Marine dinoflagellates from Lower Cretaceous Muling Formation of Jixi Basin, China and their palaeoenvi- ronmental significance

Newly discovered marine dinoflagellates from the lower-middle parts of the Lower Cretaceous Muling Formation of the Jixi Basin, eastern Heilongjiang Province, China, were identified as Circulodinium cingulatum He et al., C. attadalicum (Cookson et Eisenack) Helby, Palaeoperidinium cretaceum Pocock, Oligosphaeridium totum Brideaux and Sentusidinium sp. Most of these species are distributed in the marine Lower Cretaceous strata of Europe, North America, Africa, Australia and Asia. It demonstrates that a transgression occurred in eastern Heilongjiang Province during the deposition of the Muling Formation, which was previously considered to be a coal-bearing continental stratigraphic unit. The marine dinoflagellates indicated that the Muling Formation is Barremian in age. The Palaeogeographic framework of eastern Heilongjiang Province in Late Mesozoic era should be rebuilt through systematic facies analyses of the marine, paralic and terrestrial deposits.