Late Triassic–Early Jurassic continental vertebrates and their environmental context from the Junggar Basin, Xinjiang, NW China ...

• Main Authors: Olsen, Paul E., Sha, Jingeng, Fang, Yanan, Chang, Clara, Sues, Hans-Dieter, Slibeck, Bennett Bradley, Fu, Qiang, Yu, Congyu
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Geological Society of London 2023
• Subjects: Geology; FOS Earth and related environmental sciences; Arctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6729761; https://geolsoc.figshare.com/collections/Late_Triassic_Early_Jurassic_continental_vertebrates_and_their_environmental_context_from_the_Junggar_Basin_Xinjiang_NW_China/6729761

Vertebrate assemblages from the Junggar Basin in Xinjiang, China, are the only ones known from palaeo-arctic continental strata of Late Triassic and Early Jurassic age. Here we present a preliminary description of these new assemblages, focusing on the underappreciated Arctic palaeolatitude and winter freezing of this coal-bearing sequence. Mostly collected during NIGPAS-led stratigraphic studies in the 2016–2017 field seasons, new assemblages include: (1) small to large sculptured palaeonisciform cranial elements and scales, small associated palaeonisciforms, a sauropterygian tooth, large-dinosaur bioturbation, and additional unidentified small vertebrate bones from the Haojiagou Formation (?upper Norian–Rhaetian); (2) a medium-sized brontozoid dinosaur footprint and a previously described possible Anomoepus track from the Badaowan Formation (Hettangian–?Pliensbachian); and (3) a hybodont shark egg case of the form taxon Palaeoxyris (only the third reported from Early Jurassic age strata of China), numerous ...