Potential global stratotype sections and points in China for defining Cambrian stages and series

Three stratigraphic sections in the Cambrian of China that contain complete successions across important biohorizons having chronostratigraphic value, and that may be useful for developing Cambrian stage or series boundaries, are reviewed. The Wuliu section (Guizhou, South China), contains the FAD of Oryctocephalus indicus at 58.2 m above the base of the Kaili Formation. The Wangcun North section (Hunan, South China), contains the FADs of Ptychagnostus (or Acidusus) atavus, Ptychagnostus punctuosus, and Lejopyge laevigata at 1.2 m, 56.7 m, and 111.3 m, respectively, above the base of the Huaqiao Formation. The Xiaoyangqiao section (Jilin, Northeast China), contains the FAD of Cordylodus proavus in the Fengshan Formation at 10.89 m above the zero point of the section. A fourth potential stratotype section, the Wangcun South section (Hunan, South China), which contains the P. atavus, P. punctuosus, and L. laevigata zones, is discussed briefly.     

Potential Global Standard Stratotype-section and Point (GSSP) for a Cambrian stage boundary defined by the first appearance of the trilobite Ptychagnostus atavus, Drum Mountains, Utah, USA

The base of the Ptychagnostus (or Acidusus) atavus Zone is one of the most clearly recognizable horizons on an intercontinental scale in the Cambrian System, and would serve as an excellent position for the base of a new stage-level chronostratigraphic subdivision. Among well-exposed, readily accessible sections in Laurentia, the “Stratotype Ridge” section, Drum Mountains, western Utah, USA, is perhaps the most suitable for a Global Standard Stratotype-section and Point (GSSP) defined by the first appearance datum (FAD) of the cosmopolitan agnostoid trilobite P. atavus. In the “Stratotype Ridge” section, the FAD of P. atavus occurs near the base of a calcisiltite bed 62 m above the base of the Wheeler Formation. A position corresponding closely to this horizon can be recognized with precision in Gondwana, Siberia, Kazakhstan, and Baltica using a combination of stratigraphic tools, the most useful of which are trilobite biostratigraphy, conodont biostratigraphy, and sequence stratigraphy. Brachiopod biostratigraphy and chemostratigraphy provide general constraints on the position of the horizon intercontinentally.     

Advances in Cambrian stratigraphy and paleontology: Integrating correlation techniques, paleobiology, taphonomy and paleoenvironmental reconstruction

Papers resulting from the Fourth International Symposium on the Cambrian System, held in Nanjing, China, in 2005 cover three major aspects of geology and paleontology: (1) the developing global standard for Cambrian chronostratigraphy or regional correlation schemes; (2) regional lithostratigraphy, sedimentology and paleoenvironments; (3) organismal paleobiology, phylogenetic affinities and taphonomy.A generalized curve of carbon isotopes (δ¹³C) through the Cambrian suggests a relationship between major biotic events, sea level history and the development of deposits of exceptional preservation (Lagerstätten). Recognition of this relationship increases the importance of the δ¹³C profile as a tool for intercontinental and intracontinental correlation. Significant δ¹³C excursions in the Cambrian are: BACE (negative excursion at the base of the Cambrian System); ZHUCE (positive excursion in the lower part of Stage 2); SHICE (negative excursion in the middle part of Stage 2); CARE (positive excursion near the base of Stage 3); MICE (positive excursion in the lower part of Stage 4); AECE (negative excursion in the middle part of Stage 4); ROECE (negative excursion near the base of Stage 5); DICE (negative excursion beginning near the base of the Drumian Stage); SPICE (positive excursion beginning at the base of the Paibian Stage); TOCE (negative excursion near the top of Stage 10). All acronyms other than SPICE are newly proposed.     

Significance of Middle Cambrian mixed carbonate-siliciclastic units for global correlation: southern Nevada, USA

Sequence-stratigraphic analysis of the Middle Cambrian Highland Peak, Bonanza King, Swasey, and Wheeler formations in the Great Basin refines platform-to-basin correlations and distinguishes local tectonic events from eustasy. This analysis provides a reliable sea-level history through the Ptychagnostus gibbus and Ptychagnostus atavus trilobite intervals and confirms that the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) at the first appearance datum (FAD) of P. atavus was deposited during an overall sea-level rise. Deposition during the Middle Cambrian Ehmaniella/Bolaspidella biozones in the western U.S. is represented by two lithologically distinct successions: (1) a poorly fossiliferous, shallow-water, mixed carbonate-siliciclastic succession that is widespread across southern Nevada and southeastern California and (2) a highly fossiliferous, deeper water, fine-grained, siliciclastic succession in central Nevada and western Utah. The deeper water succession was deposited within the fault-controlled House Range Embayment and contains the P. atavus GSSP. Correlation of these disparate successions had been hampered by a lack of high-resolution biostratigraphic data, and limited chemostratigraphy and sequence stratigraphy. In this study, sequence-stratigraphic analysis indicates that the Condor Member of the Highland Peak Formation and the “mixed unit” of the Bonanza King Formation are the shallow-water platform equivalents of the basal Wheeler Formation encompassing the P. gibbus and lower P. atavus zones. The deepening event that is recorded in the P. gibbus Zone represents a major flooding surface that may be used as an important event marker for regional and global correlation. The overlying P. atavus GSSP, however, is within the later stage of transgression and may represent a globally synchronous event that can be correlated from platform to basin.     

Taxonomy of Ptychagnostus atavus: A key trilobite in defining a global Cambrian stage boundary

The taxonomy of Ptychagnostus atavus (Tullberg, 1880) and Ptychagnostus intermedius (Tullberg, 1880) has been confused, in part at least, because of inadequate or erroneous illustrations of specimens from syntype series. From further examination and new illustrations we conclude that those series are conspecific and that P. atavus is the senior synonym of P. intermedius. Laurentian agnostoids previously assigned to P. intermedius are reassigned to Ptychagnostus sinicus Lu, 1957. As revised, P. atavus is a common, globally distributed species in open-marine lithofacies. Clarification of its taxonomy is important because its first appearance datum (FAD) will likely define the base of a new global Cambrian stage.     

Aspects of recent advances in the Ordovician stratigraphy and palaeontology of China

The continuous and richly fossiliferous Ordovician succession of China (particularly South China) comprises a heterogeneous suite of litho- and bio-facies, which has been a main focus of stratigraphical and palaeontological research in recent years. Among the seven GSSPs established in China, three are within the Ordovician System, and the GSSP of the Darriwilian Stage at Huangnitang, Changshan County, western Zhejiang Province, was the first “golden spike” in China and the first for the Ordovician System. A series of case studies have revealed that: (1) the Ordovician radiation of some fossil groups on the Upper Yangtze Platform (e.g., brachiopods and graptolites) reached their first α-diversity acme in the Didymograptellus eobifidus Biozone, four zones earlier than the global trend; (2) the β-diversity peak was attained 3–4 zones later than the α-diversity peak; (3) many brachiopod communities or faunas first occurred in the central part of the Upper Yangtze Platform and subsequently expanded to both more offshore and near-shore facies; (4) diachroneity existed in many aspects of the radiation. The end-Ordovician mass extinction was a severe event in South China. Two pulses of the extinction are recognized for a number of major fossil groups, some being most strongly affected during the first pulse whereas the others suffered during the second pulse. Macroevolution during the Ordovician–Silurian transition has been investigated in detail, and the role of the Lazarus effect has been found to be less important than previously believed.     

Correlating the global Cambrian–Ordovician boundary: Precise comparison of the Xiaoyangqiao section,Dayangcha, North China with the Green Point GSSP section,Newfoundland, Canada

The Cambrian–Ordovician boundary interval exposed at the Xiaoyangqiao section, North China is presented. The distribution of stratigraphically important fossils in the Xiaoyangqiao section revealed several nearly coeval graptolite, conodont, trilobite, and acritarch bioevents in the uppermost Cambrian–lowermost Ordovician carbonate-siliciclastic sedimentary sequence. The precise correlation to the Green Point GSSP section, western Newfoundland, Canada allows for the identification of the corresponding GSSP level in the Xiaoyangqiao section. The combined data from the Xiaoyangqiao section and the Green Point GSSP section provide a series of events that all can be applied as proxies for identification of the Cambrian–Ordovician boundary horizon outside the GSSP. Based on this, the Xiaoyangqiao section, Dayangcha, is here strongly recommended as a candidate for an Auxiliary Boundary Stratigraphic Section and Point section (ASSP) for the base of the Ordovician System, because it provides one of the best and most complete Cambrian–Ordovician transitions in the world and because the first planktic graptolites are from the Xiaoyangqiao section.     

中国寒武纪三叶虫生物地理趋议

寒武纪三叶虫除北疆和藏南尚无可靠报道外,在中国各地均有广泛分布。三叶虫证据表明,除兴安区的额尔古纳一兴安地体和早寒武世中天山一北山地体显示了与西伯利亚和劳伦陆块在动物群方面的密切相关外,中国寒武纪的所有板块和大部分地体（包括中及晚寒武世的中天山～北山地体）均系当时东泛冈瓦纳的重要组成部分,在生物地理上彼此密切关联。对这些属于东泛冈瓦纳的中国区块的生物地理格局的进一步探讨,主要侧重于它们台地相浅水三叶虫动物群之间的对比,特别是立足于来自动物群纪录比较完整的华南、塔里木和华北板块的证据。综合分析研究表明这些板块和有关的地体在中及晚寒武世应归属同一生物地理区,而在早寒武世则可划分为两个生物地理亚区：一个由华南、塔里木板块和安南或印支地体组成,另一仅以华北板块为代表。     

东海陆架西湖凹陷宝石一井深层微体化石及地层意义

简要报道东海陆架浙东坳陷西湖凹陷之宝石一井T4°地震反射层以下深部地层 (井深 344 7m以下 )的古生物资料 ,并探讨其年代地层属性。经初步分析研究 ,这深部层位含有有孔虫、钙质超微化石、沟鞭藻和海相介形类等微体化石 ,以及见有尚不能判断是否为原位的孢粉化石。根据微体古生物的地质分布以及其它钻井深层所含微体古生物比较 ,认为宝石一井T4°反射层以下地层为西湖凹陷揭示的一套新的地层 ,其年代属古新世     

Flume studies using 1:1 scale models of Series 2 and basal Series 3 Cambrian gogiid eocrinoids from Guizhou Province,China to determine feeding posture and mode of attachment

In Series 2 and 3 Cambrian of Guizhou Province, China, most echinoderms inhabited deeper/quieter water and were attached directly to siliciclastic substrate or biodetritus by biogluing (extrusion of extensible collagen). Feeding postures of abundant long stalked gogiids (e.g., Sinoeocrinus) from these beds were interpreted to have heeled over in the current from the thin flexible distal end of the stalk, with the brachioles streaming in a loose bundle, down current from the theca. To test these and other feeding posture assumptions, 1:1 scale models (holdfast, stalk, and theca) of three genera were carved from soft rubber and brachioles were modeled from braided fishing line. By varying current velocities long stalked flume models did not significantly heel over. Brachioles, both straight and spiraled, extended vertically from the theca in an (elliptical) cone and distally curved downstream. Disrupted flow around straight brachioles (Sinoeocrinus) kept them somewhat evenly spaced. Spiraled brachioles (Guizhoueocrinus, Globoeocrinus) are initially straight and angle outwards so that each proximal end defines a sector over the theca; this spacing keeps the brachioles free from tangling distally. Biogluing the animal to the bottom or to biodetritus seems to be correctly interpreted from the morphological evidence. Superglue was used as the proxy gluing agent for the models, success was limited. The dewatered, siliciclastic, non-bioturbated, seafloor could be only partly reconstructed and the somewhat viscous glue did not deeply penetrate the illite substrate. It is probable that bioglue had low viscosity, penetrated the sediment easily, and was able to agglutinate a large three dimensional anchoring body of sediment without (as is commonly observed) disrupting bedding.     

我国寒武系底部几种磷酸盐化保存的蓝菌类化石

本文系统描述了产于我国寒武系底部磷矿层中的微型蓝菌类化石4属4种,其中Girvanella sp.和Spirellus columnaris产于新疆阿克苏、乌什玉尔吐斯组和云南会泽、安宁朱家箐组中谊村段,Endoconchia lata产于四川峨眉灯影组麦地坪段,Cambricodium capilloides和一块属种名未定的化石产于陕西宁强灯影组宽川铺段,从而丰富了我国寒武系底部磷块岩层中的蓝菌类化石。本文还讨论了上述微型蓝菌类化石有直接磷酸盐化保存和钻孔磷酸盐铸模保存的两种保存方式。     

辽东寒武纪三叶虫Redlichia(Pteroredlichia)murakamiiResseretEndo的蜕壳*

华北辽东本溪寒武纪三叶虫Redlichia(Pteroredlichia)murakamii蜕壳标本完好地保存了头盖向下翻转的蜕壳状态,为寒武纪Redlichia的蜕壳模式提供了新的视角。此标本自由颊未保留,胸尾相连,头盖与胸部分离,头盖向下翻转,基本保持原位,为原地埋藏的蜕壳标本。蜕壳过程如下:面线裂开,头盖耸起卷曲并翻转,与胸部分离,胸部扭动,虫体摆脱老壳向前爬出。此蜕壳方式在McNamara(1986)报道的澳大利亚寒武纪Redlichia的蜕壳类型中并未出现。