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The Triassic U–Pb age for the aquatic long-necked protorosaur of Guizhou, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2014

YANBIN WANG ,
DETING YANG ,
JUAN HAN ,
LITING WANG ,
JIANXIN YAO  and
DUNYI LIU
YANBIN WANG*
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China Beijing SHRIMP Center, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China
DETING YANG
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China Beijing SHRIMP Center, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China
JUAN HAN
Affiliation:
Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology, Beijing 100029, China
LITING WANG
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Guizhou Province, Guiyang 550005, China
JIANXIN YAO
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China
DUNYI LIU
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China Beijing SHRIMP Center, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China
*
†Author for correspondence: wangyanbin@bjshrimp.cn
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Abstract

The ancient marine limestone beds of the upper part of the Guanling Formation, Panxian County, Guizhou Province, SW China, yielded a wide range of high-diversity well-preserved marine reptiles such as the fully aquatic protorosaur with an extremely long neck Dinocephalosaurus orientalis, the oldest mixosaurid ichthyosaurs and lariosaurs. However, there is no precise isotopic age to study the intriguing origin, evolution and emigration history of the important fauna. We report a sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U–Pb zircon age for a volcanic tuff bed within the upper part of the Guanling Formation. The result indicates that the age of the fossil horizon is 244.0±1.3 Ma, 14 Ma earlier than the previously estimated age based on conodont evidence. We consider that the marine reptiles had a relatively rapid evolution during Middle Triassic time, some 8 Ma after the end-Permian mass extinction.

Keywords

SHRIMP U–Pb zircon geochronologyvolcanic tuffPanxian Faunafully long-necked protorosaurMiddle Triassic
Type
Rapid Communication
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 151 , Issue 4 , July 2014 , pp. 749 - 754
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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