DEPOSITIONAL SEQUENCES AROUND J/K BOUNDARY IN THE QOMOLONGMA AREA, SOUTH TIBET

The uppermost Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous in the Qomolongma (Mt. Everest) area were deposited in a strong subsiding setting on passive continental margin. From Tithonian to Valanginian, the area experienced an environment shift from circum\|shelf margin carbonate platform to foreslope, then to deep continental slope 1] . Correspondingly, the sediments change in vertical succession from quartz sandstone, via carbonate grainstone to dark shale intercalated with lithic sandstone of gravity flow. From the Tithonian to Valanginian, eight 3rd\|order sequences have been recognized 1] with clearly delineated sequence boundaries and reasonable biostratigraphic controls of ammonites. From the angle of sequence stratigraphy and sedimentary cycles, the important change happened at ca. 138Ma 2] of the Lower Tithonian (about 120m above Aulacosphinctoides hybonotum zone), where a waved subaerial erosion surface occurs in massive bioclastic grainstone. The boundary at ca. 134 5Ma (latest Tithonian, about 60m below the FAD of \%Berriasella cf. jacobi 3] ) comes to the next. The third one is at ca 132Ma (some 170m above the FAD of Berriasella cf. jacobi 3] , but about 60m below the FAD of Berriasella cf. grandis 3] ). In terms of sea\|level change, the sequence boundary at 134 5Ma is probably the most distinctive one, above which some 60m gravel\|bearing massive medium\|grained quartz sandstone was laid down and obviously truncates the underlying strata. In the dark shale below the sandstone, abundant in ammonites, such as Virgatosphinctes, Aulacosphinctes, Haplophylloceras and Gymnosphinctes are recorded 3] . The quartz sandstone itself does not bear identifiable fossils. Above the quartz sandstone, the strata mainly consists of dark silty shale up to 180m thick, with an prominent marine transgression at the base. Just above the first flooding surface (FFS), quite a number of ammonites such as \%Berriasella\% cf. \%jacobi, Blanofordiceras, Hymalayaites\% and \%Pseudosubplanites \%are documented 3] . The third sequence, which is delineated by submarine truncation of slope fan complexes at bottom, is also characterized by dark shale and silts, yielding ammonites \%Berriasella \%cf. \%grandis\% and B. cf. \%berthei.\%>From the viewpoint of sequence stratigraphy, we herein suggest to take the FFS in the second sequence as the J/K boundary. The sequence boundary below it can be used as a nice auxiliary marker, which represents a large sea\|level fall, and can be correlated widely in the world. From the angle of paleontology, the FFS is also ideal for the boundary, where the most important faunal turnover happened. Theoretically, taking FFS as a chronostratigraphic boundary has more advantages than using sequence boundary.