Characteristics of Late Permian Deep-Water Sedimentary Environments： A Case Study of Shaiwa Section, Ziyun County, Guizhou Province, Southwestern China

INTRODUCTIONThe Shaiwa Section is located in the town ofSidazhai, Ziyun County, Guizhou Province, south western China ( Fig. 1 ). This area belongs to theNanpanjiang basin of the Yangtze platform. A greatdeal of work purely on the subdivision of the stratahas been carried out in this region (Guizhou Bureauof Geology and Mineral Resources, 1987). However,studies on recoveries of the paleoenvironments of thisarea are rarely reported. Due to rifting and su…

Characteristics of Late Permian Deep-Water Sedimentary Environments: A Case Study of Shaiwa Section, Ziyun County, Guizhou Province, Southwestern China

Sediments of carbonate gravity flows and terrigenous debris turbidites, and normal bathyal deposits were found at the Shaiwa Section, Ziyun County, Guizhou Province, southwestern China. Through grain-size analysis of some typical sediments at this section, the changing patterns of the grain parameters and the grain-size cumulations were recovered. Results show that the study area was deposited under turbidite control during the Late Permian period, which we also recognized at the outcrop section upon sedimentary characteristics of the sediments. In addition, fossils are abundant in the Upper Permian of the Shaiwa Section, including radiolarians, sponge-spicules, bivalves, brachiopods, ammonoids and trace fossils. Radiolarians and siliceous sponge-spicules are typical deep water assemblages. Bivalves are dominated by genera of Hunanopecten and Claraia, both showing deep water living characteristics. Ammonoids are composed of planktonic types, showing characteristics of smooth and flat shells. Brachiopods are dominated by a small and thin shelled assemblage, which are commonly flat in shape and usually of slight ornamentations on shells. In addition, trace fossils found at the Shaiwa Section are also common types of deep water facies. Thus, the fossil evidence of the Shaiwa Section also suggests a deep water environment, possibly from the bathyal slope to the basin margin facies, of the studied area during the Late Permian period.