For a long time, paleontologists have been focusing on hard parts of organisms during different geological periods while soft parts are rarely reported. Well-preserved plant cells, if found in fossils, are treated only as a rarity. Recent prowess in research on fossil cytoplasm indicates that plant cytoplasm not only has excellent ultrastructures preserved but also may be a quite commonly seen fossil in strata. However, up to now there is no report of plant cell fossils in China yet. Here plant cell fossils are reported from Huolinhe Coal Mine （the early Cretaceous）, Inner Mongolia, China. The presence of plant cytoplasm fossils in two cones on the same specimen not only provides further support for the recently proposed hypothesis on plant cytoplasm fossilization but also marks the first record of plant cytoplasm fossils in China, which suggests a great research potential in this new area.
A comparative analysis of Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous strata have been done for the Sanjiang Middle Amur basin, a coaland oil-bearing area spanning the eastern Heilongjiang of northeastern China and southeastern Far East of Russia. On the basis of various fossils occurring in the formations, particularly by means of the Tithonian-Valanginian index Buchia and the late Barremian-middle Albian indicator Aucellina assemblages, the marine and non-marine Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous strata in the basin are correlated. The Mesozoic international chronostratigraphic chart (http://www.stratigra phy.org) is established basically based on the marine rocks. To accurately date the non-marine strata, it is necessary to correlate them with the marine deposits. This study sheds new light on the dating and correlation of non-marine Upper Mesozoic. Additionally, the results would help understand the tectonics and paleogeography and thus aid the exploration of energy resources.
