Source: Chaoyang Daily
More than 100 million years ago, chaoyang and the surrounding area had 17 freshwater lakes connected and divided. The lake is sparkling and dotted with islands in the lake, a paradise for ancient creatures. Colorful lake scenery, colorful fish and insect shells, dazzling and gorgeous ancient birds, thousands of purple and red flowers and trees, the world's unique color world, combined with the wonderful landscape of the flourishing of the Rehe biota. The development of the lake basin itself, the evolution of geological formations, and especially the frequent volcanic activity have turned the flourishing organisms into fossils, so a treasure house of fossils has been formed in Chaoyang. The probability of a living creature becoming a fossil is about 1 in 10,000, and the probability of a fossil being found is about 1 in 10,000. This one-in-a-100 million probability event is presented in front of today's people, so that the world is envious of the many types of fossils in chaoyang, the significance is great, the richness is unique in the world, and it is a veritable fossil capital. The fossil highlights the sunrise, makes the sunrise go to the world, and forms a unique fossil culture.
Lei Guangzhen, fame
Farmers and scientists
In 2000, I accompanied Dr. Xu Xing of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to Huanghuagou Village, Shengli Township, Chaoyang County, to meet a farmer named Yan Zhiyou and see the fossils he exhibited in the dilapidated room. He claimed to have an exhibition of peasant fossils. At that time, only a few stones were piled in the corner of the room. Yan Zhiyou, dressed in plain clothes, squatted in the corner of the front door to chat with us, and we listened. In 1973 he discovered a fossil of a parrot-billed dragon with a mouth like a parrot and the size of a sheep. On July 18, 1987, he found a bird fossil at the west end of the village and wrote a letter to professor Rao Chenggang, a paleontologist, to introduce the situation. In 1988, the fossil was named the "Three-Tower Chinese Bird" by Chinese scientist Rao Chenggang and American scientist P. Sereno. The three towers refer to Chaoyang, and there were once three ancient pagodas in Chaoyang City. "Three Pagoda Chinese Birds" refers to birds found in Chaoyang, China. It was the first bird to be named after the Three Towers of China and Chaoyang.
Chaoyang farmer Yan Zhiyou discovered why the three pagoda Chinese birds caused a sensation? This starts with Archaeopteryx, known as the first fossil bird. 126 years after the discovery of the German Archaeopteryx, Yan Zhiyou and scientists introduced the three-tower Chinese bird to the world, breaking the situation that the German Archaeopteryx dominated the world in 126 years, rewriting the history of the origin and evolution of birds, thus causing strong repercussions in the world. World paleontologists are deeply concerned about and highly praised, calling the Three Pagoda Chinese bird a "revolutionary discovery" and "the most important discovery in the paleontological community at the end of the 20th century". Discover magazine in the United States also named this discovery one of the 100 major scientific and technological news in the world that year.
Two years later, in 1990, 25-year-old Zhou Zhonghe, who was doing his master's thesis, came to a small ravine in The town of Boluochi in Chaoyang County and began to look for fish fossils. This small ravine is separated from Yan Zhiyou's hometown of Shengli Township by only a Daling River, and the straight-line distance is less than 20 kilometers, on the northern and southern edges of a basin, respectively. Zhou Zhonghe accidentally found two rare bird fossils. The two fossils, which were later proven to be about 120 million years old, were the most complete bird fossils known at the time, and one of them was named "Huaxia Bird", a discovery that filled a gap in the evolutionary history of birds in the early Cretaceous Period. Since then, Zhou Zhonghe has made a series of major achievements in the study of the origin of birds and other issues, and has grown into a famous paleontologist, an expert in paleornithology, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a foreign academician of the American Academy of Sciences. Zhou Zhonghe's discovery laid the foundation for the later combinatorial study of fossil groups in the Jiufotang Formation. This combination is mainly a combination of Ji'nan fish, Chinese birds, long-winged birds--- sunrise birds. The --- Chaoyang Bird Group in the Polo Ectopic Layer is the third bird group of the Rehe biota.
Farmer Yan Zhiyou's discovery was included in a grand system by the discovery and research of scientist Zhou Zhonghe, which became a perfect link in the discovery and research of the Rehe biota.
Zhou Zhonghe's academician team inherited the achievements of his predecessors and enriched the Rehe biota. Chaoyang paleontology and its fossils are included in the Jehol Biota. The Rehe biota is a fossil group of Mesozoic flora and fauna living in the late Mesozoic Era, distributed in northern China centered on the sunrise. Initially represented by the "Dai's Wolffin Fish - Oriental Leaf Limb Introduction - Three-tailed Quasi-Ephemeral Ephemeral", the fossils found now contain more than 20 important biological phyla, including gastropods, bivalves, leaf limbs, mesozoans, shrimps, insects and spiders and other invertebrate groups, including jawless, cartilaginous fish, teleost fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and other vertebrate groups, as well as rotifers, various terrestrial plants and other taxa, and flowering angiosperms are the higher species among them. Second, carefully search
The first bird
Fossil Archaeopteryx was found in Germany in 1861, about 150 million years ago, living in the early Jurassic period, with feathers and as small as a modern pheasant. Archaeopteryx fossils at that time were known as the first birds. 126 years later, three pagoda Chinese bird fossils were found in Chaoyang. At this time, people wondered: are there bird fossils in Chaoyang that predate the German Archaeopteryx? Finally waiting for the discovery and naming of Chinese dragon bird fossils, people put their expectations on the first bird fossils. In 1996, a fossil chinese dragon bird covered in pristine fluff was found in Shangyuan Township, Beipiao City, and Ji Qiang, then director of the Geological Museum of China, received a piece. Ji Qiang analyzed the "primitive feathers" on the fossils and the characteristics of fossil-like birds, and named them the Chinese Dragon Bird. The naming itself affirms that the fossil is a bird fossil. The discovery and naming soon caused a sensation in the press, in the paleontological community, and in shock around the world.
After the publication of the chinese dragon bird fossil research results, the debate has continued. The skeptical view is that the Chinese dragon bird is not a bird, the skin is not feathered, and it should be classified as a dinosaur. The view that is now questioned is well received. At the same time, it is recognized as the long hair of the Chinese dragon bird --- the long hair of the dinosaur. There are also different understandings of what kind of hair dinosaurs have. Some paleontologists believe this is the original feather, while others believe that this skin derivative does not have the characteristics of feathers, is bristles, and may also be fibrous tissue. Others think it may be a "decoration" that indicates gender, and some even think it is a kind of insulation device. It has been further deduced that the hair-like epidermal derivatives of the Chinese dragon bird indicate that small dinosaurs (such as China).
Dragon birds) may be warm-blooded animals (i.e. thermostatic animals). There are also paleontologists who speculate that this "hair" on the Chinese dragon bird is the precursor to the evolution of feathers, so it is called "anterior feather".
The long hair of the Chinese dragon bird aroused great interest and excitement, but the new discovery quickly dissipated people's excitement but increased people's interest. Later, there were more dinosaur fossils, and people made more discoveries, not only the Chinese dragon bird long hair, many dinosaurs have long hair. Dinosaur hairs are no longer unusual. Even dinosaurs of the earlier geological age before the Chinese dragon bird had hair on them.
New discoveries and research have dashed hopes of the Chinese dragon bird as the first bird. While the study of fossils such as the Chinese dragon bird has reached new conclusions, the study of The German Archaeopteryx has also reached new conclusions. Archaeopteryx is also not a bird, except for its feathers, it is generally considered to be the intermediate type of reptile to bird, and still belongs to dinosaurs.
The German Archaeopteryx was originally considered the ancestor of birds, and the Chinese Dragon Bird was initially considered a bird, but now it has been overthrown, neither is a bird, it is a small theropod dinosaur. Then it is necessary to find the first bird to fly into the blue sky from the "bird" fossils. What kind of bird would that be?
Willow dark flowers bright and another village. People found the Bird of Confucius in the morning sun.
The Confucius bird is a real bird. Confucius bird is the earliest known bird with a toothless beak, the skeleton structure is very complete, the humerus proximal end has a large air sac hole, forming a tail bone, feathers, with short-distance flight ability, living about 125 million to 110 million years ago, is the earliest bird to live on earth.
There is now definitive evidence that the Confucius bird replaced the Status of the German Archaeopteryx as the ancestor of birds, becoming "the first bird on Earth to fly to the blue sky".
Nowadays, paleontologists have found three major bird groups in Chaoyang: the Confucius bird group in the Jianshan gully layer is the first bird group of the Rehe biota, the middle of the Yixian formation is combined with the Qianlong, Chinese dragon and Liaoxi bird group as the second bird group, and the three-tower Chinese birds, Huaxia birds and Chaoyang birds in the Above-mentioned Polo Red Layer are combined as the third bird group. Preliminary estimates are that there are tens of thousands of bird fossils in Chaoyang.
There is no doubt that the morning sun is where the first birds fly! Third, difficult to discover
Flowering ancient fruit
Flowering ancient fruits, including Liaoning ancient fruit and Chinese ancient fruit, they live in the Mesozoic Era, and the international paleontological community has called it the earliest angiosperm so far. It has flowered and borne fruit, and it is speculated that it must have flowered.
In the summer of 1990, scientists such as Sun Ge and Zheng Shaolin discovered fossils of angiosperms in the Jixi region of Heilongjiang. The Jixi region of Heilongjiang is in the same range as the Chaoyang of Liaoning Province, so they put the hope of further searching for flowering plants in the Chaoyang area. They searched and searched, and traveled all over the sunrise landscape. In November 1996, three fossils were sent, and Sun Ge observed that one of the fossils had a forked branch that looked like a fern, and more than forty pod-like fruits were arranged in a spiral on the main and side branches, each containing 2 to 4 seeds. On closer inspection with a microscope, it is clear that the seeds are encased in the fruit. After research, Sun Ge believes: "This is a conclusive angiosperm. A new taxon was identified, the "Liaoning Ancient Fruit."
In the spring of 1997, scientists collected more than 1,000 fossils in Huangbanjigou, Beipiao, Chaoyang, and found 8 fossils of Liaoning ancient fruits.
Zhonghua ancient fruit is the second angiosperm found in Chaoyang, with a total height of about 20 cm, bifurcated leaves, and an underdeveloped root system. There are fish fossils buried near the fossils, so some researchers have deduced that the ancient Chinese fruit is aquatic. On the reproductive branches of the ancient Chinese fruit, there are dozens of fruit in a spiral shape, which is formed by folding and closing the heart skin in half, and the fruit is slender and dense, and each heart skin contains 8-12 ovules (seeds). Chinese ancient fruit is not only a small, delicate aquatic plant, but also more like an herb. This herb is a flowering plant with strong vitality and reproductive ability.
Whether Liaoning ancient fruit and Chinese ancient fruit are flowering plants and their geological age (whether they are the first flowers) have caused controversy. Some people think that the strata of Liaoning Ancient Fruit and Chinese Ancient Fruit should be the Early Cretaceous Formation, no more than 130 million years ago, while the discoverers of the two ancient fruits still adhere to the view that "the world's earliest flowers" bloomed 145 million years ago.
Are the flowers of Liaoning ancient fruits and other flowers? Some people think that Liaoning ancient fruit is just an inflorescence and cannot become a flower, because the real meaning of the flower not only has various structures, but also must be a shortened stem tip. More ancient and modern botanists believe that Liaoning Guguo is a flower, but it is possible that the early flower is different from the modern concept of flower. There are also some botanists who believe that flowers are the result of a gradual evolution, so there must be a stage of flower-like non-flowering in this evolutionary process, and perhaps the Liaoning ancient fruit fossils represent this process.
No matter how the debate is, in the end, it cannot change the conclusion that Liaoning ancient fruit and Chinese ancient fruit are flowering ancient fruits.
Fourth, wonderful and colorful
Fossil culture
Fossils are the remains, relics or relics of paleontological organisms that remain in the strata, while fossil culture is the research, interpretation, utilization and activities of fossils and material carriers. Fossil culture takes fossils as the carrier, which is essentially the social and humanistic activities and phenomena carried out by using fossil relics. Fossil research, publicity, science popularization and fossil-themed display and tourism activities, the production (or reproduction) of fossil crafts and fossil ornaments, and the film and television, paintings, books, paper-cutting, stamps, sculptures, etc. based on fossils are all specific forms of fossil culture.
Chaoyang's paleontological fossils are unique and unique in the world. Culturally summarizing its characteristics, there are four main aspects. First, it has a wide range, in addition to a few young mountain ranges, Chaoyang land is full of fossil-containing strata, more than half of the Chaoyang land area produces fossils. Second, it is non-renewable, most of these biological fossils were formed 125 million years ago, unique geographical conditions, geological conditions make it formed, and non-renewable. Third, it is world-wide, and the fossils of Chaoyang have many of the world's best. In addition, the storage, discovery, protection and utilization of fossils are by no means a matter for a region or a country, but belong to the whole world. Fourth, it is humanistic. Fossils contain information about the environment that humans need to live in, and they contain information about the ancestors (mammals) before humans, which are closely related to humans.
The naming of Chaoyang fossils is a great appreciation for fossil culture. After the fossil is discovered, it is studied to give a species name (the scientific name of the species). The name given to each species consists of two parts: a genus name and a species addition word (species nickname). It is very significant that Chinese and foreign scientists have dug their hearts out to give Chaoyang fossils a number of good names, which make fossils associated with China's excellent traditional culture, some important historical deeds and important place names, forming a beautiful fossil culture picture. The first is the beautiful picture of Chinese China, Huaxia and Shenzhou that has formed a fossil culture. There are many kinds of fossils named after China and China, such as the original Chinese dragon bird, the Chinese ornate feather dragon, the Chinese hairy beast, the Chinese ancient fruit, the Chinese thin fruit spike, the Chinese fat salamander, the Chinese wolffin fish, the Chinese bowfin fish, the Lingyuan Chinese Junbeast, the Chinese dragon hunting, the Millennium Chinese bird dragon, the Chinese pterosaur, the Chinese pterosaur, the Chinese possum, the multi-chamber Chinese dragon, the Chinese phase-like maple, the Huaxia pterosaur, the Yandu Huaxia bird, the tailed Huaxia bird, etc.; second, the fossil naming with excellent endowments shows the long-standing traditional Chinese culture. Such as the sage Confucius bird, Hengdaozi Great Wall bird, Red Mountain Dragon, Red Mountain Bird, High-crowned Red Mountain Bird, Chaoyang Secondary Red Mountain Bird, Lake Red Mountain Pterodactyl, Three Pagoda Chinese Bird, Three Swallow Dragon City Bird, Three Swallow Li Toad, Jianping Northern Swallow Salamander, Ma's Bird Bird, Zhao's Dragon City Pterodactyl, etc.; third, the Chaoyang fossil culture has made Northeast China and Rehe frequently become hot searches. For example, the Northeast Dragon, Shangyuan Rehe Dragon, Jin's Rehe Beast, Brown-tailed Rehe Bird, Primitive Rehe Bird, Rehe Salamander, Rehe Crack scale fruit, Rehe like Luohan Pine, Rehe Like Yindi Fern, etc.; fourth, Chaoyang fossils highlight liaoning's dominant position, such as fossils are named Liaoning Dragon, Liaoning Dragon, Liaoning Horned Dragon, Liaoning Pterodactyl, Liaoning Bird, Liaoning Beast, Liaoning Serrated Beast, Liaoning Ancient Fruit, Bo's Liaoning Branch, Short-snoutEd Liaoning Lizard, Liaoning Cave Shrimp, Hu's Liao Cicada, Petite Liaoxi Bird, Liaoning West Wing Dragon, etc.; Fifth, Chaoyang Fossil Name introduced Chaoyang, The geographical name elements of Beipiao, Lingyuan, Jianping, Kazuo and related townships have made them famous all over the world, such as Beishan Chaoyang Bird, Chaoyang Hui Bird, Chaoyang Longwing Bird, Liaoxi Chaoyang Dragon, Linghe Songling Bird, Long-toed Ling river lizard, Accidental Beipiplex, Beipiao Pterodactyl, Pan's Northern Ticket Sturgeon, Beipiao Cicada, Beipio Zhong toad, Beiping Lijian, Qiangjing Beipiao Fruit, Beiping Maozai, Lingyuan Erjina Mussel, Lingyuan Like Cycads, Jianping Northern Swallow Salamander, Kazuo Chinese Tyrannosaurus, Zheng's Polo Red Bird, Spiny-nosed Large Bungalow Bird, etc.
Rich fossils have been unearthed in Chaoyang, indicating that Chaoyang is a treasure land, a biological paradise hundreds of millions of years ago, and now it is very suitable for human habitation. In the distant Mesozoic Era, when the rest of the earth was soaked by seawater, the chaoyang land was surrounded by sweet fresh water, so the chaoyang became the freshwater biological kingdom of the Mesozoic; when the rest of the earth was desolate, the chaoyang earth bloomed the first flower on the earth and became the place of origin of fragrant flowers and fruits; when the rest of the earth was silent, the chaoyang earth flew up the first group of birds on the earth and became the ideal home for ancient birds; when the primary animals in other parts of the earth had not yet crawled, the chaoyang earth had milk brooding animal groups. It has become the cradle of mammals; when the rest of the earth is silent, the sunrise land is already leafy, birds and flowers, fish splashing, dinosaurs galloping... It forms a biome unique in the world with land, water and air radiation.
The above description is not a myth, but a large number of paleontological fossils prove the real existence. Chaoyang fossils tell us: Chaoyang is the hometown of flowers, the homeland of birds, the insect kingdom, the fish paradise, the hometown of dinosaurs, the cradle of mammals; Chaoyang is the classic origin of fossils and the treasure house of Mesozoic fossils. Today, Chaoyang is still a place of merit for human habitation. The ancient fruit angiosperms left over more than 100 million years ago, 5,000 years ago, the Hongshan culture cultivated wild angiosperms and became grains, forming the core area of the northern millet farming agricultural cultural area and ushering in the dawn of Chinese civilization. Chaoyang City and all the county seats are located in the ancient basin, which used to be filled with fresh water, and today is a sacred place for human beings to reproduce. The coincidence of the place where ancient organisms (fossils) flourish, the habitat of Hongshan culture, and the city of Sanyan culture are growing is by no means accidental, indicating that this place will never be alive and forever suitable for life and reproduction...