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Geoscience ›› 2010, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (5): 880-887.

• Water Resource and Environment • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Study on the Formative Mechanism of the Mixed CathaysianAngaran Floras  in Gansu of Northwest China

 SUN  Ke-Qi1, LIU  Jun2   

  1. 1.School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing100083, China;   2.Key Laboratory of Evolutionary
    Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100044, China
  • Online:2010-09-24 Published:2012-03-28

Abstract:

This paper sums up systematically present situation and recent progress of the mixed Late Permian Cathaysian-Angaran floras in Gansu of Northwest China. The paper discusses the formative mechanism of the mixed Cathaysian- Angaran floras. During the Early Permian, the Tarim Plate, together with the North China Plate, moved northwestwards, meanwhile, the Kazakhstania and Siberia plates drifted southeastwards. During the Middle Permian, the Cathaysian continent collided with the Siberian continent along the line from the Tian-shan Mountains, Yinshan Mountains and Da Hinggan Mountains to cause the closure of an ancient ocean and the uplifting of mountain systems so that the plate collision provided  ‘a mixing’ condition between the Cathaysia flora and the Angara flora. A few mixed elements of the two floras occured in the region during the late Middle Permian. The Cathaysian and Angaran continents began to merge with each other due to the collision and connection of the Tarim and North China plates with the Kazakhstan and Siberian plates, which formed the mixed Cathaysian- Angaran floras during the Late Permian. In addition, the distribution patterns of the mixed floras may be due to plate movement, climatic differentiation, environmental change, plant migration and plant evolution in terrestrial ecosystems.

Key words: China, Gansu, Permian, Cathaysian flora, Angaran flora, formative mechanism

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