AGE ASSIGNMENT OF THE PINGDINGSHAN MEMBER IN HENAN AND ANHUI PROVINCES

Pingdingshan Member,which was named Pingdingshan Sandstones in 1955 is a litho-stratigraphical unit that is widely distributed over the area of Henan,Anhui,northwestern Jiangsu and southern Shandong provinces.lt consists mainly of light gray,greyish white,purplish green and grey sandstones intercalated with,siltstones and sandy marls,with a thickness up to 60-120m.The Pingdingshan Member rests conformably upon the Shiqianfeng Formation (Upper Shihetze Formation).The geological age still is a problem unsolved.(P₂¹—P₂²—T₁?) According to the preliminary identification,the Pingdingshan Member should be Late Permian in age,and stratigraphically it can be roughly correlated with the lower part of the Shiqianfeng Formation in northern China.