Tuchengzi Formation Explained

Tuchengzi Formation
Type:	Geological formation
Age:	Tithonian-Berriasian ~
Period:	Berriasian
Prilithology:	Shale
Otherlithology:	Sandstone, mudstone
Namedfor:	Tuchengzi, Beipiao, Liaoning
Year Ts:	1942
Region:	Beijing, Hebei, Liaoning
Country:	China
Coordinates:	42.9°N 124°W
Paleocoordinates:	44.1°N 126.1°W
Underlies:	Zhangjiakou Formation
Overlies:	Tiaojishan Formation
Thickness:	870m-2900mm (2,850feet-9,500feetm)^[1]

The Tuchengzi Formation (formerly known as Tucheng Conglomerate, from) is a geological formation in China whose strata span the Tithonian (Late Jurassic) to Berriasian (Early Cretaceous) ages.^[2] Dinosaur fossils, particularly footprints, have been found from the formation.^{[3] [4]}

Fossil content

The Tuchengzi Formation was deposited during a time of transition between the Daohugou Biota and the Jehol biota. The Tuchengzi represents a poorer, more arid climate that appears to have caused much of the Daohugou fauna to become extinct. They would later be replaced by the Jehol biota when conditions became more favorable to a diversity of terrestrial animal life.^[2]

Reptiles

Indeterminate sauropod remains formerly attributed to the Mamenchisauridae and Brachiosauridae have been found in Liaoning, China. Theropod tracks, including those made by avialans, have been found in Liaoning, China.

Genus	Species	County	Member	Abundance	Notes	Image
Orientognathus	O. chaoyangensis	Chaoyang, Liaoning.^[5]		"An incomplete skeleton (41HIII-0418)".	A rhamphorhynchid pterosaur.
Chaoyangsaurus	C. youngi	Liaoning.^[6]		"Partial skull with mandible, cervicals, humerus, and scapula."^[7]	A basal ceratopsian.
Grallator	Grallator isp.	Hebei			Footprints belonging to the Grallator form taxon, made by an unknown small theropod.^[8]
Menglongipus	M. sinensis	Hebei			Footprints belonging to the Menglongipus sinensis form taxon, made by an unknown small (~65 cm long) deinonychosaur

Plants

Genus	Species	County	Member	Abundance	Notes	Images
Brachyoxylon	B. yanqingense	Yanqing District, Beijing.^[10]		Fossil wood.
Xenoxylon	X. latiporosum	Yanqing District, Beijing.^[11]		Fossil wood.
	X. peidense	Yanqing District, Beijing.		Fossil wood.

See also

• List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations

Notes and References

1. Wang . Y. . Ken . S. . Zhang . W. . Zheng . S. . 2006 . Biodiversity and palaeoclimate of the Middle Jurassic floras from the Tiaojishan Formation in western Liaoning, China . Progress in Natural Science . 16 . 1. 222–230 . 10.1080/10020070612330087 .
2. Liu Y.-Q. Kuang H.-W., Jiang X.-J., Peng N., Xu H. & Sun H.-Y. (2012). "Timing of the earliest known feathered dinosaurs and transitional pterosaurs older than the Jehol Biota." Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (advance online publication).
3. Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Late Jurassic, Asia)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 550–552. .
4. Xing. Lida. Lockley. Martin G.. Du. Tianming. Zhang. Lijun. Klein. Hendrik. Romilio. Anthony. Persons. W. Scott. Wang. Kuan. Li. Zhenyu. Wan. Xiaoqiao. March 2020. Dinosaur tracks from the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary Tuchengzi Formation (Hebei Province, China) used as building stones in the Chengde imperial summer resort: Age, ichnology, and history. Cretaceous Research. en. 107. 104310. 10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104310. 2020CrRes.10704310X . 210266977 .
5. Lü . Junchang . Pu . Hanyong . Xu . Li . Wei . Xuefang . January 2015 . A new rhamphorhynchid pterosaur (Pterosauria) from Jurassic deposits of Liaoning Province, China . Zootaxa . 3911 . 1 . 119–29 . 10.11646/zootaxa.3911.1.7. 25661600 .
6. Xijin . Zhao . Zhengwu . Cheng . Xing . Xu . 1999-12-13 . The earliest ceratopsian from the Tuchengzi Formation of Liaoning, China . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 19 . 4 . 681–691 . 10.1080/02724634.1999.10011181 . 1999JVPal..19..681X . 0272-4634.
7. "Table 22.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 480.
8. Xing . L. . Harris . J.D. . Sun . D. . Zhao . H. . 2010 . The earliest known deinonychosaur tracks from the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary in Hebei Province, China . Acta Palaeontologica Sinica . 48 . 4. 662–671 .
9. Ceccolini . F. . Cianferoni . F. . 2024 . A New Replacement Name for an Upper Jurassic Genus of Clam Shrimp (Branchiopoda: Diplostraca) . Paleontological Journal . 57 . 8 . 915 . 10.1134/S0031030123080026 . free .
10. Cheng . Suzhen . Xu . Shangzhi . Li . Fangyu . Tian . Ning . 2022-10-06 . Occurrence of Brachyoxylon wood from the Upper Jurassic of Beijing, northern China . Historical Biology . 35 . 10 . 1941–1949 . 10.1080/08912963.2022.2127355 . 252792439 . 0891-2963.
11. Li . Nan . Zhang . Jianping . Xing . Lida . Tian . Ning . Sui . Juxin . 2021-09-02 . New records of Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary Tuchengzi Formation petrified wood from Yanqing, Beijing, China: palaeoclimatic implications . Historical Biology . 33 . 9 . 1686–1696 . 10.1080/08912963.2020.1726909 . 2021HBio...33.1686L . 212883753 . 0891-2963.