Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

Geological Magazine

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by XU, C. Articles by YI, W. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Late Ordovician to earliest Silurian graptolite and brachiopod biozonation from the Yangtze region, South China, with a global correlation

CHEN XU^*,, RONG JIAYU^*, CHARLES E. MITCHELL, DAVID A. T. HARPER, FAN JUNXUAN^*, ZHAN RENBIN^*, ZHANG YUANDONG^*, LI RONGYU^* and WANG YI^*

^* Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, the People’s Republic of China
Department of Geology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
Geological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Oster-Volgade 5-7, DK-1350, Copenhagen, Denmark

Author for correspondence: xuchen{at}jlonline.com

Late Ordovician to earliest Silurian is an important geological period marked by large geological and biological events. However, the strata and fossils of this interval are not complete in many parts of the world. Based on studies of 43 sites in South China, in particular the continuous sections on the Yangtze platform, we recognize a complete succession including seven graptolite zones and two shelly faunas. In ascending order, the graptolite zones are the Dicellograptus complanatus, Dicellograptus complexus, Paraorthograptus pacificus (including Lower Subzone, Tangyagraptus typicus Subzone and Diceratograptus mirus Subzone), Normalograptus extraordinarius–Normalograptus ojsuensis, Normalograptus persculptus, Akidograptus ascensus and Parakidograptus acuminatus zones. The shelly faunas are the Foliomena–Nankinolithus and Hirnantia faunas, which may be correlated with D. complanatus Zone and N. extraordinarius–N. ojsuensis to part of N. persculptus zones respectively. The biozonation through this interval from the Yangtze region can be correlated with that of other parts of the world such as Dob’s Linn in Scotland, Spain and Portugal, Thuringia–Saxonia–Bavaria, Bohemia, Poland, Kazakhstan, Kolyma, Malaya Peninsula, Yukon, Canadian Arctic Islands, Nevada, Argentina, Niger and Victoria, Australia. The Hirnantian Substage, which has been proposed by us recently, includes the N. extraordinarius–N. ojsuensis Zone, Hirnantia fauna and N. persculptus Zone. The base of the Hirnantian Substage is marked by the First Appearance Data (FADs) of N. extraordinarius and N. ojsuensis, which have been determined to be synchronous on a global scale.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. Zhang, Y. Shen, R. Zhan, S. Shen, and X. Chen Large perturbations of the carbon and sulfur cycle associated with the Late Ordovician mass extinction in South China Geology, April 1, 2009; 37(4): 299 - 302. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. E. MITCHELL, C. XU, and S. C. FINNEY THE STRUCTURE AND POSSIBLE FUNCTION OF 'BASAL MEMBRANES' IN THE SPINOUSE CLIMACOGRAPTID GRAPTOLITE APPENDISPINOGRAPTUS LI AND LI 1985 Journal of Paleontology, September 1, 2007; 81(5): 1122 - 1127. [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. XU, M. J. MELCHIN, H. D. SHEETS, C. E. MITCHELL, and F. JUN-XUAN PATTERNS AND PROCESSES OF LATEST ORDOVICIAN GRAPTOLITE EXTINCTION AND RECOVERY BASED ON DATA FROM SOUTH CHINA Journal of Paleontology, September 1, 2005; 79(5): 842 - 861. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				SPHENOTHALLUS FROM THE LOWER SILURIAN OF CHINA Journal of Paleontology, May 1, 2003; 77(3): 583 - 588.