Studies of the evolution, extinction and biogeographic affinities of fossil communities on a world-wide basis depend on a taxonomically sound global database. Echinoderms were important members of Paleozoic marine communities for much of the Paleozoic, but echinoderm communities from Asia are poorly known in the literature. Our purpose in this talk is to discuss the current state of knowledge of Paleozoic stemmed echinoderm faunas from China to begin to fill in this large temporal and spatial gap in the echinoderm fossil record.
China contains numerous substantial continental blocks (Tarim, Sino-Korea, Yangtze (South China), Junggar, Indochina, Sibumasu (Shan Thai, Malaya), Kazakstania, the Angaran Shield), smaller continental fragments, and accretionary complexes that have coalesced since the mid-Palaeozoic. Echinoderm localities within this diverse collage generally are characterized by platform and shelf sedimentation in the larger continental blocks such as Sino-Korea, Yangtze (South China), and Sibumasu. However, echinoderms also have been collected from sedimentary accretionary wedges on active plate margins between Kazakstania/northern Junggar and southern Junggar/Tarim. Because China is a mosaic of plate fragments, microcontinents, and accretionary wedges, the terranes were situated on both the northern and southern margins of Paleo-Tethys and have complex temporal, spatial, and climatic relationships.
Because echinoderms tend to be highly endemic, the geographic distribution of faunas plays an important role in delineating the paleogeographic positions of these terranes through time. As the paleontological community becomes increasingly aware of the potential of echinoderms for biogeographic studies, echinoderm fossil data from China will have to be reconciled with the paleolatitudinal models derived from the expanding paleomagnetic database.
Kansas Geological Survey
Updated April 17, 1997
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