Paleoecology of the Ordovician Reef-Shoal Depositional System in the Yijianfang Outcrop of the Bachu Area, West Tarim Basin

The reef-shoal depositional system of the Ordovician carbonate platform margin is well exposed in the Yijianfang (一间房) outcrop of the Bachu (巴楚) uplift region, which offers an advantageous condition to study their paleoecology. Using a detailed field geologic survey and illustrated profiles of typical depositional systems, three types of genetic facies associations can be recognized in the reef-shoal depositional system: an organic reef, an organic shoal, and an upper slope. The organic reef is composed of three types of genetic facies (a reef base, a reef core, and fore-reef breccias); the organic shoal is formed from five types of genetic facies (tide channels, fore-reef inner shoals, fore-reef outer shoals, back-reef inner shoals, and back-reef outer shoals). The studies of the paleontological assemblage in each genetic facies of the depositional system indicate that the fauna preserved in each genetic facies are varied. The calathium, archaeoscyphia, bryozoan, and calcareous alga are well preserved in the organic reefs. The organisms preserved in the organic shoals are generally fragmented, while well-preserved girvanella and nuia siberica with a content of about 15% in the back-reef outer shoals are the most characteristic and different from others. The sinoceras, trilobites, and gastropods are well preserved in the upper slope deposits. The studies will demonstrate that the reef-shoal complexes developed above the base of the fair-weather wave base and that the original hydrodynamic conditions for the reef core forming is the stronger and become more and more low-energy from the inner part to outer part of the organic shoals.