Middle Jurassic Plants From Shaerhu Coal Field Of Xinjiang,China

Shaerhu coal field, located in the eastern Shanshan of Turpan-Hami Basin, Xinjiang,is one of the largest coal fields in China. Since this area is in a remont wilderness, theprevious work on this coal field was mainly on regional geological mapping andexploration of coal resources, while the study of paleontology and biostratigraphy wasrare.This research is a systemic and detailed report on the plant fossils from MiddleJurassic in Shaerhu coal field, with the following main achivements.1. Systemically reporting the Middle Jurassic plants from Shaerhu coal field for thefirst time, including 29 species of 18 genera of maga-plant fossils, and 48 species of 34genera of palynofossils in their composition. The floral characteristics and theirpaleophytogeography are discussed.2. Equisetites shaerhuensis sp. nov., a new species of Equisetales is established forthe first time, which provides more information on the diversity of Equisetales in theShaerhu flora.3. A well-preserved Osmundopsis sturi (Raciborski) Harris is discovered, which israre in the previous reports in China. The morphological characteristics and someanatomic structures are described, and the author suggests O. sturi having a possibleaffinity with the some of Cladophlebis of this flora.4. Based on the geological and palaeontological data, the paleoenvironment andphytogeography of Shaerhu area in Middle Jurassic are analysed, which suggests that theShaerhu flora may grow in the fluvial-lacustrine area under warm temperate and humidclimate with seasonal changes. Compared with the floras from the typical Middle JurassicSiberian floras in Baical area of Russia, and the well-known floras from Karatau Range(Kazakhstan) and the Caucasus, even the Yorkshir of the UK, the Shaerhu flora isconsidered to attribute to the Siberian Floristic Region, with mixture of some plants from the Europe-China Floristic Region.In sum, the study basically fills in the studying gap of the Middle Jurassicmega-plants in the Shaerhu area, which would promote the research level of this area inpaleobotany, and be beneficial for widenning the exploration scope in future of theShaerhu coal field.