Memoir of the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum 2: 1 – 2 (2003)© by the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur MuseumPREFACE
distinct change in floristic composition and physiognomy within
the Tetori Flora. Warmer and dryer trends during Early
Cretaceous (probably Hauterivian to Barremian) in East Asia
are suggested. KOMATSU et al. describe a new genus of nonmarine bivalve, based on the comparison with Chinese
specimens, and report the occurrence of a charophyte withsystematic description, both from the Itoshiro Subgroup.
Charophyte is useful for correlation of non-marine strata. Thisreport clearly shows the potential for establishing thecorrelation of the sequences between China and Japan.
HIROOKA et al. report the results of paleomagnetic study of
the Tetori Group in the Toyama (= Jinzu) Region. They
correlate between the sequences of this region and the standard
sequences of the Fukui – Ishikawa (= Hakusan) Region based on
the comparison of their paleolatitude data. This result provides
the additional data to the controversies about the correlation of
the sequence of the Tetori Group in this region, where dinosaur
fossils were found. The utility of anisotropy of the magnetic
susceptibility to paleocurrent analysis, and the differential
rotation within the Tetori Basin after the deposition of theTetori Group are also discussed. OTOH et al. discriminate twogroups of shear zones in the Hida Marginal Belt, which is thebasement of the Tetori Group in some parts of their distribution,and propose that the tectonic inversion from dextral to sinistral
shearing occurred during the time of deposition of the Tetori
Group. This model is valuable in the studies of the Tetori
Group.
Comparison between the sequences of neighboring countries
and the Tetori Group is the theme for the second part of theproceedings. The dinosaur faunas in Korea and China are alsopresented here for the comparison with that of the Tetori Group.
KIRILLOVA and KIRIYANOVA describe the Upper Mesozoic
stratigraphic sequences of the southeastern Russia, coeval withthe Tetori Group, and their faunas and floras in detail. In
addition, they compare the Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous
flora from the southeastern Russia with the Tetori Flora anddiscuss the division of paleofloristic provinces based on thebrief review of the identification of the selected taxa. CHANGand PARK summarize the Cretaceous stratigraphy of Korea andpropose the inter-regional correlation of the Upper Jurassic toLower Cretaceous strata in East Asia from the viewpoint of theunconformity-bounded unit. Application of the concept of theunconformity-bounded unit to the Tetori Group challenges theJapanese stratigrapher’s present opinion about the stratigraphyof the Tetori Group. Debate on this topic will provide further
contribution to the correlation of the non-marine sequences,such as the Tetori Group (Japan), the Kyongsang(= Gyoeongsang) Supergroup (Korea) and the Jehol Group(Northeast China), all of which are important dinosaur-bearing
strata in East Asia. LEE reviews Early Cretaceous dinosaur

The Cretaceous non-marine deposits are very widelydistributed in Asian Continent, where such interesting fossils
like “feathered” dinosaurs and early angiosperms werediscovered. Because the Inner Side of the Japanese Islands was
the eastern part of the Asian Continent before the Japan Sea
was formed in the middle Cenozoic, the non-marine Cretaceousis also distributed along the Japan Sea side. Cretaceous floras
and non-marine molluscan faunas, found from the Inner Side ofCentral Japan, have attracted much attention to correlate themarine and non-marine strata in Asia, because the well-dated
marine sediments are widely distributed in the Japanese Islands.
They have been used for discussing the Cretaceous
paleobiogeography of Asia as well. Furthermore, recent
discoveries of Early Cretaceous terrestrial and freshwater
vertebrate faunas including dinosaurs from the Middle
Jurassic – Early Cretaceous Tetori Group, distributed in theInner Side of Central Japan, reveal the potential significance of
these faunas to reconstruct the Early Cretaceous terrestrial
ecosystem.
The International Symposium entitled “Fauna and Flora ofthe Tetori Group and correlation with the Cretaceoussequences in Far-East Asia” which was sponsored by the jointauspices of the Palaeontological Society of Japan and IGCP 434
Land – Ocean Interactions of Carbon Cycle and Bio-diversity
Change During the Cretaceous in Asia was convened at the2002 Annual Meeting of the Palaeontological Society of Japan(June 21, 2002, Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum). At thesymposium, the fourteen contributions were presented to reportand discuss the recent results of stratigraphy, correlation, faunasand floras of the Circum-Japan Sea four countries (China,Korea, Russia and Japan).
Eleven articles and two extended abstracts from thesymposium are presented in this Proceedings issue of theMemoir of the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. The firstseven papers address recent advances in the studies of theTetori Group. FUJITA summarizes the stratigraphy of theTetori Group, especially paying attention to the occurrence ofmarine fossils from the Itoshiro Subgroup (middle part of theTetori Group), comparison of non-marine molluscan faunaswith the Outer Zone of Southwest Japan, and numerical data,and discusses the age and correlation of vertebrate-bearing
horizons in the Tetori Group. He suggested that vertebratebearing horizons of the Tetori Group are Hauterivian, LateBarremian and possibly Aptian – Albian in age. Two extended
abstracts by HIRAYAMA et al. and AZUMA provide thesummaries of the terrestrial and freshwater vertebrate fossils
from the Kuwajima Formation of the Itoshiro Subgroup and theKitadani Formation of the Akaiwa Subgroup (upper part of theTetori Group), respectively. YABE et al. review the study ofthe Tetori-type and Mixed-type floras, and recognize the12bones and eggs found from the Gyoeongsang Supergroup inSouth Korea. Especially recent findings of dinosaur eggs andnests are presented in detail. DONG summarizes the result ofrecent dinosaur excavations and the studies of Chinese dinosaurmaterials. The discoveries of “feathered” dinosaurs and birds
from the Jehol Group are focused on.
In the final two papers, a basic study and critical reviews ofstratigraphic tools are presented for the future prospect.
KOZAI and ISHIDA survey the Cretaceous stratigraphy andfaunal contents of Central and East Shikoku, Outer Zones ofSouthwest Japan, in detail and identify four non-marine
molluscan faunas, which define two mutually exclusive faunalgroups. They further suggested that two faunal groups wereformed in different salinity conditions of the adjoining areas.
It is worth to note that several freshwater mollusks, which wereknown from the Tetori Group, are found. Faunal contents andthe age of each non-marine fauna may provide a clue to thecorrelation of the Lower Cretaceous sequences of the Outer andInner zones of Southwest Japan and Korea. HASEGAWA
critically reviews the recent studies of carbon-isotope
stratigraphy and discusses its application for the non-marine
clastic sequences. He indicates that both the inter-regionalcorrelation and regional paleoenviromental reconstruction will
be improved by the recent innovations on analytical techniquesand equipments. We hope this proceedings will contribute to thefuture development of the study of Cretaceous environments ofAsia.
We wish to express our appreciation to the PalaeontologicalSociety of Japan for their financial support to the symposium andpermitting us to publish the proceedings as a part of the Memoirof the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. We are deeply
indebted to the Fukui Dinosaur Museum Society for theirfinancial support and invitation of overseas contributors to thesymposium. We thank the authors to submit their English papers
to the proceedings. We are grateful to the reviewers forreviewing the manuscripts submitted to this issue. We also wish
to thank the Editor-in-Chief of the Memoir of the Fukui
Prefectural Dinosaur Museum, Emeritus Professor Kenji
KONISHI and the Editorial Board of the journal for giving thechance to publish this proceedings and the editorial assistance.
Thanks are extended to Professor Takashi HAMADA, theDirector, and the members of the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur
Museum for all the help to organize the symposium and topublish the proceedings.
Hiromichi HIRANO 1
Takashi HASEGAWA 2
Shin-ichi SANO 3
Yoichi AZUMA 3
1
Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
2
Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
3
Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum, Katsuyama, Japan