New knowledge of the Upper Triassic in Liupanshan Basin, Ningxia, China

Based upon the new data of spore-pollen, plant and bivalve fossils, the coal-bearing strata in the Liupanshan Basin, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Northwest China, which were formerly assigned to the Middle Jurassic Yan’an Formation, are divided into two parts in the present study. The major part is assigned to the Upper Triassic and the overlying part remains in the Jurassic. The new division is of significance to the oil-gas exploration of the basin and the interpretation of the sedimentary and tectonic history and the geographic environment of Liupanshan area during the early Mesozoic.