The Late Cenozoic Yushe Basin, Shanxi Province, China embodies the bulk of our knowledge on successions of terrestrial vertebrates in the northern part of East Asia. Everything we know about Asian mammals of the last 6 million years has a historical basis in the documentation of the geology of Yushe. This volume introduces the basin in its geological setting, describes the succession of fossiliferous strata, and shows how it is dated. It develops an unsurpassed level of precision for its age control. Geological maps and stratigraphic sections provide the backbone for individual studies to follow on varied fossil groups. The volume explores the history of exploration of the last century in Yushe Basin and places development of paleontology there into the context of the birth of the modern epoch of science in China.
Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series
Richard H. Tedford Zhan-Xiang Qiu Lawrence J. Flynn Editors
Late Cenozoic Yushe Basin, Shanxi Province, China: Geology and Fossil Mammals Volume I: History, Geology, and Magnetostratigraphy
Late Cenozoic Yushe Basin, Shanxi Province, China: Geology and Fossil Mammals
Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series Edited by Eric Delson Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA
[email protected]
Eric J. Sargis Anthropology, Yale University New Haven, CT 06520, USA
[email protected] Focal topics for volumes in the series will include systematic paleontology of all vertebrates (from agnathans to humans), phylogeny reconstruction, functional morphology, Paleolithic archaeology, taphonomy, geochronology, historical biogeography, and biostratigraphy. Other fields (e.g., paleoclimatology, paleoecology, ancient DNA, total organismal community structure) may be considered if the volume theme emphasizes paleobiology (or archaeology). Fields such as modeling of physical processes, genetic methodology, nonvertebrates or neontology are out of our scope. Volumes in the series may either be monographic treatments (including unpublished but fully revised dissertations) or edited collections, especially those focusing on problem-oriented issues, with multidisciplinary coverage where possible. Editorial Advisory Board Nicholas Conard (University of Tübingen), John G. Fleagle (Stony Brook University), Jean-Jacques Hublin (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology), Ross D. E. MacPhee (American Museum of Natural History), Peter Makovicky (The Field Museum), Sally McBrearty (University of Connecticut), Jin Meng (American Museum of Natural History), Tom Plummer (Queens College/CUNY), Mary Silcox (University of Toronto).
For other titles published in this series, go to www.springer.com/series/6978
Late Cenozoic Yushe Basin, Shanxi Province, China: Geology and Fossil Mammals Volume I: History, Geology, and Magnetostratigraphy Edited by
Richard H. Tedford
(1929–2011, deceased)
Formerly Division of Paleontology, The American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192, USA
Zhan-Xiang Qiu Laboratory of Paleomammalogy, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xizhimenwai Ave., 142, Beijing 100044, People’s Republic of China
Lawrence J. Flynn Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
123
Editors Richard H. Tedford Formerly Division of Paleontology The American Museum of Nat