Xinminbao Group

Xīnmínbǎo Group
新民堡群
Stratigraphic range: Late Barremian-Aptian
TypeGeological formation
Sub-unitsChijinbao Formation, Digou Formation, Xiagou Formation, Zhonggou Formation
Lithology
PrimaryConglomerate, siltstone, mudstone
OtherSandstone
Location
RegionEast Asia
Country China
 Mongolia

The Xīnmínbǎo Group (Chinese: 新民堡群; pinyin: Xīnmínbǎo qún) is a group of geological formations in north central China. They occur across a large depression between the Altai Mountains of Mongolia to the north and the Qilian mountains of the Qinghai Plateau to the south, in the Gōngpóquán (公婆泉) and Suànjǐngzi (算井子) basins, and also in the neighbouring Jiuquan Basin.

Both of these areas are inland basins consisting of fluvial (river), lacustrine (lake), and intermontane (between mountains) alluvial fan (floodplain) sediments that were deposited during the Early Cretaceous, probably during the Aptian or possibly late Barremian stage, when the climate was semi-arid and subtropical.

The group has been visited by many expeditions including the Silk Road dinosaur expedition of 1992 which concentrated on the area around Mazong Shan.