Two kinds of silicalites in Mount Ailao belt, Yunnan Province

Two kinds of radiolarian silicalites at the bottom and top of the ophiolite in the Mount (Mt.) Ailao belt, Yunnan Province, are dealt with in this work in terms of geology, micro-paleontology, isotope and REE. The first kind of silicalite was defined as the turbidite formation. In this category, the radiolarian species lived in the Late Devonian (D₃). The corresponding ecologic assemblage, composed of δ³⁰Si (0.4‰–0.5‰, average 0.03‰), δCe (0.77–0.97, average 0.85) and La_N/Yb_N (0.77–1.06, average 0.96) of silicalite, shows that it occurred in the abyssal environment. The second kind of silicalite was defined as the mud-siliceous formation. Contacting conformably with the basalt of the ophiolite suit, the radiolarian silicalite at the top of ophiolite was in the category of the component units of the ophiolite in the Mt. Ailao belt. In this category, the radiolarian species lived in the Early Carboniferous (C₁). The corresponding ecologic assemblage, composed of δ³⁰Si (0.2‰–1.3‰, averaging 0.7‰), δCe (0.88–0.92, averaging 0.90) and La_N/Yb_N (0.77–1.45, averaging 1.22), of silicalites indicate that it occurred in the bathyal environment. All these facts domonstrate that the Mt. Ailao must have been a small ocean basin at that time.