The Key Role of Aptian-Albian Marine Fossils from Eastern Heilongjiang in Marine-Nonmarine Stratigraphic Correlation

The alternating marine and nonmarine coal-bearing Lower Cretaceous successions are well developed in eastern Heilongjiang, northeastern China, including the Jixi Group in the west and the Longzhaogou Group in the east. The correlation of these two lithostratigraphic groups with the nonmarine Jehol Group is important for dating the exceptionally well-preserved Jehol Biota. The Early Cretaceous marine fossils recovered from eastern Heilongjiang include ammonites, bivalves, radiolarians, foraminifers and dinocysts. During the early Aptian transgression the ammonite fauna entered the Hulin and Mishan areas and the bivalve Aucellina fauna in the Jixi area. This enables correlation of the marine lower part of the Chengzihe Formation of the Jixi Group with the Qihulin Formation of the Longzhaogou Group.