earth science

Shara Murun Formation

Shara Murun 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 Shara Murun Formation rather than just read about it. In short: The Shara Murun Formation is a geologic formation in Inner Mongolia, northern China. The deposits of the Shara Murun Formation date to the Middle Eocene, and preserve fossils of a diverse, perissodactyl-dominated mammal fauna.

Key takeaways

Shara Murun 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 Shara Murun Formation to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Shara Murun Formation from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Shara Murun Formation is a geologic formation in Inner Mongolia, northern China. The deposits of the Shara Murun Formation date to the Middle Eocene, and preserve fossils of a diverse, perissodactyl-dominated mammal fauna. The fossil fauna of the Shara Murun Formation is the type fauna of the Sharamurunian, one of the Asian land mammal ages (ALMAs).

Research history

The deposits of the Shara Murun Formation are situated in the Erlian Basin, a structural basin located in central Inner Mongolia in northern China, close to the border between China and Mongolia. The first study on the Erlian Basin was published by the Russian geologist Vladimir Obruchev in 1892. The basin was later extensively studied by the Central Asiatic Expeditions of the American Museum of Natural History, over the course of five field seasons in the 1920s. The researchers of the Central Asiatic Expeditions were responsible for naming most of the formations in the basin, including the Shara Murun Formation. Later studies and field expeditions in the Erlian Basin were conducted by the Sino-Soviet Paleontological Expedition in 1959–1960, the Regional Geological Survey of the Nei Mongol Autonomous Region in the 1960s and 1970s, and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, American Museum of Natural History, and Carnegie Museum of Natural History since the 1980s. The Erlian Basin preserves near-continuous sedimentary layers from the late Paleocene to the early Oligocene. The Shara Murun Formation preserves strata of Middle Eocene age. It overlies the Tukhum Formation and underlies the Ulan Gochu Formation. Because the Eocene sediments in the Erlian Basin are near-continuous, there has been much debate historically over where certain stratigraphic units end and others begin. The Asian land mammal ages (ALMA) of the Eocene are mainly based on the different fossil faunas found in the Erlian Basin; the fauna of the Shara Murun Formation is the type fauna of the Sharamurunian ALMA. Debate on the stratigraphy have complicated reconstructions of the Asian Eocene, since definitions and interpretations of the stratigraphic units impact the definitions of the land mammal ages. In some cases, different researchers have used entirely different frameworks and stratigraphic unit names. Much work has been done in the 21st century to establish a functional framework, though some stratigraphic issues still remain.

Depositional environment The Erlian Basin experienced a subtropical and humid climate during the Eocene. The vegetation was highly diverse and dominated by deciduous trees and shrubs.

Fossil fauna

Mammals

Artiodactyla

Hyaenodontia

Lagomorpha

Mesonychia

Perissodactyla

Olseniidae

Pholidota

Rodentia

Reptiles

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Shara Murun Formation

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Shara Murun 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 Shara Murun 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 Shara Murun 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 Shara Murun Formation

In research: Shara Murun 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 Shara Murun 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: Shara Murun Formation is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Eocene Asia, Geologic formations of China, Paleontology in China, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Shara Murun 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 Shara Murun Formation in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Shara Murun 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 Shara Murun Formation out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Shara Murun Formation in simple terms?

Why does Shara Murun 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 Shara Murun 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 Shara Murun Formation.