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Dashanpu Middle Jurassic Dinosaur Fossils Site

China

Concentrated dinosaur fossils in the site.

Concentrated dinosaur fossils in the site.

Geological Period

Middle Jurassic

Main geological interest

Paleontology
Stratigraphy and sedimentology

Location

Zigong City, Sichuan Province, China
29°23’49”N, 104°49’27”E

Concentrated dinosaur fossils in the site.

A highly concentrated Middle Jurassic dinosaurs site that demonstrates high vertebrate diversity.

This site has a highly diverse vertebrate fauna and the greatest concentration Middle Jurassic dinosaurs known. The site is the type locality of the Shunosaurus Fauna. Its fossils represent basal taxa of several different lineages, such as, the eusauropod Shunosaurus lii, the macronarian Dashanpusaurus dongi, the stegosaur Huayangosaurus taibaii, and the neornithischian Agilisaurus louderbacki. Some specimens exhibit unique bone structures, such as the bony tail clubs of sauropods and the parascapular spines of stegosaurs, which provide evidence of dinosaur behaviors. The fossils from this site fill a gap in the knowledge of dinosaus evolution and provides exceptional good samples for studying many paleobiological aspects of dinosaurs and their relations with other vertebrates.

Part of the Dashanpu Middle Jurassic Dinosaur Fossils Site.

Part of the Dashanpu Middle Jurassic Dinosaur Fossils Site.

  • Geological description

The site is located at the northeastern end of the Ziliujing Anticline of Sichuan Basin, which is a well-known red-bed basin in the Upper Yangtze Platform of South China. Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous terrestrial strata are exposed within the basin. The Lower Shaximiao Formation of the Middle Jurassic, which has dinosaur fossils, is about 180 meters thick and is composed of lacustrine and fluvial clastic deposits, mainly purplish red mudstones with several intercalations of yellowish grey or greyish green middle to fine-grained feldspathic quartz sandstone or feldspar lithic sandstone. The dinosaur fossils are concentrated in a layer 3-5 meters thick of greyish green fine-grained feldspar lithic sandstone in the lower part of the formation. Up to now, more than 200 individuals of dinosaurs and other vertebrates have been uncovered. Among them, 29 species of 26 genera have been identified. They include sauropods, theropods, basal neornithischians, stegosaurs, and fish, amphibians, turtles, crocodiles, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs and therapsids. This is a highly diversified vertebrate community of the Middle Jurassic.

  • Scientific research and tradition

The site, with an area of about 70,000 square meters, was first uncovered in 1972. An on-site museum was built thereafter. Extensive studies have been carried out by scientists at home and abroad. Six monographs, 2 special issues and more than 100 published papers document the fossils and interpret their paleobiology.

Geologic diagram for Dashanpu Middle Jurassic Dinosaur Fossils Site.

Geologic diagram for Dashanpu Middle Jurassic Dinosaur Fossils Site.

  • Reference

Barrett, P.M., Butler, R.J. and Knoll, F. (2005) ‘Small-bodied ornithischian dinosaurs from the Middle Jurassic of Sichuan, China’. Available at: https://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/12933.

Chatterjee, S. and Zheng, Z. (2002) ‘Cranial anatomy of Shunosaurus, a basal sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of China’, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 136(1), pp. 145–169. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1096-3642.2002.00037.x.

Peng, G.Z. et al. (2005) Jurassic dinosaur faunas in Zigong. Chengdu: Sichuan People’s Publishing house.

Sereno, P.C. and Zhimin, D. (1992) ‘The skull of the basal stegosaur Huayangosaurus taibaii and a cladistic diagnosis of stegosauria’, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 12(3), pp. 318–343. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1992.10011463.

Tong, H. et al. (2011) ‘Middle Jurassic turtles from the Sichuan Basin, China: a review’, Geological Magazine, 149(4), pp. 675–695. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756811000859.

Wang, J. et al. (2018) ‘Age of Jurassic basal sauropods in Sichuan, China: A reappraisal of basal sauropod evolution’, GSA Bulletin, 130(9–10), pp. 1493–1500. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1130/B31910.1.

  • Author(s)

PENG Guanzhao.
Zigong Dinosaur Museum. China.

YE Yong.
Zigong Dinosaur Museum. China.

JIANG Shan.
Zigong Dinosaur Museum. China.

LI Biao.
Zigong Dinosaur Museum. China.

LI Yi.
Zigong Dinosaur Museum. China.

WANG Wenwei.
The Management Center for Zigong UGGp. China.

WANG Lingling.
The Management Center for Zigong UGGp. China.

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