Magnetochronological sequence of the Early Pleistocene Gigantopithecus faunas in Chongzuo, Guangxi, southern China

The Gigantopithecus fauna, the most important mammalian fauna during the Early Pleistocene in southern China, was usually excavated from cave or fissure deposits without precise age constraints. Here we present new magnetostratigraphy results for four cave sedimentary sequences in Chongzuo, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of southern China, from the highest and oldest to the lowest and youngest including Baikong Cave, Juyuan Cave, Sanhe Cave and Queque Cave. Magnetite was identified as the major carrier of characteristic remnant magnetizations in the cave deposits. Correlation to the geomagnetic polarity time scale was achieved by combining magnetostratigraphic and biochronologic data. Our correlation suggests that the cave sedimentary sequences span from the pre-Olduvai Matuyama chron to the Jaramillo subchron. The combined magneto-biochronology leads to the establishment of a chronological framework for the Early Pleistocene Gigantopithecus faunas in Chongzuo area. The Gigantopithecus faunal succession of Early Pleistocene were assigned to estimated ages of ∼2.0 Ma (Baikong Cave), ∼1.8 Ma (Juyuan Cave), ∼1.2 Ma (Sanhe Cave) and ∼1.0 Ma (Queque Cave), respectively. The river incision rate in Chongzuo area during this time span was estimated to be ∼14 mm/ky.