earth science

Phu Kradung Formation

Phu Kradung Formation is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Phu Kradung Formation rather than just read about it. In short: The Early Cretaceous Phu Kradung Formation is the lowest member of the Mesozoic Khorat Group which outcrops on the Khorat Plateau in Isan, Thailand. This geological formation consists of micaceous, brown to reddish-brown siltstone beds with minor brown and grey shale and sandstone beds.

Key takeaways

Phu Kradung Formation belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Phu Kradung Formation to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Phu Kradung Formation from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Early Cretaceous Phu Kradung Formation is the lowest member of the Mesozoic Khorat Group which outcrops on the Khorat Plateau in Isan, Thailand. This geological formation consists of micaceous, brown to reddish-brown siltstone beds with minor brown and grey shale and sandstone beds. Occasional lime-noduled conglomerate occurs. The Phu Kradung Formation sediments were deposited in a lake-dominated floodplain cut by meandering and occasionally braided river channels. The Phu Kradung Formation is considered, on the basis of recent vertebrae fossil discoveries, to be Late Jurassic in age. However, new palynology and biostratigraphic data suggests an age of Early Cretaceous for the upper section. More recent datations trought detrital zircon U–Pb ages of samples from the conglomerates have stablished a lowermost age of late Early Jurassic (Toarcian), with a maximum depositional age of 180 Ma, which is older than the previously estimated Late Jurassic–Berriasian age based on fossil evidence. This discrepancy suggests the absence of syn-depositional zircons. The zircon data also help clarify the timing of the Indosinian III Event, placing the Indosinian III Unconformity between 201 and 182 Ma, marking a hiatus of about 20 million years. The Phu Kradung Formation deposition likely occurred after the Nam Phong Formation and may correlate with the Upper part of the last in the Khorat Basin subsurface. Dinosaur remains have been recovered from this formation, although few have been referred to a specific genus. Chalawan, an extinct genus of pholidosaurid mesoeucrocodylian, is currently known solely from its holotype, a nearly complete mandible collected in the early 1980s from a road-cut near the town of Nong Bua Lamphu in the upper part of the Phu Kradung Formation. This single specimen is the most well preserved vertebrate fossil that has been found from the formation. It contains a single species, Chalawan thailandicus.

Fossil content

Amphibians

Archosaurs

Dinosaurs

Pseudosuchians

Pterosaurs

Turtles

Fish

Bony fish

Cartilaginous fish Multiple fin spines have been found in the Phu Kradung Formation which cannot be precisely identified.

Plants

See also Lists of dinosaur-bearing stratigraphic units List of stratigraphic units with indeterminate dinosaur fossils

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Phu Kradung Formation

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Phu Kradung Formation claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Phu Kradung Formation before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Phu Kradung Formation ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Phu Kradung Formation

In research: Phu Kradung Formation appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Phu Kradung Formation in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Phu Kradung Formation is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Berriasian Stage, Cretaceous Thailand, Geologic formations of Thailand, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Phu Kradung Formation outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Phu Kradung Formation in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Phu Kradung Formation means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Phu Kradung Formation out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Phu Kradung Formation in simple terms?

Why does Phu Kradung Formation matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Phu Kradung Formation?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Phu Kradung Formation.