Late Cenozoic Yushe Basin, Shanxi Province, China: Geology and Fossil Mammals: Volume I:History, Geology, and Magnetostratigraphy

116 Pages·2013·10.76 MB·English

by  Zhan-Xiang Qiu, Lawrence J. Flynn (auth.), Richard H. Tedford, Zhan-Xiang Qiu, Lawrence J. Flynn (eds.)

Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series
Richard H. Tedford
Zhan-Xiang Qiu
Lawrence J. Flynn
Editors
Late Cenozoic Yushe
Basin, Shanxi Province,
China: Geology
and Fossil Mammals
Volume I: History, Geology, and Magnetostratigraphy
Late Cenozoic Yushe Basin,
Shanxi Province, China:
Geology and Fossil Mammals
Vertebrate Paleobiology
and Paleoanthropology Series
Edited by
Eric Delson
Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History,
New York, NY 10024, USA
[email protected]
Eric J. Sargis
Anthropology, Yale University
New Haven, CT 06520, USA
[email protected]
Focal topics for volumes in the series will include systematic paleontology of all vertebrates (from agnathans to
humans), phylogeny reconstruction, functional morphology, Paleolithic archaeology, taphonomy, geochronology,
historicalbiogeography,andbiostratigraphy.Otherfields(e.g.,paleoclimatology,paleoecology,ancientDNA,total
organismalcommunitystructure)maybeconsideredifthevolumethemeemphasizespaleobiology(orarchaeology).
Fieldssuchasmodelingofphysicalprocesses,geneticmethodology,nonvertebratesorneontologyareoutofourscope.
Volumesintheseriesmayeitherbemonographictreatments(includingunpublishedbutfullyreviseddissertations)or
editedcollections,especiallythosefocusingonproblem-orientedissues,withmultidisciplinarycoveragewherepossible.
Editorial Advisory Board
Nicholas Conard (University of Tübingen), John G. Fleagle (Stony Brook University), Jean-Jacques Hublin (Max
Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology), Ross D. E. MacPhee (American Museum of Natural History), Peter
Makovicky(TheFieldMuseum),SallyMcBrearty(UniversityofConnecticut),JinMeng(AmericanMuseumofNatural
History), Tom Plummer (Queens College/CUNY), Mary Silcox (University of Toronto).
For other titlespublished in thisseries, goto
www.springer.com/series/6978
Late Cenozoic Yushe Basin,
Shanxi Province, China:
Geology and Fossil Mammals
Volume I: History, Geology,
and Magnetostratigraphy
Edited by
Richard H. Tedford
(1929–2011, deceased)
FormerlyDivisionofPaleontology,TheAmericanMuseumofNaturalHistory,
Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192, USA
Zhan-Xiang Qiu
Laboratory of Paleomammalogy, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology
and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xizhimenwai Ave.,
142, Beijing 100044, People’s Republic of China
Lawrence J. Flynn
Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum
of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138,
USA
123
Editors
Richard H.Tedford Lawrence J.Flynn
FormerlyDivision of Paleontology Department of HumanEvolutionary Biology,
The AmericanMuseum ofNatural History and Peabody MuseumofArchaeology
New York and Ethnology
NY, USA Harvard University
Cambridge
Zhan-Xiang Qiu MA, USA
Laboratory ofPaleomammalogy
Instituteof Vertebrate Paleontology
and Paleoanthropology
ChineseAcademy ofSciences
Beijing
People’s Republic ofChina
ISSN 1877-9077 ISSN 1877-9085 (electronic)
ISBN 978-90-481-8713-3 ISBN 978-90-481-8714-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-8714-0
Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New YorkLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2013930357
(cid:2)SpringerScience+BusinessMediaDordrecht2013
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Cover Illustration: Exposure of Yushe Group in Zhangcungou, one of Licent’s fossil localities. The steep wall
situatedright,andbelowthelevelofthetreesinthecentreofthepicture,istheplacewhereLicent’sonlyprofilewas
measured(LicentandTrassaert,1925,Fig.1).PhototakenAugust9,1997,byZ.-X.Qiu
Printedonacid-freepaper
SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com)
Foreword
ThisisthefirstvolumeofLateCenozoicYusheBasin,ShanxiProvince,China:Geologyand
Fossil Mammals, a series to be published by Springer on the terrestrial vertebrate fauna
of the last six and a half million years from an area of North China that figured
regionally in the development of modern vertebrate paleontology. The geological and
paleontological record is important for knowledge of the Northeast Asian terrestrial
faunaoftheLateNeogene,andforthehistoryofscienceinChina.Yushestratarecord
in one place a succession of faunas that for many years constituted the best body of
evidence on the paleobiology of Asia through all of Pliocene time. It still stands as
perhapsthebestplacetodocumentthesuccessionofearlierPliocenemammalianfaunas
in China. The present volume is an introduction to Yushe. Its focus is the geology of
Yushe Basin, the history of exploration there, and the magnetostratigraphy that, in
concert with the fossil record, yields a stratigraphy with a well-resolved time frame.
Volume I of the Late Cenozoic Yushe Basin Series, ‘‘History, Geology and Magnet-
ostratigraphy,’’ is to be followed by sequential studies on the systematics of mammalian
groups, with emphasis on their provenance. We plan five additional volumes to follow
on phylogenetically and geologically documented investigations of distinct mammalian
groups.Thesedatamaythenbeappliedtoproducearefined,compositebiostratigraphy
for Yushe Basin, which can be used for correlation elsewhere and for interpretation of
faunal events, including turnover, appearances, and dispersals. The interpretive and
syntheticbiochronologyandpaleobiogeographywillbeintegratedintothefinalvolume.
We dedicate this volume especially, and the whole series on the paleontology of
Yushe Basin, to Richard H. Tedford (1929–2011). Volume I of Late Cenozoic Yushe
Basin, Shanxi Province, China: Geology and Fossil Mammals was born of the collabora-
tion that began in 1981 between Dick Tedford and Zhan-Xiang Qiu. During the 1990s,
Dick Tedford and Zhan-Xiang Qiu compiled their geological and stratigraphic obser-
vations, and in collaboration with Neil Opdyke, University of Florida, built the tem-
poralframeworkforinterpretationofthefossilrecordofYushe.Progressontheentire,
diverse mammalian fauna followed, but serious health issues for both Dick and Zhan-
Xiang were a setback to the project in 2003. In recent years, work continued at a
diminished pace. Dick was able to complete his interpretation of the geology of Yushe
Basin in2010,evenafterhishealthonceagain begantodeteriorate.HispassinginJuly
of 2011 is difficult for all of us and a loss for the body of knowledge of Neogene
terrestrialfaunasfromaroundtheworld.Thisvolumeinparticular,aswellasthewhole
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vi Foreword
seriesofSpringervolumes,wasthevisionofDickTedford,andhecontributedinmany
ways to the research on all of the Yushe vertebrates treated in subsequent works. We
miss his genuine passion for understanding of the vertebrate record, his interest in all
groups,andhisencouragementtodeveloparefinedbiostratigraphythatwouldserveas
a standard for biochronology in Northeastern Asia.
April 2012 Zhan-Xiang Qiu
Lawrence J. Flynn
Preface
Why don’t you try to be another ‘‘Teilhard de Chardin’’? This was the question Qiu
ardently addressed to Tedford, staring directly into his face, glowing under the golden
light of the half-set sun. Both of us were sitting on the slope of a big block of Permo-
Triassic violet sandstone after a day offield work in the Yushe Basin in early summer,
1982.Tedforddidnotanswerthequestion,butimmersedhimselfindeepmeditation.All
the things that happened thereafter may take their origin from this short unanswered
question. Why? And why not?
ForQiu,hefeltdeeplytheneedtofindapaleontologistrivalingTeilharddeChardin
in scope and depth of knowledge to resume the work in Yushe after almost 40 years of
stagnation. The importance of Yushe as a key area for Late Neogene stratigraphy and
vertebrate paleontology had been well understood by all the Chinese students studying
Neogene problems. In the 1930s, when rich mammalian fossils were first found in the
Yushe area, primary importance was attached to the fluviatile-lacustrine character of
fossil-bearing deposits radically distinct from the wide-spread ‘‘Hipparion Red Clay’’ of
North China. It was soon recognized that the main body of the Yushe fossils belonged
toanunknownfaunaintermediatebetweentheBaodeHipparionfaunaandtheNihewan
Equus fauna. Teilhard de Chardin undertook research work on the Yushe mammalian
faunas,buthefailedtofinishthisresearchbeforeheleftChinain1945.Thisleftthefull
nature of one of the most important late Cenozoic faunas from being clearly revealed.
This probably was one of the reasons why Prof. C. C. Young, the late founder of the
InstituteofVertebratePaleontologyandPaleoanthropology(IVPP),whovisitedYushe
himself during the 1930s, sent a team to resume the Yushe studies in 1955–1956 soon
after he was reappointed as the Director of the Cenozoic Laboratory. When Qiu was
transferredfromthePaleogene DivisionoftheLaboratoryofPaleomammalogy,IVPP,
totheNeogeneDivision,Yushewasnaturallychosenashisfirsttarget.ForTedford,his
fascination with the Chinese Neogene and its mammalian faunas came from his
acquaintance with the marvelous specimens collected from China, and then housed in
the Frick Collection at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), which
became fully accessible to him in 1968.
These common interests united them. In 1981, when they first met in the ‘‘Horse
Heaven’’workshopattheAMNH,strongdesiresfrombothsidesledtoaplantoinitiate
an intimate cooperation on the Chinese Neogene stratigraphy and mammalian faunas.
Theoutcomeledtotheabovescenethatoccurredinthefollowingyear.However,other
commitments and the need to raise grant money delayed initiation of this joint project
until1987.In1982–1984,QiuwenttoGermanyonaHumboldtscholarshiptoenhance
his knowledge of the European Neogene, while Tedford continued preparation for the
Yushe Project. Tedford succeeded in persuading Neil Opdyke, the leading authority on
terrestrialpaleomagnetics;LarryFlynn,asmallmammalexpertwithfocusontheAsian
Neogene;andWillDowns,whoserichexperienceinfieldworkandhisabilityinreading
vii
viii Preface
and speaking Chinese turned out to be extremely valuable, to join the project from the
American side. Meanwhile, Qiu recruited Wu Wenyu, a leading figure in micro-
mammalogy in China, Yu-Qing Li, De-Fa Yan, Guan-Fang Chen, Jie Ye, and Wei
Dong,allveryactivelargemammalspecialists,andanumberofpostgraduatestudents,
Xiao-Feng Chen, Yi-Zheng Li, and Gen-Zhu Zhu, to join the project from the Chinese
side.
At the very beginning of the joint project, the aims were set forth clearly. (1) To
pursue research on the large mammalian fossils of Yushe left unstudied (Canidae,
Ursidae,Rhinocerotidae,Suidae,partofHyaenidae,andpartofEquidae);(2)Torevise
thegroupsalreadystudiedinlightofthecurrentknowledgeoftheirsystematics; (3)To
obtain as many small mammals as possible from stratigraphically defined layers to
overcomethestrongbiastowardlargemammalsintheearlycollections;(4)Toassignas
many mammalian fossils as possible to a solid stratigraphic foundation; (5) To apply
modern techniques and methods in field work, especially wet sieving for small mam-
malianremains;and(6)Tocombinemagnetostratigraphywithbiostratigraphyinorder
to date the faunal succession.
Large-scale fieldworkbeganin1987 andconcluded in1991. Subsequently,a number
of short trips aimed at solving specific geological problems in Yushe Basin were
undertaken by a few team members. Work continued on faunal remains but suffered a
few setbacks. De-Fa Yan’s key work on ungulates was cut short prematurely, but
continued by collaborators. Also unfortunately, Will Downs died toward the end of
2002, but his contribution of translations from the Chinese literature continues to
provideinsightnotonlytoourproject,butalsoforothernon-Chinesewritersbecoming
interested in diverse Chinese earth sciences. Will was a key player in developing the
microfaunal record of Yushe, which includes a densely sampled view of the Late Neo-
genesmallmammalcommunitiesofShanxiProvince.Will’senthusiasmandfascination
withChinaandhiscontributionstoourworkprovidealastinggifttousandcolleagues
of similar interest.
Thisvolumepresentstheresultsobtainedfrombothfieldandlaboratorywork.Aswe
were preparing the Yushe series of volumes, great progress in the field of Neogene
mammalogy and stratigraphy was being made both in other places in China and else-
where in Eurasia. The Yushe Basin remains the most important and most informative
LateNeogenebasininChina.ItprovidesthemostcompletesectionfromlatestMiocene
throughtheentirePlioceneandintotheEarlyPleistocene,withonlymodestgaps,andit
is paleomagnetically calibrated and paleontologically dated based on rich small and
large mammalian faunas.
Zhan-Xiang Qiu
Acknowledgments
Wetakethisopportunitytoexpressourdeepgratitudetoalltheinstitutionsandpersons
who warmly supported the Yushe Project in various ways. For financial support, we
thank the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the USA and the National Natural
Science Foundation (NSFC, China), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Two NSF
grants supported the field work: EAR 8709221 and BSR 9020065; later synthesis was
supported under Grant No. 0958178. For manifold material and spiritual support, we
thank the authorities and our colleagues of the American Museum of Natural History,
the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, the Tianjin Natural
History Museum, and the Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel. Last, but not least, we
thank the local authorities and the people of Yushe County, without whose help the
present work could not have been so successfully completed.
We dedicate this volume to our friend and colleague Dick Tedford, and at the same
timewerecognizeallthosewhowentbeforeusduringthepastcentury,onwhosework
ourconclusionsandhopefuladvancementsdependsoheavily.Someofthosewereinthe
fieldwithusandinspiredusbytheirdedication,includingDe-FaYanandWillDowns.
VolumeIwasassembledthankstothecontributionsofmanycolleaguesandassociates,
mostrecentlybytheeffortsofmembersofIVPPinBeijingandstaffmembersofAMNH
inNewYork,especiallyAlejandraLora,JudyGalkin,andFrankIppolito.Frank’sskill
inpreparingartwork,envisionedbyDickTedford,istechnicallyflawlessandartistically
admirable. Susan Bell, Ruth O’Leary, and Loraine Meeker aided this effort in diverse
ways, making access to key documents possible.
WethankJudithTerposandoftheentireSpringerstafffortheirhelpinrealizingthe
firstoftheYusheBasinvolumes.ThemeticulouseffortsofserieseditorsEricSargisand
Eric Delson, are deeply appreciated. They encouraged the maturation of the final
product and its artwork. The more recent constructive help of external manuscript
reviewers is greatly appreciated. Their careful reading led to various improvements in
clarity throughout the volume.
Vivien Tedford and Andrew Woodford assisted Dick in completing his work on this
volume,andcontinued tohelpusassemblepartsofthepresent manuscriptthrough the
summer of 2011. Richard H. Tedford made this volume possible by his charisma and
leadership, and by his example that shows what constitutes good science.
ix