Black bedded, nodular, and lenticular chert and silicified parts of stromatolites from the approximately 1 400 - 1 600 million year-old Gaoyuzhuang Formation, North China, contain remark-ably well prep served microflora composed of diverse prokaryotic and possible eukaryotic microbes. Macroscopic algae have also been found. This Formation provides important paleobiological information from which to assess status of Mesoproterozoic life, and to evaluate paleoenvironmental conditions and pre-Phanerozoic biostratigraphy. The Gaoyuzhuang Formation has yielded over 100 taxa described by over 10 investigators. Most of the microbial taxa can be divided into three different assemblages according to their paleobiological and paleoenvironmental characteristics. I. The oscillatoriacean/chroococcacean assemblage which occurs in the first member of the Formation and this is interpreted to represent an assemblage from shallow water mat-building and mat-dwelling taxa with some possible planktonic taxa; 2. the nostocacean assemblage found only in the second member, and includes benthic mat-building or mat-dwelling taxa; and 3. the chroococcacean assemblage of the fourth member, which represents intertidal to supratidal mat-building and allochthonous taxa. Proterozoic microfossils found in chert, especially cyanobacteria, are possibly more valuable as paleoenvironmental indicators than as chronostratigraphic tools because of their morphological conservation, although trends in diversity appear to exist for cyanobacteria in the Proterozoic. The general characteristics of Gaoyuzhuang microfossils, and the fact that most nostocacean chains occur and are. preserved with the chain perpendicular to bedding indicate that: (1) the individual size of Gaoyuzhuang microfossils are part of a general trend of increase with time; (2) Gaoyuzhuang deposits are possibly in a fresh water environment and the rate of sedimentation might be equal to or less than the microbial growth rate; (3) the sedimentary model of Gaoyuzhuang might be from interti
The paper deals with the new phaeophycean fossils in the Early Cambrian from Chengjiang Biota at Ercai Village of Haikou, Kunming, Yunnan, Southwest China. Three new taxa, Punctatiopsis latifolia gen. et sp. nov., P. simplex gen. et sp. nov. and Vendotaenia cf. antiqua Gnilovskaya axe described here in detail. These new findings show that the Chengjiang Biota is high in species diversity of fossil algae and might offer new evidence for a better understanding of the Cambrian explosive biological evolution. The fossil genus described here is found to have a close relationship with the living Punctatia based on similar morphology. The results suggest that the Chengjiang Biota in Haikou area of Kunming was living in an intertidal and subtidal seawater environment.
Well preserved Early Cambrian small individual megascopic carbonaceous algal fossils have been found from the Chengjiang Biota. This paper deals with the new megascopic algal fossils in the Early Cambrian also from Chengjiang Biota at Ercai Village, Haikou, Kunming, Yunnan, southwest China. Two new taxa, Longfengshania cordata sp. nov. and Plantulaformis sinensis gen. et sp. nov. are described here in detail. These new findings show that the Chengjiang Biota is high in species diversity of fossil algae and might offer new evidence for a better understanding of the Cambrian explosive biological evolution. Moreover, the fossils described here might belong to the megaalgal fossils according to detailed morphological study on the relationships of Longfengshania. Additionally, the occurrence of Longfengshania in the early Cambrian and the Neoproterozoic probably indicates a wide ecological tolerance and flexibility and apparently reflects its evolutionary conservation and a high degree of inherent genetic stability.
In order to study vegetation evolution and environmental changes around 2.5 Ma B.P., a total of 146 pollen samples with an average time resolution of 7 000 years were analyzed in the deep-sea record at the depth of 135 - 95 m （in composition depth） from ODP Site 1143 （9° 22＇ N, 113° 17＇ E） in the southern South China Sea. The results show that the pollen influx has a distinct change. During 2.6 - 2.0 Ma B.P., the average value of pollen influx increased evidently compared with that of 3.0 - 2.6 Ma B.P. It shows that the sea level of SCS dropped dramatically around 2.6 Ma B.P., corresponding to the formation of the Northern Hemisphere ice-sheets and the enhancement of the East Asian Monsoon. The pollen influx variations reflect the glacial-interglacial cycles corresponding with the deep-sea oxygen isotope curve and indicate that the sea level of SCS rose and dropped many times after 2.6 Ma B.P. The spectrum analysis results of pollen influx show that there are cycles at 0.1Ma （eccentricity） and 46.9 ka （obliquity） during 3.0 - 2.0 Ma B.P.
