Distribution characteristics and paleo-climatic significance of continental climate-sensitive sediments in the Late Cretaceous in China

XU Bin, XIANG Fang, LI Shuxia

Distribution characteristics and paleo-climatic significance of continental climate-sensitive sediments in the Late Cretaceous in China

XU Bin1, XIANG Fang2, LI Shuxia3

(1. Hebei State Key Laboratory of Mine Disaster Prevention, North China Institute of Science and Technology, Beijing 101601, China; 2. State Key Laboratory of Oil & Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China; 3. School of Geoscience and Surveying Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology(Beijing), Beijing 100083, China)

The Cretaceous is a typical period for studying the greenhouse climate and the earth system interactions, and the world's most extensive terrestrial strata are mainly in East Asia, especially in China. Continental sediments can effectively reflect the paleo-climate change, but the previous studies of the Late Cretaceous paleo-climate, based on the combined characteristics of continental climate-sensitive sediments, were barely found in China. To obtain the Late Cretaceous paleo-climate characteristics of China, the distribution characteristics of different continental climate-sensitive sediment types in the early, middle and Late Cretaceous in China were studied in detail. According to the distribution and combination characteristics and types of continental climate-sensitive sediments, seven climate types can be divided: 1) warm-humid and warm-dry climate; 2) hot and dry climate; 3) hot-dry and arid climate; 4) hot-dry and semiarid climate; 5) hot-dry and hot-wet climate; 6) hot-dry and warm-humid climate; 7) hot-dry and warm-dry climate. The results show that in the early Late Cretaceous, the hot and dry climate was the most widespread, followed by warm-humid and warm-dry climate, but the climate was drier than the paleo-climate of the previous study of Early Cretaceous. Hot and dry climate zone became wider in the Coniacian and Maastrichtian; furthermore, it covered Xinjiang to the east of China from east to west after the Santonian Period. The hot-dry and semiarid climate zone was nearly latitudinally distributed from the northwest to the southeast and it shows a further increase in aridification. Global geological events, paleogeographic features and regional tectonic evolution had significant impacts on the paleoclimate of China in the Late Cretaceous, such as global eruptive events of volcanoes led to the temperature increase in China in the early Late Cretaceous; coastal mountain ranges in southeastern China led to the drying of the Late Cretaceous climate in southern China; Xuefeng Mountains, Wuling Mountains, Nanling Mountains and Tai-hang Mountains were the dividing line between the hot and dry climate zone and hot-dry and arid climate zone in the early Late Cretaceous, and Altun Mountains were the dividing line between the southeastern section of the hot and dry climate zone in western China in the middle Late Cretaceous.

Late Cretaceous; continental; climate-sensitive sediments; China; climate type; influence factor

The Cretaceous Period was not only the most typical greenhouse climate stage in geological history[1-2], but also a typical example period for studying the earth system science. By studying the principle and process of the changes in the earth's surface system and the interaction between organisms and the environment in this period, it was possible to further understand the interaction between the earth's surface system and its impact on the global climate and strengthen the understanding of the interaction and evolution mode between the earth spheres.

At present, more and more geologists believe that continental sediments can effectively indicate the change of paleoclimate[3-8]. During the Cretaceous Period, the continental environment was predominating in most parts of China and marine facies were only distributed in some marginal areas. So, the study of the cretaceous continental sediments can provide information about the earth system inside the continent, which cannot be involved in the marine record[9]. In the past 30 years, Chinese scholars have performed a lot of research on Cretaceous stratigraphic division[10-13], plate tectonics[14-15], sedimentary environment[16], biota[12,17]and paleoclimate[18-20]of different continental basins. When exploring the global Mesozoic climate, foreign scholars also studied paleoclimate[21-23]in China and achieved certain results. However, the climate characteristics of the Late Cretaceous Epoch obtained in the studies are mainly concentrated in a specific region[24-25]or the information with a large time span[26-27], and there is lack of profound studies on the regional uniform and specific small regions of China in the Late Cretaceous Epoch. Moreover, the paleoclimate types are mainly reconstructed by studying paleontological fossils, some continental sediments and common stable isotope methods, but these methods have more or less shortcomings: 1) animal and plant fossils cannot be preserved or discovered in the stratum so that available data is limited; 2) in the terrestrial environment, it is quite complicated to establish the palaeoclimate of the terrestrial environment with stable isotope influence factors, and the palaeoclimate research of some terrestrial sediments is uncertain, e.g.: glacial debris flow[28], ice-rafting deposition[29], primary and secondary clay minerals, etc.[30]Therefore, it is necessary to establish a set of climate-sensitive sediment indicators applicable to cretaceous continental sediments to explain paleoclimate change.

With the continental climate-sensitive sediments as the research object, the author outlined the climate profiles of early, middle and late stages of the Later Cretaceous Epoch in China and discussed the influencing factors of regional climate change by analyzing occurrence types and distribution characteristics of the sediments and in combination with the characteristics of regional tectonic evolution, in order to provide important references for reconstructing the paleoclimate types in different stages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch in China.

1 Research ideas and methods

On the basis of consulting numerous references on sediment types, climate characteristics, paleogeography, tectonic characteristics, stratigraphic division and global cretaceous tectonic background, major geological events and paleoclimate evolution in Chinese Cretaceous Period, the author firstly summarized the types and distribution characteristics of continental climate-sensitive sediments, overall sedimentary types of the section, sedimentary environment characteristics, climate change characteristics and their controlling factors in the continental sedimentary basins of the Late Cretaceous Epoch in various regions of China systematically; Secondly, according to the(2020), the[31]and geological age division and correlation data[32]and in combination with the latest paleontostratigraphic division data of sedimentary strata in various regions, the author classified continental climate-sensitive sediments of different groups in different regions into early (Cenomanian Turonian, 99.6-89.3 Ma), middle (Coniacian-Santonian, 89.3-83.5 Ma) and late (Campanian-Maastrichtian, 83.5-65.8 Ma) stages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch; moreover, he determined the projection locations of continental climate-sensitive sediments according to longitudes, latitudes or place names; finally, through the projection diagram for continental climate-sensitive sediments in 3 stages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch, the author summarized the distribution characteristics of continental climate-sensitive sediments and discussed and analyzed the climate characteristics of the whole Late Cretaceous Epoch in China according to climate significance indicated.

2 Types of continental climate-sensitive sediments and their climatic significance

It has been found from the summary and analysis of relevant data[33-47]that the continental climate-sensitive sediments with climate indicating significance in the Cretaceous Period mainly include calcareous sediments, combustible organic rocks, evaporite (gypsum, halite), desert sediments, ferruginous sediments, copper-bearing sediments, limestone, volcano-related sediments and dolomite. The climate indicating significance of all sediments is shown in Table 1. It can be seen from the table that: 1) oil shale and coal reflect a warm and humid climate; 2) ferruginous sediments reflect a hot and humid climate; 3) gypsum and limestone reflect a warm and dry climate; 4) dolomite, halite and desert sediments reflect a hot and dry climate; 5) Calcareous sediments and copper-bearing sediments reflect an arid and semiarid climate; 6) Volcanic sediments reflect the high temperature environment.

It is worth noting that the continental climate-sensitive sediments reflecting different climate characteristics may appear synchronously in the same layer in the same area. For example, the combination of oil shale and coal reflecting a warm and humid climate, with gypsum and limestone reflecting a warm and dry climate, in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch, appeared in Inner Mongolia and Northeast China at the same time. Ferruginous sediments reflecting a hot and humid climate, oil shale reflecting a warm and humid climate, calcareous sediments reflecting an arid and semiarid climate, and gypsum and limestone reflecting a warm and dry climate, appeared simultaneously in Anhui and Jiangsu Provinces in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Period. Therefore, when the climate type of a region is discussed and analyzed, a comprehensive judgment should be made according to its main sedimentary combination type, distribution trend and surrounding sedimentary characteristics.

3 Climatic characteristics based on continental climate-sensitive sediments

As shown in Fig.1-Fig.3, the distribution of conti nental climate-sensitive sediments in the Late Cretaceous Epoch has the following characteristics: 1) oil shale are mostly distributed in Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Jilin Provinces in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch (it cannot be judged for it is lack of recorded data of continental climate-sensitive sediments in Inner Mongolia in the middle and late stages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch) and only a few are distributed in Anhui and Hubei provinces in the Late Cretaceous Epoch; 2) Coal is mostly distributed in Gansu Province, Western Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang Province in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch; 3) Gypsum is widely distributed in the whole Late Cretaceous Epoch, except Jilin and Fujian Provinces; 4) Limestone is mostly distributed in Western Xinjiang and Heilongjiang Provinces in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch, and only a few in Yunnan, Sichuan Provinces and Eastern China; 5) Calcareous sediments are most widely distributed, except for a small amount in Inner Mongolia and Northeast China; 6) Halite is mainly distributed in Eastern China; 7) Deserts appear in Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch and in Hubei and Hunan Provinces in the middle stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch; 8) Volcano-related sediments are mainly distributed in Heilongjiang Province in the early and late stages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch and in Eastern China in the whole period; 9) Ferruginous sediments are mainly distributed in Anhui and Jiangsu Provinces; 10) Copper-bearing sediments are mainly distributed in Yunnan and Hunan Provinces; 11) Dolomites are mainly distributed in Sichuan Province in the middle and late stages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch and in Jiangsu and Anhui Provinces in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch.

Table 1 Types of continental climate-sensitive sediments and their climate significance

According to the distribution characteristics of continental climate-sensitive sediments in Fig.1- Fig.3, the paleoclimate of the Late Cretaceous Epoch in China can be roughly divided into seven types: 1) warm-humid and warm-dry climate, mainly characterized by the combination of oil shale (a small amount of coal), gypsum and a small amount of calcareous sediments. It can be further subdivided into two zones, which are divided into Zone A (dry) dominated by gypsum and limestone and Zone B (humid) dominated by oil shale (a small amount of coal); 2) hot and dry climate, mainly characterized by the combination of calcareous sediments, gypsum, limestone, halite and dolomite. It can also be subdivided into two zones: Zone A (dry) dominated by gypsum and limestone and Zone B (wet) dominated by calcareous sediments and halite with ferruginous sediments and a small amount of oil shale; 3) hot-dry and arid climate, mainly characterized by the combination of calcareous sediments and desert sediments, accompanied by a small amount of limestone sediments; 4) hot-dry and semiarid climate, mainly characterized by calcareous and copper-bearing sediments and limestone assemblages; 5) hot-dry and hot-humid climate, mainly characterized by calcareous, coal and ferruginous sedimentary assemblages; 6) hot-dry and warm-humid, mainly characterized by calcareous sediments, containing a small amount of ferruginous sediments, oil shale, gypsum and limestone; 7) hot-dry and warm-dry climate, mainly characterized by calcareous and ferruginous sediments, with a small amount of limestone. In addition, the Southern Tibet bounded by the Yarlung Zangbo River was mainly sea areas under humid subtropical and tropical climate and there was no continental sedimentation. Therefore, its climate zone was not discussed in this paper.

Fig.1 Continental climate-sensitive sediments and distribution of climatic zones in the early Late Cretaceous

Fig.2 Continental climate-sensitive sediments and distribution of climatic zones in the middle Late Cretaceous

3.1 Early stage of Late Cretaceous Epoch

In the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch (Fig. 1), the warm-humid and warm-dry climate zone was mainly distributed in Inner Mongolia, Northeast China, and Provinces of Gansu and Eastern Qinghai and was divided into Zone A (drier) and Zone B (wetter). Although there was no data record of continental climate-sensitive sediments in Eastern Inner Mongolia, the Western Inner Mongolia and Northeast China were dominated by a warm-humid and warm-dry climate characterized by the assemblage of oil shale(a small amount of coal), gypsum and a small amount of calcareous sediment. Therefore, according to the evolution trend, it could be inferred that it was warm-humid and warm-dry climate zone in the eastern part of Inner Mongolia. The hot and dry climate zone was the most widely distributed, basically covered the western and eastern regions of China and divided the western, northern, central and southern regions of Xinjiang, the western and southern regions of Qinghai and the northern and central regions of Tibet into Zone A (drier), and the Southern Hebei to Guangdong and Guangxi into Zone B (wetter). The hot-dry and arid climate zone was mainly distributed in Southeast Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Southern Shanxi, Central and Western Henan, Western Hubei, Western Guizhou, Chongqing and Sichuan Provinces, and bounded in the east by Xuefeng Mountain, Wuling Mountain in the west, Nanling Mountain in the south and Tai-hang Mountain. The hot-dry and semiarid climate zone was mainly distributed in Yunnan Province. The hot-dry and hot-humid climate zone was mainly distributed in Hainan Province. The Southern Tibet bounded by the Yarlung Zangbo River was mainly sea areas under humid subtropical and tropical climate.

3.2 Middle stage of Late Cretaceous Epoch

Compared with the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch, the distribution pattern of the climate zones was significantly different during the middle stage (Fig. 2). The hot-dry and semi-arid climate zone extended northward, basically covering Tibet and Southern China. Relatively, the hot and dry climate zones in Eastern and Western China shrank northward, but the hot-dry and arid climate zones in Sichuan, Chongqing, Henan, Shaanxi Provinces and other regions disappeared and changed into a hot and dry climate. In most regions of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, it also changed from a warm-humid and warm-dry climate to a hot and dry climate. Generally, the hot and dry climate zone expanded. Local warm-humid and warm-dry zones appeared in Southern Jiangsu, Eastern Anhui and Northern Zhejiang Province. The warm-humid and warm-dry climate was distributed in the northeast. The Southern Tibet bounded by the Yarlung Zangbo River was still sea areas under humid subtropical and tropical climate. Due to the lack of data record for continental climate-sensitive sediments in Qinghai, Western Gansu, Northwest Inner Mongolia and Hainan, the climate zone was not divided in this paper.

3.3 Late stage of Late Cretaceous Epoch

The distribution pattern of the climate zones in the late stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch was similar to that in the middle stage, but the range of the hot and dry climate zone further expanded from Xinjiang to Jiangxi and Fujian in the southeast. Relatively, the range of the hot-dry and semi-arid climate zone narrowed southward, but extended northwestward, and ranged from Western Xinjiang to Southeast Guangdong. The warm-humid and warm-dry climate zone originally distributed in Heilongjiang and Jilin shrank and was only distributed in Heilongjiang Province. In addition, the local warm-humid and warm-dry zone in Southern Jiangsu, Eastern Anhui and Northern Zhejiang changed to a hot-dry and warm-dry zone. The Southern Tibet bounded by the Yarlung Zangbo River was still sea areas under humid subtropical and tropical climate. Due to the lack of data record for continental climate-sensitive sediments in Northwest Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Northern Xinjiang, Hainan, etc., the climate zone was not divided in this paper.

4 Discussion

In this paper, the Late Cretaceous Epoch was divided into three stages: early, middle and late, which were described in detail. Moreover, seven climate types (warm-humid and warm-dry climate, hot and dry climate, hot-dry and arid climate, hot-dry and semi-arid climate, hot-dry and hot-humid climate, warm-humid and warm-dry climate and hot-dry and warm-dry climate) were divided. It has been found from the analysis that the hot and dry climate zone in the south and central area in the Late Cretaceous Epoch presented an obvious northward expansion trend as a function of the time. This view was similar to the research results of predecessors[12, 51-52]and thought that China was mostly located in the tropical and subtropical arid climate zone and the tropical and subtropical arid climate zone in the South obviously expanded northward.

It has been found from the analysis of the distribution characteristics of continental sensitive sediments in the Late Cretaceous Epoch that volcanic sediments, desert sediments, halite and limestone were mostly distributed in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch and gradually became less in the middle and late stages, which reflected that the temperature was the highest in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch and then the temperature decreased continuously until the end of the Late Cretaceous Epoch. It was consistent with the research results of predecessors[52-54]. By analyzing the paleomarine climate data, these scholars has found that the Cretaceous climate could be divided into 3 stages: low temperature climate in the Early Cretaceous Epoch (Berriasian-Barremian), greenhouse climate in the Middle Cretaceous Epoch (Aptipan-Turonian) and ice chamber climate in the Late Cretaceous Epoch (Coniacian-Maastrichtian), indicating the temperature was the highest in Middle Cretaceous Epoch (Aptipan-Turonian). Meanwhile, the research results ofH. C. Jenkyns et al.[55]and L. J. Clarke et al.[56]also supported this idea. They believed that the temperature in the Turonian Period was the highest in the whole Cretaceous Period and the global climate temperature continuously decreased after the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Period. The reason for the highest temperature in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Period might be related to the violent activities of the large igneous province and the oceanic crust, for volcanic activities brought a large amount of CO2into the atmosphere, leading to the rise of surface temperature[57-58]. Some relevant studies showed that the productivity of oceanic crust could reach 5.7×107km3/Ma[59]in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch, the production area of the oceanic crust was 1.8 times that of the normal production area. It was considered that the period of strong activity of the super mantle plume led to the large-scale emergence of igneous rock provinces[60-63], for example: Caribbean Submarine Plateau in the Indian Ocean at 95-93 Ma, Central Kerguelen Plateau in the Indian Ocean at 95-85 Ma and Reactivated Ontong Java Plateau at 96-84 Ma.

Orogenic belts or important tectonic belts had an important impact on Paleoclimate[14], which should be considered when climate zones were divided as per climate-sensitive sediments. When studying the paleoclimate in the Late Cretaceous Epoch in China, Zhao Xiwen[17]and Yu Jingxian[64]divided the paleoclimate belt with reference to the influence of tectonic belts. In this paper, the cretaceous climate zones in China were divided according to the distribution of main sedimentary basins and mountains in China in the later stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch (Fig. 4), and Xuefeng Mountain, Wuling Mountain Range[65](92-72 Ma) and Nanling Mountain Range (146.4-94.1 Ma, the rock mass of Qitianling Mountain in the middle part of Nanling Mountains uplifted by about 4.7 km[66]during 135.4-94.11 Ma) and Taihang Mountain were regarded as the boundary between the hot and dry zone and the hot-dry and arid climate zone in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch; the Altun Mountain[67-68]with staged uplift in Mesozoic-Cenozoic Era was regarded as the boundary of the southeast section of the hot and dry climate belt in Western China in the middle stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch. This period was also corresponding to the uplift event at a certain scale between Altun Mountain and Qilian Mountain caused by strike slip of Altun Fault at 82 Ma according to the research of Li Haibing, et al.[69].

JY - Jiayin Basin; SL - Songliao Basin; NH - Nanhua North Basin; HF - Hefei Basin; SB - Subei Basin; HH - South Huanghai Basin; JH - Jianghan Basin; YM - Yuanma (Yuanling-Mayang) Basin; SC - Sichuan Basin; CX - Chuxiong Basin; TL - Tarim Basin; ZG - Junggar Basin; Th - Tuha Basin; YE – Yin’e (Yingen-Ejina Banner) Basin; EL - Erlian Basin; F1 - Yilan Yitong Fault; F2 - Dunhua-Mishan Fault; F3 - Altun Fault; F4 - Jinshajiang-Honghe Fault; F5-Bangong-Nujiang Suture Zone; F6 - Tanlu Fault Zone; F7 - Longmenshan Fault; F8 - Ganzhou-Hangzhou Fault Zone;

Affected by the warm and humid air flow from the Pacific Ocean, the climate should be mainly humid in Southeast China. However, as shown in Fig. 1-3, the mainland was basically dominated by calcareous sediments, limestone, gypsum and a small amount of halite, indicating a hot and dry climate, which might be closely related to the mountains along the southeast coast of China. This idea was consistent with the research of Chen Piji[11], who believed that the Lishui - Haifeng Fault began to move and the eastern part of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong rapidly rose to a coastal mountain system due to the northward and westward subduction of the Indian and Pacific plates in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch. According to the calculation of Chen Yunhua[70]on the coastal mountain range in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch, the coastal mountain range at that time reached at least 2 500 m and might hinder the warm and humid air flow from the East Pacific. However, oil shale and ferruginous sediments appeared in Southern China in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch. Therefore, the arid climate zone was also subdivided into a hot and dry climate zon, the wetter Zone B, which indicated that the mountains along the southeast coast of China could not completely block the warm and humid air flow from the Pacific Ocean in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch. This inference was also confirmed by the carbonaceous shale, coal line and pine and cypress plant fossils at the bottom of the upper subgroup of Shimaoshan Group in Pinghe and Yunxiao Areas, Southern Fujian, in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch[71-72]. After the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch, there were almost no oil shale and ferruginous sediments in Southern Jiangsu, Eastern Anhui and Northern Zhejiang in the middle and late stages but basically calcareous sediments and gypsum, indicating that the climate in Southeast China was further arid. Therefore, it could be inferred that the coastal mountains in Southeast China were still in the uplift stage in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch. After the early stage, the coastal mountains rose further and became a huge climate barrier.

All spheres of the Earth System are interactive and interactional, and the factors affecting climate are complementing each other. Large-scale volcanic movements, changes in magnetic field, large-scale ocean hypoxia events, changes in biological populations, transgression events and changes in geological structure all have a great impact on the climate, and may also be the result of climate change.

Further research is required to reconstruct the paleoclimate in China more deeply: 1) for the areas lacking continental climate-sensitive sediments, comparative research should be carried out in combination with other paleoclimate indicators (paleontological fossils, animal trace fossils, trace elements, etc.) and ocean data; 2) the changes of palaeotectonic and paleotopographic elevation differences and paleomagnetism in the later stage of the Cretaceous Epoch and their relationship with paleoclimate should be discussed in detail; 3) the climate-controlling factors in different periods should be further discussed in detail in combination with the changes of global stratigraphic system at that time.

5 Conclusion

a. The distribution of continental climate-sensitive sediments in the late stage of the Cretaceous Epoch presents the following characteristics: 1) most oil shale was distributed in Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Jilin in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch; 2) coal was mostly distributed in Gansu, Western Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch; 3) gypsum was widely distributed throughout the Late Cretaceous Epoch; 4) Limestone is mostly distributed in Western Xinjiang and Heilongjiang in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch, and only a few in Yunnan, Sichuan and Eastern China; 5) calcareous sediments were most widely distributed in other places, except for a small amount in Inner Mongolia and Northeast China; 6) Halite is basically distributed in Eastern China; 7) Deserts appear in Sichuan and Yunnan in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch and in Hubei and Hunan in the middle stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch; 8) Volcano-related sediments were mainly distributed in Heilongjiang Area in the early and late stages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch and in Eastern China in the whole period; 9) Ferruginous sediments are mainly distributed in Anhui and Jiangsu; 10) Copper-bearing sediments are mainly distributed in Yunnan and Hunan; 11) Dolomites are mainly distributed in Sichuan in the middle and late stages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch and in Jiangsu and Anhui in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch.

b. The climate in the Late Cretaceous Epoch in China was divided into seven types according to the climatic information and distribution combination characteristics contained in continental climate-sensitive sediments: warm-humid and warm-dry climate, hot and dry climate, hot-dry and arid climate, hot-dry and semiarid climate, hot-dry and hot-humid alternating climate, warm-humid and warm-dry climate and hot-dry and warm-dry climate.

c. The hot and dry climate zone was the most widely distributed in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch. In the early, middle and late stages, the hot and dry climate zone gradually expanded, and ranged from the west to the east and basically covered Xinjiang to Eastern China in the middle stage; the hot-dry and semi-arid climate zone was distributed in NW-SE near latitude from Western Xinjiang to Jiangxi and Fujian. It can be seen from the distribution characteristics of paleoclimate zones that the hot and dry climate zone was predominating in the Late Cretaceous Epoch in China.

d. The distribution of continental climate-sensitive sediments and climate change in China in the Late Cretaceous Period was closely related to regional tectonic activities in China. The mountains along the southeast coast of China in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch were uplifting, but could not completely block the warm and humid air flow from the Pacific Ocean, so that oil shale and ferruginous sediments appeared in Southern China in the early stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch.

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P532

A

1001-1986(2021)05-0190-10

March 25, 2021;

August 18, 2021

A project funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China(41572093); Central Young College Teachers Fund Project (3142020002); Supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(3142021004)

The first author: XU Bin, born in 1988, male, from Shaoyang City, Hunan, doctor, lecturer, mainly engaged in the research direction of geological hazards and prevention and control countermeasures. E-mail: jinzigaofeng@126.com

XIANG Fang, born in 1974, female, from Chengdu City, Sichuan, doctor, professor, engaged in the research direction of sedimentology. E-mail: xiangf@cdut.edu.cn

XU Bin, XIANG Fang, LI Shuxia. Distribution characteristics and paleo-climatic significance of continental climate- sensitive sediments in the Late Cretaceous in China[J]. Coal Geology & Exploration, 2021, 49(5): 190–199. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1001-1986.2021.05.021

(Editor in charge: FAN Zhangqun)