讨论了黄土高原地区红粘土中脊椎动物化石的考察历史,记录了山西和甘肃“三趾马红土”地点的观察结果。红粘土广泛分布于黄土高原地区,但常被误认为是一个描述性术语,因为其中的许多沉积物既非红色,又不以粘土级颗粒为主。不少红粘土序列中含有古土壤,也含有水成沉积物。此次考察包括榆社盆地的经典地点、灵台任家沟和雷家河,以及庆阳和秦安的一些地点。讨论了在任家沟发现的化石、在玉村新发现的小哺乳动物上新五褶兔( Plio-pentalagus) 和在胡家村观察到的上新世潜穴,后两个地点都位于灵台东北面的庆阳地区。观察结果与晚中新世遍布黄土高原、很可能来自降尘的粘土级颗粒的快速堆积吻合。但在一些区域则以河流或湖泊过程为主,红粘土颗粒部分或全部被水成的粗碎屑沉积物代替,没有找到晚中新世-早上新世干旱化的证据,反而支持高生产力的湿润环境假说。局部富集的脊椎动物化石证明三趾马动物群具有很高的陆生生物量。 The history of the investigation of vertebrate fossils in the red clay in the Loess Plateau was discussed. The observation results of the sites of the trigeminal horse red clay in Shanxi and Gansu were recorded. Red clay is widely distributed in the Loess Plateau but is often mistaken for a descriptive term because many of the sediments are neither red nor clay-based. Many red clay sequences contain ancient soils, which also contain sediments of water. The study included the classic sites of Yushe Basin, Lingtai Renjiagou and Lei River, as well as Qingyang and Qin’an some locations. Discussed the fossils found in Renjiagou, the newly discovered Plio-pentalagus in Yucun and the Pliocene potential observed in Hujiacun, both of which are located northeast of Lingtai Qingyang area. Observations and late Neocene over the Loess Plateau probably coincide with rapid accumulation of dust-bearing clay-grade particles. In some areas, however, rivers and lakes dominated the process. Red clay particles were partly or completely replaced by water-forming coarse clastic sediments, and no evidence of Late Miocene-Early Pliocene aridification was found, but high productivity Humid environment hypothesis. Vertebrate fossils, which are partially enriched, have demonstrated high terrestrial biomass in the trigeminal equine fauna.