To establish a timescale for more than ten million years ago
Science China Press
The timescale is the base to reconstruct the history of the Earth and the biological evolution. A research on a chronostratigraphic sequence of the Chinese Neogene with accurate geological datings was published online in Science China: Earth Sciences.
The Chinese Neogene terrestrial deposits are widely exposed. In the Linxia Basin of Gansu Province, for example, there are continuous deposits from Oligocene to Pleistocene, covering complete Neogene period and bearing rich mammalian fossils (Fig. 1). The rapidly evolved mammalian fossils contribute efficiently to the division and correlation of Neogene strata. A uniform Neogene biostratigraphic framework for China has already been established, with seven mammalian ages named. With a developed stratigraphic basis for the geochronologic ?ages?, seven chronostratigraphic ?stage? have been established for the Chinese Neogene terrestrial strata, namely the Miocene Xiejian (Fig. 2), Shanwangian, Tunggurian, Bahean, and Baodean stages, and the Pliocene Gaozhuangian and Mazegouan stages.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-05/scp-tea052118.php
