EARLY CARBONIFEROUS FOSSIL COMMUNITIES IN CENTRAL HUNAN

This paper deals with the concepts and recognition of the fossil communities and applications of the optimum segmentation method to the community classification. Many kinds of fossils occur in large amounts in the Menggang’ao and Zimenqiao Formations in central Hunan. In this paper, 15 fossil communities have been distinguished in an attempt to approach the vertical distribution of these communities in the strata and the geographic distribution in central Hunan. This paper also discusses the composition, framework and environment of the communities cited above. The main factors controlling the stratigraphic and geographic distribution of these communities include sea water depth and substrate features.