The Jehol Biota: Definition and distribution of exceptionally preserved relicts of a continental Early Cretaceous ecosystem

Pan, Yanhong; Sha, Jingeng; Zhou, Zhonghe; Fürsich, Franz T.

doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2013.03.007

Cited by 165 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…For instance, the Green River Formation Lagerstätte-which encompasses numerous localities in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah (Bradley, 1964)-is included in the dataset as representative assemblages, which cover the geographic range of the formation. Similar examples include the Burgess Shale (Collins et al, 1983), Chengjiang (Hou and Bergström, 2003), and Jehol biotas (Pan et al, 2013). Due to limitations in published data, other Lagerstätten-known from multiple beds, localities, and sections-were entered in the dataset as singular units (i.e.…”

Section: Overview Of Dataset Of Exceptionally Preserved Fossil Assembmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exceptionally preserved fossil assemblages through geologic time and space

et al. 2017

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Geologic deposits containing fossils with remains of non-biomineralized tissues (i.e. Konservat-Lagerstätten) provide key insights into ancient organisms and ecosystems. Such deposits are not evenly distributed through geologic time or space, suggesting that global phenomena play a key role in exceptional fossil preservation. Nonetheless, establishing the influence of global phenomena requires documenting temporal and spatial trends in occurrences of exceptionally preserved fossil assemblages. To this end, we compiled and analyzed a dataset of 694 globally distributed exceptional fossil assemblages spanning the history of complex eukaryotic life (~610 to 3 Ma). Our analyses demonstrate that assemblages with similar ages and depositional settings commonly occur in clusters, each signifying an ancient geographic region (up to hundreds of kilometers in scale), which repeatedly developed conditions conducive to soft tissue preservation. Using a novel hierarchical clustering approach, we show that these clusters decrease in number and shift from open marine to transitional and nonmarine settings across the Cambrian-Ordovician interval. Conditions conducive to exceptional preservation declined worldwide during the early Paleozoic in response to transformations of near-surface environments that promoted degradation of tissues and curbed authigenic mineralization potential. We propose a holistic explanation relating these environmental transitions to ocean oxygenation and bioturbation, which affected virtually all taphonomic pathways, in addition to changes in seawater chemistry that disproportionately affected processes of soft tissue conservation. After these transitions, exceptional preservation rarely occurred in open marine settings, excepting times of widespread oceanic anoxia, when low oxygen levels set the stage. With these patterns, nonmarine cluster count is correlated with non-marine rock quantity, and generally decreases with age. This result suggests that geologic processes, which progressively destroy terrestrial rocks over time, limit sampling of non-marine deposits on a global scale. Future efforts should aim to assess the impacts of such phenomena on evolutionary and ecological patterns in the fossil record.

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Section: Overview Of Dataset Of Exceptionally Preserved Fossil Assembmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exceptionally preserved fossil assemblages through geologic time and space

et al. 2017

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“…the Eosestheria , Ephemeropsis and Lycoptera (EEL) fossil assemblage; Pan et al . ). Unfortunately, this species was not found during this study's fieldwork.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…; Pan et al . ). This area primarily consists of weakly laminated or finely bedded siliciclastic sedimentary deposits and basic low‐energy sandstones and shales; it is intercalated with extrusive basalts and tuffs, and is crosscut by occasional dykes and sills (Wang et al .…”

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confidence: 97%

“…The portion of the Yixian Formation containing the Jehol Biota's most significant biological radiations is narrowly distributed through China's western Liaoning (Fig. 1) (Chen et al 1998;Pan et al 2013). This area primarily consists of weakly laminated or finely bedded siliciclastic sedimentary deposits and basic low-energy sandstones and shales; it is intercalated with extrusive basalts and tuffs, and is crosscut by occasional dykes and sills (Wang et al 1989).…”

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Lagerstätte fossils from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of the Pingquan Basin, North China: stratigraphical correlation and palaeoenvironmental implications

Qin

Shi

et al. 2019

LET

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The Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation in northeast China mainly contains the Jehol Biota. Notable investigations of the area have led to the discovery of feathered dinosaurs, angiosperms and numerous other exceptionally well‐preserved fossils. The Yixian Formation is mostly composed of basalts interbedded with siliciclastic sediments that can be divided into several beds (from lower to upper layers, the Jianshangou Bed, Dawangzhangzi Bed and Jinggangshan Bed). However, the stratigraphy and fossils of the Yixian Formation in the northern Hebei Province are less understood than those of the western Liaoning. This study carried out a sectional excavation on a lacustrine deposit outcrop of the Yixian Formation from the Pingquan Basin in northern Hebei (the Shimen section). This fieldwork resulted in a detailed lithostratigraphical description of 52 layers, including three abundant fossil layers found within a fine‐grained clastic deposit that is 15.48 m thick. A preliminary palaeontological record was also created from primary observations and from information from previous investigations. Representative fossils included the lizard Jeholacerta formosa, fish Lecoptera sp. tadpole shrimp Chenops yixianensis conchostracans Eosestheria, dragonfly Samarura and the palaeobotanical conifers Liaoningocladus boii and Schizolepis. Comparing the lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy of this section with other Lower Cretaceous sections in the western Liaoning, the lacustrine strata of the Shimen section correlate to the lower part of the Yixian Formation's Dawangzhangzi Bed. Based on the analysis of the characteristics of the sediment and the typical types of the plants from this section, it is suggested that the Pingquan Basin is a small volcanic‐sediment basin, in temperate palaeoclimate during its deposition period.

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“…Currently, more than 40 avian species have been named from the Jehol Biota, spanning the whole spectrum of major Mesozoic avian clades (Zhou & Zhang 2006a;Zhou & Wang 2010). The Jehol bird-bearing deposits consist of, in ascending order, the Huajiying, Yixian and Jiufotang formations, which capture snapshots of over 10 million years of early avian history (130.7À120.0 Ma; Jin et al 2008;Pan et al 2013). The large number of complete skeletons, some of which preserve feathers and in rare cases the traces of soft tissues, have added significantly to our knowledge about various aspects of early avian evolution, including morphology, biology, ontogeny and phylogeny Zheng et al 2011Zheng et al , 2012Zheng et al , 2013Zheng et al , 2014O'Connor et al 2013a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new small enantiornithine bird from the Jehol Biota, with implications for early evolution of avian skull morphology

Wang

2015

Journal of Systematic Palaeontology

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2015): A new small enantiornithine bird from the Jehol Biota, with implications for early evolution of avian skull morphology, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, Enantiornithes is the most diverse Mesozoic avian clade. Approximately half of the known global diversity of Enantiornithes is from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of China. The Jehol enantiornithines are usually articulated and complete, but the bones are overlain by each other and preserved in two dimensions, severely limiting the number of cranial characters that can be recognized. Here we describe a new enantiornithine bird, Pterygornis dapingfangensis gen. et sp. nov., from the Jehol Biota. The new taxon has a unique sternal morphology with an external rostral spine and a pair of craniolateral processes. Phylogenetic analysis resolves the new taxon in a derived position within Enantiornithes. The specimen is disarticulated with several exceptionally well-preserved cranial bones, including the jugal and quadratojugal, morphologies of which remain poorly understood for enantiornithines. Our results indicate that the quadratojugal is an inverted L-shaped element, morphologically similar to that of more basal birds Archaeopteryx bavarica, Jeholornis prima, Confuciusornis sanctus and Sapeornis chaoyangensis. Our findings also illustrate that the quadratojugal underwent large modifications with the reduction of the caudoventral and squamosal processes sequentially during early avian evolution, contributing to the refinement of the cranial kinesis in early birds.http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:384D11F5-1CD3-4447-B01E-58D320B42D49

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The Jehol Biota: Definition and distribution of exceptionally preserved relicts of a continental Early Cretaceous ecosystem

Cited by 165 publications

References 53 publications

Exceptionally preserved fossil assemblages through geologic time and space

Exceptionally preserved fossil assemblages through geologic time and space

Lagerstätte fossils from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of the Pingquan Basin, North China: stratigraphical correlation and palaeoenvironmental implications

A new small enantiornithine bird from the Jehol Biota, with implications for early evolution of avian skull morphology

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