关键词: 有孔虫目, 柴达木盆地, 盐湖相, 古地理环境

Abstract: Marine foraminifera fossils Elphidium sp.have been found and are associated with typi-cal salt lake ostracoda-Eucypris inrlata fossils in late Quaternay in Xiao Chaidan salt lake in Chaidamu Basin,Qinghai Province,This is a very seldom phenomenon.This lake,with an al-titude of 3172m,is located at a distance of 1700km from the nearest ocean.It is a highest and most distant salt lake from ocean in the earth in which foraminifera fossils have been found,until now.Based on an analysis of the geography and sedimentation as well as an evolution of organisms,the source of marine foraminifera can hardly be explained either through a point of view of sea transgression or a remnant sea.This discovery demonstrates a fact that there are small amount of marine organisms in an inland salt lake.This paper suggests that air pathway is a possible route for organism transmission.It is postulated from present events that small amount of euryhaline foraminifera or other marine organisms in saline formations connbe analyzed further in detail.