The Lower Triassic of South China

The Permian-Triassic boundary of South China has been well-known and well-studied for decades, but what is relatively less noticed is that there are also many excellent marine Lower Triassic sequences in the region, covering various paleogeographic lithofacies. This paper presents an outline of the various Lower Triassic stratigraphic sequences in South China and provides a reference to the application of the Lower Triassic subdivision and stages. The Early Triassic marine basin of South China is subdivided into five sedimentary provinces: Cathaysia, Lower Yangtze, Upper Yangtze, Youjiang and Lijiang provinces. Each province has an interrelated distribution of lithofacies and stratigraphy. The Lower Triassic biostratigraphic sequences of bivalves, ammonoids and conodonts are summarized in the various sedimentary facies and provinces of South China. The Chinese twofold subdivision of the Lower Triassic is primarily demonstrated as well in this paper. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.