Deep-Water Contourite Drifts in the West of North-China Platform

The middle Ordovician of Pingliang area on the west margin of North-China platform is represented by a succession of deep-water sediments in which contourites are well-developed. Contour current deposits are well-developed. The contourites can be classified into:calcarenitic contourite, calcisiltitic contourite and calcilutitic contourite. Three typical contourite successions are recognized: complete contourite succession, incomplete contourite succession and contourite successions consisting only of calcarenitic contourites. According to the palaeocorrent and the palaeogeographic format analyse,carbonate contourite drift in the study area is unfolded crossing northwest-southeast, forwarding from southeast to northwest along the slope, and compared with other contourite drifts, it has some characteristics of coarser-grained sediment, thicker individual layers, and highly developed calcarenitic contourites and so on.