The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point （GSSP） for the base of the Hirnantian Stage （the uppermost of the Ordovician System）

The Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point （GSSP） for the base of the Hirnantian Stage （the uppermost of the Ordovician System） is defined at a point 0.39m below the base of the Kuanyinchiao Bed in the Wangjiawan North section. The section is located near Wangjiawan village, 42 km north of Yichang city （western Hubei, China）, at 30° 58′56″N and 111° 25′10″E. The GSSP level coincides with the first appearance of the graptolite species Normalograptus extraordinarius （Sobolevskaya）. Secondary markers include the onset of a positive carbon-isotope excursion, and a slightly earlier first appearance of Normalograptus ojsuensis （ Koren and Mikhailova ）. The Wangjiawan North section possesses continuity of sedimentation and biozonation with completeness of exposures, abundant and well-preserved graptolites and shelly fossils, i. e. the Hirnantia- Dalmanitina shelly fauna which is a key element for recognition of the Hirnantian Stage. The Wangjiawan North, South and Riverside sections possess favorable facies and widespread correlation potential, are free from structure complication, metamorphism and other alteration, and have good accessibility. The Riverside section in particular possesses amenability to isotopic age determination. The beginning of the Hirnantian was followed by a global episode of a major extinction event, which happened in the Diceratograptus mirus Subzone. The proposal was voted by the International Subcommission on Ordovician Stratigraphy in October, 2004, approved by the International Commission on Stratigraphy in February, 2006, and ratified by the International Union of Geological Sciences in May, 2006.

Report of the restudy of the defined global stratotype of the base of the Silurian System

The Global Stratotype Section and Point （GSSP） for the base of the Silurian System was defined in 1985. Since that time, a number of researchers have suggested that this section has serious deficiencies for use as a GSSP. As a result, in 2000, the Subcommission on Silurian Stratigraphy （SSS） proposed undertaking a formal restu@ of this GSSP, which was subsequently approved by the International Commission of Stratigraphy （ICS）. The result of this restudy was the formal proposal that the current GSSP, at 1.6 m above the base of the Birkhill Shale, at Dob＇s Linn, Scotland, should be maintained as the same locality and stratigraphic level, but the bios- tratigraphical definition of the boundary should be revised. The previously defined, basal Silurian grapto- lite zone, the Parakidograptus acuminatus Zone, should be subdivided into a lower Akidograptus ascensus Zone and a higher E acuminatus Zone. The base of the A. ascensus Zone, marked by the first appearance of A. ascensus, should be regarded as the biostratigraphic mark for the base of the Silurian. This proposal has now been formally approved by the SSS and ICS, and ratified by International Union of Geological Sciences. This is the first GSSP to undergo formal restudy and redefini- tion, and the proposal also included a recommended procedure for restudy of GSSPs.

Silurian integrative stratigraphy and timescale of China

Silurian is a period with the shortest duration in Phanerozoic except for the Neogene and Quaternary. It represents an important and unique interval when the biotic diversity recovered quickly after the end-Ordovician mass extinction, different paleoplates or terranes conjoined, big oceans disappeared or narrowed, climate and sea level changed frequently, global biotic provincialism became weaker, some primitive plants started to occupy the land. Silurian is also the first system of which all the chronostratigraphic stratotypes(i.e. the GSSPs) including four series and seven stages were established by the International Subcommission on Silurian Stratigraphy(ISSS). Nonetheless, during the post-GSSP studies conducted by ISSS in the middle1980 s, some Silurian GSSPs were found to have some congenital defects such as no index fossils available that hinder the high resolution subdivision and correlation on a regional or global scale. In this paper, based on the latest development of Silurian study in China, the progress in biostratigraphy, chronostratigraphy, event stratigraphy(such as facies differentiation, heterochrony of black shales, marine red beds, carbonate rocks and reefs), chemostratigraphy, and tectonic stratigraphy(e.g., widespread of the late Silurian rocks in South China and its tectonic implication) are systematically summarized. Some existing problems and the areas to be focused in future work are also discussed. It is suitable for chronostratigraphic study to concentrate not only on the boundary but also doing multidisciplinary analysis on the biotic, chemical, magnetic, environmental, and chronologic aspects, in order to enhance the reliability and the potential for regional and global correlation of a certain GSSP.Some important achievements are expected in these areas in the Silurian study in China:(1) ecostratigraphy and basin analysis of the Llandovery, and the correlation of integrative stratigraphy with a high resolution;(2) establishment of the Wenlock to Pridoli chronostratigraphic framework;(3) the chemo-and magnetic stratigraphy and the age of some key intervals and horizons;(4)further investigation on paleogeography and plate tectonics; and(5) origin and early evolution of the terrestrial ecosystem. Some new breakthroughs might occur in the restudy on some of those problematic GSSPs of some particular series and stages.

A deep water shelly fauna from the uppermost Ordovician in northwestern Hunan, South China and its paleoecological implications

It is the first time to document the trilobite Mucronaspis(Songxites) wuningensis and the brachiopod ParomalomenaAegiromenella Assemblage from the Xinkailing Bed(Hirnantian, uppermost Ordovician) in Taoyuan and Cili counties,northwestern Hunan Province. Synecological analysis shows that this is a deep water shelly fauna of South China during the Hirnantian. It lived on the upper Jiangnan Slope in northwestern Hunan, adjacent to the southeast margin of the Upper Yangtze Region, and belongs to the Hirnantia fauna with cool and deep water, and low diversity affinity, similar to its contemporary shelly faunas from the southern Shaanxi Slope adjacent to the north margin of the Upper Yangtze Region, the northern Chongqing depression(new name), and the Jiangxi-Anhui-Jiangsu gentle slope of the Lower Yangtze Region. Paleoecologically,it could be attributed to the BA 4–5 benthic regime(about 60–150 m deep, and deepest to 200 m), and was significantly different from the trilobite M.(S.) mucronata and the typical Hirnantia fauna while the latters may have habited in BA 2–3 benthic regimes(about 5–60 m deep). A new paleogeographic distribution pattern of the Hirnantian shallow and deep water shelly faunas of South China is herein proposed for the first time. Assuming that the depositional rate was constant in northwestern Hunan during the end Ordovician, the duration of the Xinkailing Bed might be only 12 thousand years according to the thickness of the Wufeng Formation and the absolute age values of those relevant graptolitic biozones. Such a short time interval may indicate that the global environmental change during the crisis was much shorter than previously thought, and its influence on the deep water regime was significantly shorter than that on the shallow water regime.

Preface: New advances in the integrative stratigraphy and timescale of China

A series of major geological and biological events which altered the evolutionary processes of whole biosphere occurred during the earth history. Establishing a high-resolution stratigraphic framework and timescale is essential to understand their tempo and causes. High-resolution biostratigraphy remains the most useful approach and forms the basis of dividing the chronostratigraphic system and making the inter-continental and regional correlation. China possesses nearly complete strata from Ediacaran to Quaternary covering wide palaeogeographic regions and containing abundant well-preserved fossils. Traditional biostratigraphy based on sytematic palaeontology of various fossil groups have played an important role in establishing the GSSPs and improving the International and Chinese Stratigraphic Charts. 11 out of 72 establised GSSPs are located in China.Recently, more high-precision geochronology, chemostratigraphy, cyclostrtatigraphy have been applied for stratigraphy and correlation and important advances have been made in some periods. This volume invited Chinese palaeontologists and stratigraphers to summarize the progresses of stratigraphy and timescale from Ediacaran to Quaternary and intercontinental and regional correlation during the last two decades.