations of the Jixi area of Heilongiiang, representing probably the lateBarremian and AptianKey words: Early Cretaceous; flora; Ussuri Formation; Lipovtsy Formation: Barremian-Aptian: Markovskypeninsula; South Primorye; RussiaEarly Cretaceous flora anIntroductionmorye( Krassilov, 1967), including those of thisThe history of the research on the fossil plants peninsula( Fig. 1). Krassilov( 1967) divided thefrom, the Markovsky peninsula of South PrimoryeCretaceous strata into the Ussuri Formation( BarremiRussia, has been over a century. Ivanov(1889)first an), Lipovtsy Formation(Aptian), Galenka Formacollected the fossil plants which study was involved bytion( Albian) and Korkino Group( CenomanianSwedish paleobotanist Halle(1921)who consideredThe first two formations are coal-bearing in naturethese plants similar to the Wealden flora of Europewhich yield abundant fossil plants. For the recentSince 1910 Kryshtofovich(1916) had studied this flo- years, Volynets(2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010)ra, and identified two different aged floras, including has done more research on this Early Cretaceous florasthe Mongugai flora Triassic and Nikan florand stratigraphy in this area, and obtained more plant(Jurassic-Cretaceous)( Kryshtofovich, 1919). Prfossils and related geological information from the Firnada(1937, 1939 Kryshtofovich& Prynada, 1932) sov cape and Markovsky peninsula. Some other ad-and Shtempel (1924 )also Involveed the phytostratvances in the concerned research have been gained algraphic research of this area. Since 1960s, Krassilovso( Markevich, 1995; Markevich et al., 2000: Bug-has made an enormous achievement to the study of daeva et a.V凵中国煤化工& Volynets,CNMHGReceived 20 November 2011, accepted 22 December 201114Volynets E.2008 ). In this paper the authors concentrate on the Both the coal-bearing Ussuri and Lipovtsy Formationsintroduction of the recent advances in study of the flo- yield abundant fossil plantsra from the coal-bearing strata (i. e. the Ussuri ForUssuri Formation(K,us)ation and Lipovtsy Formation) in this peninsulThis Ussuri Formation (76 m in total thickness)2 Material and methodconsists mainly of cross-bedded fine and mediumgrained sandstone and siltstone with elements of coalThe Early Cretaceous plants of the Markovskybearing layers. The basal part of the Formationpeninsula were mainly collected in the coastal out(1. 5 m thick)begins with the fine-grained sandstonecrops on the brazhnikov Bay area, but the most nu(Volynets, 2009), yielding Onychiopsis psilotoidesmerous finds are on the Klikov cape and near the So-(Stok. et Webb)Ward, Coniopteris burejensis(ZaIkol Bay. Up to know, there have been over 1000 Sew, Lycopodites prynadae Krass. and podozamitesspecimens of fossils collected, which is favorable for sp. In the lower part of the section have also beenthe present research. The research work was based on found: Cladophlebis sp, Podocarpus nicanicusthe collections of fossil plants from the coal-bearing Krass, Pseudolarix dorofeevii Samyl., Pityostrobusstrata at 21 localities( Fig. 1), including 8 sites from sp, Podozamites ex gr. lanceolatus( Lindl. etthe Ussuri Formation(101, 102, 109-113, BarremiHutt )Braun, etc. In the middle and upper parts ofan), and 13 from the Lipovtsy Formation(26, 26/1the Formation, the mudstone, fine-grained sandstone7, 27, 27/1, 28, Aptian). Referred this researchwith thin-bedded siltstones, we found fossil plantsthere are 3 localities from the Galenka Formation(38Equisetites sp, Coniopteris burejensis (Zal.)Sew40, lower-middle Albian). The specimens of the fosConiopteris sp, Onychiopsis psilotoides Stokes etsil plants are composed of leaves, leafy shoots, seedsWebb) Ward, Adiantopteris yuasensis Yokand fossil woods. Many of the specimens were subjecKrasPodocarpKrassPseudolarixted in chemical processing for cuticular study. Howevdorofeeuii Amyl., Pityostrobus sp., Podozamites exer, there are only some compression specimens which gr. Lanceolatus(L. et H)Brauncan be used for anatomical study due to their poorThe above plant fossils of the Ussuri Formationpreservations of cuticlesare characterized by the Ruffordia-elatides assemblageThe recent collections of the fossil plants at the which was considered Barremian age(KrassilovMarkovsky peninsula were mainly done by Volynets 1967), and probably the late Barremian or late Barrefor the last several years, and by Kovaleva in summer mian-early Aptian in age, considered by the present2011. All the specimens are stored in the laboratoryauthorsof Paleobotany of the Institute of Biology and Soil SciLipovtsy Formation(K, lp)ence, FEB RAS in VladivostokThe basal part(40 m thick) of the L3 Stratigraphy and floranation consists of cross-bedded thick layer of sandstoneand layers of gravel-stone, with fossil woods. Risinghe Lower Cretaceous coal-bearing strata in the up, there are sandstone, siltstone, carbonate mudMarkovsky peninsula are distributed in the southern stones, and coals. The carbonate mudstones and coalson of the Razdol' naya Basin, represented byare 22 m thick. Fossil ferns were found here, e, 8, Onthe Ussuri Formation and Lipovtsy Formation( Krassiychiopsis sp, Coniopteris sp, and Cladophlebis splov,1967; Volynets,2008,2009,2010)(Fig.2)The middle part (57. 5 m thick) of the FornThe most complete section studied in downstream of中国煤化工.4m) layer ofthe Bogataya River and continues along the easternHCNMH Gn)( Fig 3coast of Amur Bay( Burde, 1961; Evlanov, 1962)Then the deposits rise up with the cross-bedded fineEarly Cretaceous flora from coal-bearing strata of Markovsky Peninsula in South Primorye, RussiaMarkovsky capeKlikov capeLeft: sketch map; right: photo of the peninsulaFig. 1 Geographical positions of the fossil localitiesN↑K,lpKielTBogataya RiverFig3 Coal-bearing beds of Lipovtsy FormationTUpper TriasKurlewer· middle AlbianAptianalso found, including Xenoxylon latiporosum(Cra-mer)Gothan and Xenoxylon hopeiense Chang(Afo-nin,2008)its in the Markovsky peninsulaThe upper part of the Formation(86. 5 m thickbegins with layer of the dense fine-grained sandstonesgrained sandstone and grit-stone, and the carbonateand tuffs. Then this section rises up mainly the medimudstone and coals where were found the fossilined sandstone siltstone with mudsplants( locality 26 ): Cladophlebis frigida(Heerbonate mudstone and coals. and in sandstones alsow, Nilssonia ex gr. orientalis Heer and Athrotasfound calcareous concretions. Here localities 27opsis expansa Font. Inne arennllantad include. Lfound tuffs and calcareous concretionswhich中国煤化工)nychiopsis psilo-identified a few multi-chambered foraminifera and ra-tides( StCNMH GYcadites sulcaldiolarian nucleus. In this part some wood fossils areKrysht. et Pryn, Nilssonia ex gr. orientalis HeerKovaleva T, Volynets E. and Sun Gtheir coeval coal-bearing strata and the flora from theeastern Heilongjiang Province of Northeast Chinawhere is adjacent to the Primorye, RussiaIn the eastern Heilongjiang of China, the LowerCretaceous coal-bearing strata are represented by theJixi Group which is mainly composed of the ChengziheFormation ( including didao Formation in the lowestpart)and the Muling Formation( Zheng &Zhang65m1982,1983; Sun et al.,1992,1995,2000;Sun&Dilcher, 2002; Yang, 2003 ). The flora of the coal-bearing Chengzihe Formation and Muling Formation ofHeilongjiang can be comparative with the flora from85mthe Ussuri and lipovtsy Formations of the markovskypeninsula, respectively. There are many common taxa+a:2aoccurred in both the Russian and Chinese two florassuch as: Coniopteris ex gr. arctica( Pryn )Samyli-na,Coniopteris burejensis(Zal. )Seward, Adiantopteris sewardii( Yabe)Vassilevskaja, Onychiopsis psi-lotoides( Stokes et Webb)Ward, Ruffordia goeppertii( Dunk. Seward, Cladophlebis frigida(Heer)SeI- conglomerate; 2- gritstone: 3. fine and middle-grained sandstone: 4.coalwards- mudstone: 6- siltstone: 7.sandstone with tuff8-(a)calcareous concretionsPolypodites polyporus Prynada, Acanthopterisfossil plants (b)and woods (ch.onychioides( Vassil. et K- M.)Zhang( Birisia on-4 Sketch column of Lipovtsy Formation and fossily(Vassilevsk. et K.-M. )Samylina), Pterobearing bedsphyllum burejense Prynada, Nilssonia sinensis Yabe etOishi( =Nilssonia ex gr. brongniartii(Mant)DunkAraucariodendron heterophyllum Krass., Elatides asiat-er), Ginkgo sp. Athrotaxites berryi Bell, Sphenolepisica(Yok. Krassilov and other taxa( Volynets, 2010)burriana( dunker)Schenk(= Athrotaxopsis expansaTotal thickness of the Lipovtsy Formation is 213Font.), Podozamites lanceolatus( Lindl. et Hutt.Schenk, Elatocladus submanchurica yabe et Oishim( Fig 4 ). The above plant fossils of this Formation( Elatides asiatica( Yok. ) Krassilov ) etc. Be-are characterized by Cycadites-Athrotaxopsis assem-many taxa can bearable each other. suchblage which is considered the Aptian age(Krassilovas Thallites, Ginkgo, Pityostrobus, Pityolepis, Pityo1967; Volynets, 2009, 2010 ), and probably thephyllum, etc. On the other hand, the stratigraphic se-middle-late Aptianquences of the coal-bearing strata from the ChineseThe overlying deposits of the Lipovtsy Formationand Russian two localities are very similar in characis the Galenka Formation( Kigl, 105m thick)whichis filled with tuffs, aged in the lower-middle AlbianAlthough the floras of the Jixi Group of Hei-4 Comparison of the flora with its longjiang were considered some earlier in age, e.gengcoeval floras from Northeast Chinaam Iata uaterivian-earlyB3V中国煤化nd the MulThe Early Cretaceous coal-bearing strata and flo-Formation asCNMHGetra from the Markovsky peninsula are quite similar to al., 1995), the marine bivalves fossils from theEarly Cretaceous flora from coal-bearing strata of Markovsky Peninsula in South Primorye, RussiaChengzihe Formation has been considered as Aptiantok:Dalnauka, 1-205(in Russianage( Sha et aL., 2009 ). On the other hand, the diEvlanoy Yu. 1962. Geological structure and useful fossilsflagellates fossils of the Chengzihe Formationin north part of the Peninsula of Muravievo-Amurwhich were regarded as the main evidence for datingReport of Kluchev Geological Team in 1959Sun et aL., 1992, 1995; Sun Dilcher, 2002)1960). Vladivostok, 1-223. ( in Russian)were considered as younger age by Russian paleozoolKrassilov V A. 1967. Early Cretaceous flora from Southogist Konovalov(in communications ) Therefore, thePrimorye and its signioficance for stratigraphyauthors consider the floras of the coal-bearing ChengzMoscow: Nauka, 1-363.( in Russianihe Formation and Muling Formation of HeilongjiangKrassilov V A, volynets E B. 2008. Weedy Albian angisperms. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 48 (2)na can becompared with those of the Ussuri andLipovtsy Formations of the Markovsky peninsula, Rus-151-169and their ages might be as the late Barremian(orKryshtofovich A N. 1919. On the flower of williamsoniao early Aptian) and Aptian, respectively.sp, found near Vladivostok, and some other plantsfrom Maritime Province of Asiatic Russia. Journal ofAcknowledgementsGeological Society of Tokyo, 26(30): 1-5Kryshtofovich A N., Prynada V D. 1932. Materials forThe authors are grateful to Dr. Yang T. of ColMesozoic flora from Ussuri region//Izvestia vse-lege of Paleontology, Shenyang Normal University, forsouznogo Geol -razed. Obedineniya, 363-373. (inhis kind help in drawing the map and compiling theRussian)references of this paper. We also thank to geologistMarkevich V S. 1995. The Cretaceous Flora of North ofA F. Lysyuk of the Primorsky Exploring and SurveyEastern Asia. Vladivostok: Dalnauka, 1-200.( ining Expedition, who was actively involved in collecRussian)ting of the paleobotanical material. The work was supMarkevich P V, Konovalov V P, Malinovsky A l, et alported by the Presidium of the Russian Academy of2000. 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