LATE PALEOZOIC NORTH QINLING TROUGH AND PERMO CARBONIFEROUS COAL MEASURES OF THE NORTH CHINA BLOCK

Late Paleozoic spore fossils found in the Shishuyuan Formation in Nanzhao County, Henan Province, confirm the existence of a Late Paleozoic trough in the North Qinling. As a result of the convergence of the Siberian and North China plates, the north margin of the North China block was subjected to transgression in the Early Carboniferous. The sea water invaded from north to south and emptied into the North Qinling trough. During the Middle Carboniferous to Permian, a sedimentary system that was diachronous southward and evolved upward from the epicontinental facies through delta facies to fluvio lacustrine facies originated in the sedimentary basin of the North China block, accompanied by peatification and swamping, thus forming southward diachronous coal beds.