中国北方晚更新世哺乳类动物群的划分及其地理分布

<正> 新第三纪以来,由于青藏高原、喜马拉雅山脉与西部山脉的隆起,我国形成了西高东低的地形特点,导致了气候和环境的变迁,明显地影响了中国哺乳动物的分布。在晚更新世,中国南北动物群分化逐渐扩大,动物群更替尤为频繁。中国晚更新世地层及动物群的研究已有一段相当长的历史,发现了众多重要的遗址和化石地点,积累了丰富的资料。笔者综合有关资料,对我国北方晚更新世动物群,特别是猛犸象-披毛犀动物群的划分、地

Division of the late Pleistocene mammalian fauna in North China and its geographic distribution

The Late Pleistocene continental deposits are widely distributed in North China and contain a number of important localities rich in fossil mammals associated with human fossils and stone artifacts. These mammals and cultural remains play an important role in subdivision and regional correlation of the Late Pleistocene nonmarine deposits. As a result of extensive paleontological exploration, rapid progress has been made in the past forty years. Until now a total of over two hundred mammalian localities and cultural sites are discovered in several provinces and autonomous regions in North China. The available paleontological evidences and the study of the chronological dates enable us to gain a general idea of the Late Pleistocene mammalian faunas and its stratigraphical sequences.The present paper summarizes the relevant information on faunas so far discovered from some important localities in order to illustrate the characteristics of the mammalian fauna and its geographical distribution in North China. On the basis of the studies of themammal-bearing horizons, and the chronological date, the mammal fossils of Late Pleistocene age from different areas can be divided into early and late stage, and may be roughly grouped into five assemblages (Table 1, and 2).From the available though incomplete record, we can see that the northeastern part of China, represented by the Mammuthus-Coelodonta fauna, is distinct from the rest of North China, known as the Salawusu fauna. They were evidently subdivided into two zoogeogra-phical subprovinces (Pei W. C., 1957, Zhou M. Z., 1964). However, we consider that there is a transitional zone between the two subprovinces, situated roughly in the eastern part of Liaoning province. Based on the study of Dr. Xu Qinqi, Jin Changzhu and You Yuzhu, the fauna is attributed to different periods of the Late Pleistocene. We consider to subdividethe fauna into 3 assemblages: 1) Guxiangtun Formation-Yanjiagang fauna, 2) QingshantouFormation-Qingshantou fauna, 3) Qingguo Formation-Qiangguo fauna. As far asZhaleinuoer fauna is concerned, mammal fossils and other vertebrates were found in different members of Zhaleinuoer section. According to the analysis of mammal fossils, and radiocarbon dating (Li et al., 1984), it is reasonable to consider the Zhalainuoer Group to be late Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene in age.