叠层石学科是在迂回曲折的道路上发展起来的。经中国前寒武纪古生物学家的共同努力,我国叠层石研究取得多项成就,主要有:建立了华北元古宙叠层石组合序列;对某些新元古代叠层石的微生物组分和微生物席特征进行了初步揭示;从理论上对矿化叠层石的成因提出了解释;提出假裸枝叠层石科(Pseudogymnosolenaceae)可作为中元古代地层对比的重要标志;利用雾迷山组的叠层石标本开展了古生物钟研究的尝试以及探明新元古代一种特殊的叠层石微构造可能具等时性。
The study of stromatolites has attracted extensive attention of geologists since the creation of the term "stromatolite" by Kalkowsky(1908).In the 1920s and 1930s,Chinese geologists noticed the presence of stromatolites in the Precambrian of China and their potential significance in biostratigraphy(e.g.,Kao et al.,1934).In the 1970s and 1980s,Chinese scholars systematically studied and described a great number of Proterozoic stromatolites using stratigraphic and palaeontologic methods and tried to use them as palaeontologic markers in subdivision and correlation of the Proterozoic strata in China.On the basis of the available data from Jixian County,eastern Liaoning Province,the Wutai Mountains,and other localities,a broad outline of the sequence of Proterozoic stromatolite assemblages in North China was presented(Cao and Liang,1974;Zhu et al.,1978;Cao and Zhao,1979,1981;Liang et al.,1985).Through these studies,Chinese scholars not only gradually recognized the non-repeated and unidirectional characteristics of the evolutionary successions of stromatolite assemblages,but also realized the diachroneity and horizontal changeabilities of some components in given assemblages.