Doushantuo Formation

Doushantuo Formation
Stratigraphic range: Ediacaran ~635–551 Ma[1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
A purported Ediacaran embryo contained within an acritarch from the Doushantuo Formation
Underlies	Dengying Formation
Overlies	Nantuo Formation
Thickness	Up to 400 m; usually around 200 to 250 m
Lithology
Primary	Shale
Other	Mudstone, marl, carbonate or phosphate minerals
Location
Region	South China
Country	China
Type section
Named for	Doushantuo, Hubei
Named by	Li Siguang and Zhao Yazeng [zh]
Year defined	1924[2]

Part of a series on
The Cambrian explosion
Fossil localities Burgess Shale Chengjiang Sirius Passet Doushantuo
Key organisms Ediacaran biota Dickinsonia Kimberella Kimberichnus Vernanimalcula Burgess-type Marrella Radiodonts Halwaxiids Opabinia Odontogriphus Small shelly fauna Helcionellids
Evolutionary concepts Trends Cambrian substrate revolution Themes Cladistics Convergent evolution Stem and crown groups
v t e

The Doushantuo Formation (formerly transcribed as Toushantuo or Toushantou,^[2] from Chinese: 陡山沱; pinyin: dǒu shān tuó; lit. 'steep mountain bay') is a geological formation in western Hubei, eastern Guizhou, southern Shaanxi, central Jiangxi, and other localities in China.^[3] It is known for the fossil Lagerstätten in Zigui in Hubei, Xiuning in Anhui, and Weng'an in Guizhou, as one of the oldest beds to contain minutely preserved microfossils, phosphatic fossils that are so characteristic ^[4] they have given their name to "Doushantuo type preservation". The formation, whose deposits date back to the Early and Middle Ediacaran,^[5][1] is of particular interest because it covers the poorly understood interval of time between the end of the Cryogenian geological period and the more familiar fauna of the Late Ediacaran Avalon explosion,^[6] as well as due to its microfossils' potential utility as biostratigraphical markers.^[7] Taken as a whole, the Doushantuo Formation ranges from about 635 Ma (million years ago) at its base to about 551 Ma at its top, with the most fossiliferous layer predating by perhaps five Ma the earliest of the 'classical' Ediacaran faunas from Mistaken Point on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland, and recording conditions up to a good forty to fifty million years before the Cambrian explosion at the beginning of the Phanerozoic.