Continental island from the Upper Silurian (Ludlow) Sino-Korean plate

Recent field studies on Upper Silurian stratigraphy and paleontology in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region:(for short Inner Mongalia) near Bater Obo (=Bateaobao) resulted in the discovery of a small continental island with fossil invertebrates preserved as encrusters (stromatoporoids and corals) a ttached directly to a rocky shore surface and buried by silty clay mud. The Bater island (named herein) is 610 m x 200 m in size and composed of Ordov ician igneous rock (diorite), Limestone strata dating from the Ludlow Epoch (about 420 Ma) surround the island and dip away from the igneous core in a radial pattern. The encrusting fossils occur on the sheltered (south and s outheast) side of the island, whereas the north side was exposed to stronge r wave activity based on a basal conglomerate unit composed of diorite boul ders. This is the first record of an ancient island in China and the first report worldwide of stromatoporoids as members of a rocky-shore community. The island clearly shows distinct windward and leeward deposits comparable to geologically younger islands from the Mesozoic and Cenozoic outside Chin a.