It consists of continental siliciclasticred beds, with fauna which similar to that of the Nemegt Formation. It has been dated to about 66.7 ± 0.3 million years ago.[1] It is the lowest unit of the Nanxiong Basin, a small graben created during Mesozoic rifting.[2] Buck et al. state that it overlies Jurassicgranitebasement, and is conformably overlain by the Shanghu Formation.[1] Alternative stratigraphic schemes for the Nanxiong basin have been proposed,[3] one of which refers to the Nanxiong succession as the Nanxiong Group, and dividing it into the Yuanpu, Zhutian and Zhenshui formations, and overlying the Albian to TuronianChangba Formation.[4] The age of the Nanxiong basin as a whole has been constrained to 72 to 62.8 mya.[5] The Kpg boundary is thought to be in the pingling region, at the point of contact between the Zhenshui & Shanghu Formation. [6][7]
Saline lakes in the Nanxiong were temporary
The Depositional environment is made up of alluvial fan facies consisting of sheetflood deposits and ephemeral braided rivers. Adjacent to these are ephemeral saline playa facies recording features such as; root traces, desiccation cracks, and calcareouspaleosols. In situdesert varnish and minor paleosol development on alluvial facies due to inactivity are indicative of arid conditions. Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes from Dinosaur eggshells were used to estimate a mean annual temperature between 22–27.6°C (71.6–81.7°F), with positive isotope perturbations around the K/Pg boundary indicating periods where temperatures may have exceeded 27°C (81°F).[8][9][1]
Subsequent research has reinterpreted many of the vertebrate fossils from the Nanxiong Formation as instead coming from the Hekou Formation, with the "Nanxiong Formation" instead equivalent to the Guifeng Group.[10]
The three posteriormost cervical vertebrae with two cervical ribs, articulated with the first four dorsal vertebrae with three dorsal ribs
A somphospondylan of controversial affinities; originally described as a derived lognkosaurian titanosaur, later analyses recovered a more basal, non-titanosaurian position more likely.[21]
Nearly complete skull, lower jaws, neck vertebrae, a humerus, arm fragments, lower part of the right thighbone, the upper part of the right shinbone, and parts of the right foot
↑Yan, Yi; Xia, Bin; Lin, Ge; Cui, Xuejun; Hu, Xiaoqiong; Yan, Pin; Zhang, Faqiang (April 2007). "Geochemistry of the sedimentary rocks from the Nanxiong Basin, South China and implications for provenance, paleoenvironment and paleoclimate at the K/T boundary". Sedimentary Geology. 197 (1–2): 127–140. Bibcode:2007SedG..197..127Y. doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2006.09.004. ISSN0037-0738.
↑Zhao, Zikui; Yan, Zheng (2000-02-01). "Stable isotopic studies of dinosaur eggshells from the Nanxiong Basin, South China". Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences. 43 (1): 84–92. Bibcode:2000ScChD..43...84Z. doi:10.1007/BF02877833. ISSN1862-2801.
↑Jin, Xingsheng; Mao, Fangyuan; Du, Tianming; Yang, Yihan; Meng, Jin (March 2023). "A new multituberculate from the latest Cretaceous of central China and its implications for multituberculate tooth homologies and occlusion". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 30 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1007/s10914-022-09636-2. ISSN1064-7554.
↑Chun Li; Xiao-chun Wu; Scott Rufolo (2018). "A new crocodyloid (Eusuchia: Crocodylia) from the Upper Cretaceous of China". Cretaceous Research. 94: 25–39. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2018.09.015. S2CID133661294.
123456Dong, Z. (1979). "Cretaceous dinosaur fossils in southern China" [Cretaceous dinosaurs of the Huanan (south China)]. In Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology; Nanjing Institute of Paleontology (eds.). Mesozoic and Cenozoic Redbeds in Southern China (in Chinese). Beijing: Science Press. pp.342–350. Translated paper (Archived from original)
↑Xing, Lida; Lockley, Martin G.; Li, Daliang; Klein, Hendrik; Ye, Yong; Scott Persons, W.; Ran, Hao (2017). "Late Cretaceous ornithopod-dominated, theropod, and pterosaur track assemblages from the Nanxiong Basin, China: New discoveries, ichnotaxonomy, and paleoecology". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 466: 303–313. Bibcode:2017PPP...466..303X. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.11.035.
↑Lü, J. C.; Zhang, B. K. (2005). "A new oviraptorid (Theropoda: Oviraptorosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous of the Nanxiong Basin, Guangdong Province of southern China". Acta Palaeontologica Sinica. 44: 412−422.