Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary in Northeastern China: placement based on buchiid bivalves and dinoflagellate cysts

Global environments changed greatly during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, particularly during the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval. Separation of the world into Tethyan, Boreal and other biogeographic realms complicates international correlation, and even the pelagic ammonites cannot play their characteristic role of principle correlation criteria. In the Boreal and North Pacific realms, the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous buchiid bivalve zones have very good calibration to Boreal ammonite zones, which, in turn, have approximate correlations to Tethyan ammonite zones. Therefore, buchiid bivalves provide a means to identify Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous stages and the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval. The base of the Buchia unschensis Zone is roughly coincident with the Boreal ammonite Craspedites exoticus subzone, Upper Volgian Craspedites okensis Zone, which in turn closely corresponds to the base of the Tethyan ammonite basal Berriasian Berriasella jacobi Zone. The top of the underlying Buchia russiensis Zone approximately coincides with that of the uppermost Middle Volgian, Boreal ammonite Epivirgatites variabilis Zone, which approximately corresponds to the Tethyan ammonite Durangites Zone of uppermost Tithonian. Buchia and dinoflagellate cyst assemblages from two regions in eastern Heilongiiang of northeastern China indicate the presence of the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval. The Dong'anzhen Formation of Dong' an, Raohe County contains Middle Volgian-Lower Valanginian Buchia assemblages and the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary is tentatively assigned to either the base of the Buchia fischeriana-Buchia unschensis assemblage or between the Buchia fischeriana-Buchia unschensis and Buchia russiensis-Buchia fischeriana assemblages. The Dongrong Formation from boreholes at Suibin, Suibin County, yields uppermost Oxfordian to basal Berriasian Buchia assemblages and Oxfordian-Barremian dinoflagellate cyst assemblages. Here, the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval is probably between the Buchia cf. mosquensis-Buchia cf. rugosa assemblage (including Buchia ex gr. russiensis and Buchia ex gr. taimyrensis) and the overlying non-Buchia-bearing deposits.