Lower Triassic Conodont Biostratigraphical Sequence at West Pingdingshan Section, Chaohu, Anhui Province, China

The authors provide a brief introduction on the Lower Triassic conodont zonation at West Pingdingshan Section, Chaohu, Anhui Province, China. Rich conodont fossils have been extracted from 172 productive samples in 286 analyzed samples, from the Lower Triassic Yinkeng, Helongshan, and the lower part of Nanlinghu Formation exposed at the section of 112.8 m thick. The extracted 2 187 conodont elements include 51 stratigraphically significant species referable to 11 genera: Hindeodus, Isarcicella(?), Neogondolella, Neospathodus, Platyvillosus, Cratognathodus, Parachirognathus, Pachycladina, Ellisonia, Aduncodina and Cornudina. Nine conodont zones are recognized in ascending order as follows: (1)Hindeodus typicalis-Neogondolella planataZone; (2)Neogondolella krystyniZone; (3)Neospathodus kummeliZone; (4)Neospathodus dieneriZone; (5)Neospathodusn. sp. C-Neospathodusn. sp. D Zone; (6)Neospathodus waageniZone; (7)Neospathodusn. sp. M Zone; (8)Neospathodus eotriangularisZone; (9)Neospathodus abruptus-Neospathodus homeriZone. Zones (2), (3), (5), (7) and (8) are first established and also Neospathodus waageniis reported for the first time from the Yinkeng Formation. Associated with conodonts also occur macrofossils such as ammonoids and bivalves, which confirm the conodont biochronostratigraphy to a certain degree.