A review of magnetostratigraphic studies of the Yuanmou sequences
元谋盆地河湖相沉积物磁性地层学研究综述

The Yuanmou Basin in southwestern China is renown for well-developed, late Cenozoic fluvial-lacustrine sequences containing Yuanmou H. erectus and abundant mammalian fossils. They are excellent archives in views of the magnetostratigraphic study for dating the evolution of Indian monsoon, the migration and dispersal times of early human, the exchanges of mammalian in different regions and climate settings in East Asia. In the past four decades, a series of paleomagnetic works were carried out to determine the living age of Yuanmou H. erectus and various age estimations were documented. Here we review the paleomagnetic results of Yuanmou sequences in literature and find existing uncertainties on the age of Yuanmou H. erectus and exact timing of the formation process of the basin are due to the low-resolution of sampling, magnetic experiments and so on. We stress that high-resolution magnetostratigraphic studies in combination with lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy are necessary in future to obtain reliable age controls of those Yuanmou fossils and the evolution process of the Yuanmou Basin.