New material of the early Cambrian small shelly fossils from the Huangling Anticline, Yichang, western Hubei
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Abstract:
Early Cambrian small shelly fossils (SSF) from the eastern and southern parts of the Huangling Anticline in Yichang area, Hubei Province, have been extensively studied. However, little information on the SSFs from the western part of the Anticline is known. Here we report SSFs from the Terreneuvian Tianzhushan Member of the Dengying Formation at the Gaolanhe section. These SSFs consist of Anabarites trisulcatus (an index element of Anabarites trisulcatus-Protohertzina anabarica Assemblage Zone), Eohalobia diandongensis, and Oelandiella korobkovi (index fossils of Paragloborilus subglobosus-Purella squamulosa Assemblage Zone), as well as Paragloborilus tenuis, which may belong to zone Ⅲ (Watsonella crosbyi Assemblage Zone) or later biozones. We thus suggest that this assemblage zone represents a mixture of multiple SSF biozones and it may be correlated to the top of the Yangjiahe Formation from eastern Three Gorges Area. In addition, we report new SSFs from the basal Yanjiahe Formation at the Gunshiao section in southern part of the Huangling Anticline. This assemblage, belonging to the Anabarites trisulcatus-Protohertzina anabarica Assemblage Zone, contains Anabarites ternarius Missarzhevsky in Rozanov et al., 1969, Kaiyangites novilis Qian and Yin, 1984, sponge spicules, and unnamed algae. Fossil assemblages and deposition records show that the Gaolanhe area, comparable to the Taishanmiao area in the eastern part of the Huangling Anticline, developed tidal-flat facies with significant exposure. The Gunshiao region in the southern part of the Huangling Anticline possesses an open platform facies with a minor depositional suspension; the first SSF biozone is relatively recognizable in the lower part. The discovery of these fossil materials provides new data for stratigraphic correlation and palaeobiogeographic study of the lower Cambrian in the Huangling Anticline.
