LATE CRETACEOUS PALAEOCLIMATES IN SOUTHWESTERN HENAN

A series of Upper Cretaceous strata consisting dominantly of red elastic sediments mixed,with sand gravel,mud and lime mud was laid down within the Late Cretaceous pull-apart basins in Southwestern Henan.These strata may be traced back to the Cenomanian-Maestrichtian in age.The integration of sedimentological,petrographic,mineralogical and palaeontological data indicates that the palaeoclimates in the study area should be assigned to the semiarid to arid.climates in the subtropical to tropical zones in South China,and may be of.great imPortance for the studies of palaeoecological characteristics and extinction of dinosaurs,and for palaeogeographic reconstruction of the Qinling orogenic belt during post-orogenic staiges.