Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T17:14:07.649Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The chronometric age of the Sinian–Cambrian boundary in the Yangtze Platform, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Zhang Zichao
Affiliation:
Yichang Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, P. O. Box 502, Yichang, Hubei Province, People's Republic of China
Ma Guogan
Affiliation:
Yichang Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, P. O. Box 502, Yichang, Hubei Province, People's Republic of China
Lee Huaqin
Affiliation:
Yichang Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, P. O. Box 502, Yichang, Hubei Province, People's Republic of China

Abstract

The Cambrian and Precambrian sedimentary strata in the centre and west part of the Yangtze Platform are in continuous successions, in which the Tiantzushan Member and the Meisuchun Formation are exceedingly rich in shelly fossils. In Co-operation with the stratigraphic study in depth and in order to determine the isotopic age for the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary in the Yangtze Platform, a number of isotopic age determinations by different techniques have been made in the laboratories of the Yichang Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources and the Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, mainly on the sequences in the Yangtze Gorges area together with those from some other areas in the Yangtze Platform. In this paper, the authors summarize all of these results and infer 610±10 Ma as an age for the Sinian–Cambrian Boundary in the Yangtze Platform if the ‘golden spike’ is considered to be placed at the bottom of the Meishucun Stage.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bofinger, V. M., Compston, W. & Vernon, M. J. 1968. The application of acid leaching to the Rb-Sr dating of a middle Ordovician shale. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 32, 823–33.Google Scholar
Clauer, N. 1977. A new approach to Rb-Sr dating of sedimentary rocks. Lectures in Isotope Geology, 3051.Google Scholar
Clement, S. & Compston, W. 1972. The design and performance of a mass spectrometer using beam transport theory. International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion Physics 10, 323.Google Scholar
Cowie, J. W. & Cribb, S. J. 1978. The Cambrian System. In Contributions to the Geologic Time Scale (ed. Cohee, G. V. and others), pp. 355–62. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 6. Tulsa, Oklahoma.Google Scholar
Kralik, M. & Compston, W. 1980. A new approach to Rb-Sr dating of carbonate rocks. Internal report, Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra A.C.T.Google Scholar
Kübler, B. 1968. Evolution quantitative du métamorphisme par la cristallinité de l'illite. Bulletin du Centre de Recherches de Pau. Société Nationale des Pétroles d' Aquitaine 2, 385–97.Google Scholar
Ma, Guogan, Lee, Huaqin & Xue, Xiaofeng. 1980. Isotopic ages of the Sinian in the East Yangtze Gorges with a discussion on the Sinian geochronological scale of China. Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences 1 (1), 3955.Google Scholar
McIntyre, G. A., Brooks, C., Compston, W. & Turek, A. 1966. The statistical assessment of Rb-Sr isochrons. Journal of Geophysical Research 71, 5459–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steiger, R. H. & Jäger, E. 1977. Convention on the use of decay constants in geo-and cosmochronology. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 36, 359–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar