Of Henan Province, China: Occurrences, Palaeoenvironments, Taphonomy and Preservation
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Progress in Natural Science 19 (2009) 1587–1601 www.elsevier.com/locate/pnsc Dinosaur eggs and dinosaur egg-bearing deposits (Upper Cretaceous) of Henan Province, China: Occurrences, palaeoenvironments, taphonomy and preservation Xinquan Liang a,*, Shunv Wen a,b, Dongsheng Yang a, Shiquan Zhou c, Shichong Wu d a Key Laboratory of Isotope Geochronology and Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China b Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China c First Geology and Exploration Institute, Henan Bureau of Geology, Mineral Exploration and Development Supervision, Nanyang 473003, China d Zhuzhou Institute of Mineral Resources and Geological Survey, Hunan Geological Survey, Zhuzhou 412007, China Received 15 October 2008; received in revised form 25 April 2009; accepted 23 June 2009 Abstract The Upper Cretaceous dinosaur egg-bearing deposits in Henan Province, central China are divided into three formations in ascending order: Gaogou, Majiacun and Sigou. The Gaogou Formation belongs to alluvial fan deposits containing the fossil dinosaur egg assem- blage of Faveoloolithus, Dendroolithus, Dictyoolithus, Paraspheroolithus and Longiteresoolithus. The Majiacun Formation is interpreted as braided stream to meandering stream deposits with assemblage of Ovaloolithus, Paraspheroolithus, Placoolithus, Dendroolithus, Pris- matoolithus, rare Youngoolithus and Nanhiungoolithus. The Sigou Formation is shallow lacustrine/palustrine to low-sinuosity river sed- imentary rocks with assemblage of Macroolithus, Elongatoolithus, Ovaloolithus and Paraspheroolithus. To date, 37 oospecies, 13 oogenera and 8 oofamilies of dinosaur eggs have been distinguished. Autochthonous dinosaur eggs are pre- served in the floodplain deposits, whereas allochthonous and parautochthonous dinosaur eggs are preserved in the alluvial fans.
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