A new biological fossil resource was recently discovered in the Kanzi Mountain area of Yunxi County, Shiyan City, Hubei Province. By comparing plant fossil assemblages at home and abroad and conducting investigation and verification of the regional strata, geological experts confirmed that this is an Early Carboniferous plant fossil assemblage, formed approximately 340 to 320 million years ago. This discovery is of great significance for advancing paleontological research on Carboniferous strata.

　　According to reports, the newly discovered biological fossil resource in Yunxi County contains fossil-bearing strata mainly distributed in the southern part of Kanzi Mountain Village and Huping Village in Hubeikou Hui Ethnic Township of the county, spatially presenting as a narrow elongated belt extending in a nearly east-northeast direction, covering an area of approximately 2.7 square kilometers.

　　"The lithology of this stratum is a set of yellowish-brown carbonaceous shale intercalated with limestone lenses, with high mud content and weak properties, forming multiple small-scale collapses along the road cut. The survey team accidentally discovered impressions of fern pinnules on the surface of fallen rocks by the roadside." According to Zhao Bi, an expert from the Hubei Provincial Committee on Paleontological Fossils, by tracing fossil clues and further conducting fossil collection and identification work, they found that ancient plant fossils of numerous species and exceptionally exquisite preservation are buried in this stratum over 200 meters thick.

　　According to preliminary identification by geological experts, at least more than 10 genera and species have been recognized in this plant fossil assemblage, including Lepidodendropsis, Sphenophyllum, Platyspermophyllum, Triphyllopteris, Sphenopteris, Pecopteris, Rhodeopteridium, Neuropteris, Sphenopteris, and Dictyopteridium, involving at least 3 major plant phyla including Lycophyta, Sphenophyta, and Pteridospermophyta. Most of these ancient plants are early types that have vanished in the long river of geological history, with their living periods traceable back hundreds of millions of years.

　　Zhao Bi stated that the Carboniferous Period is China's most important coal-forming period, with provinces such as Shanxi all developing Carboniferous coal seams of enormous thickness, but Carboniferous coal resources are scarce in the central region, and Carboniferous research is also relatively weak. "Carboniferous plant fossils in Hubei have been found in small quantities in Songzi, Changyang, and other places, but the fossil layers are all only a few meters thick, with few plant types and only preliminary understanding." Zhao Bi said that the Carboniferous plant fossil layer discovered in Shiyan this time is of enormous thickness, with continuous stratigraphic distribution and clear boundaries between the top and bottom, and the plant fossils preserved therein can already be determined through preliminary observation to be a paleoflora community of high biodiversity. This is the first discovery of its kind in Hubei Province and is of great significance for advancing Carboniferous stratigraphic paleontological research and science education in Hubei.

　　It is reported that the Carboniferous Period is an important stage in the biological evolution of the Earth. At that time, the global paleogeographic pattern was completely different from today. The Chinese mainland had not yet formed, and both the North China and South China plates were still independent plates "floating" near the equatorial region, separated by the Qinling Ocean. The Kanzi Mountain area of Shiyan was located in the sea-land interaction zone on the southern side of the North China Plate. The humid and hot coastal climate made the terrestrial vegetation here exceptionally lush, and the coastal swamp environment also created superior conditions for the burial and preservation of plant fossils.