Establishment of GSSP for Paibian Stage
The Cambrian system is a stratum formed during the Cambrian period. It was established by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1835. Since then, for more than 170 years until 2002, however, there have been no formal divisions of "series" and "stages" . Nor a "GSSP" has been established. To solve this major scientific problem, ICS established the Cambrian Subdivision Working Group under the Cambrian Subcommittee in 1990. After that, 10 international conferences on the sub-division of the Cambrian system have been held in various parts of the world to address the division of series and stages, and to establish formal chronostratigraphic units for the stages in Global Stratigraphic Chart.
From August to September 2001, the 7th International Field Meeting on Cambrian Subdivision was held in Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan, respectively. It was attended by over 80 experts from more than 10 countries. This was the first time that this kind of meeting took place in China. The participants visited the section of the Middle-Upper Cambrian boundary line in Paibi Township, Huayuan County, Hunan Province, and fully affirmed the research findings and significance of the Paibian Section by the research team headed by Prof. Peng Shanchi of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In December 2001, the Sino-US Joint Research Group headed by Prof. Peng submitted to the Cambrian Subcommittee of ICS a proposal for the Paibian Stage GSSP, which was unanimously approved by ICS in June 2002. In February 2003, the proposal was approved at the 51st Session of IUGS. In August 2003, Professor E.de Mulder, President of IUGS, signed the Letter of Ratification.
Therefore, the two GSSPs, i.e., the “Paibian Stage” named after Paibi Township, Huayuan County, Hunan Province; and the “Furong Series” named after Furong Kingdom, the nickname of Hunan Province, were officially established in China. The Paibian Stage became the first unit of “stage” in the Cambrian system, while the Furong Series became the first unit of “series” in the Cambrian system, and the Paibian Section became the first GSSP section in the Cambrian system. This not only shows the international leading scientific research strength of China in the field of stratigraphy, but also is a great honor of the country.
Domestic and foreign experts visit Paibian Section
Glyptagnostus reticulatus
The part of Paibian Section containing the lower boundary of Furong Series and Paibian Stage (the box is the part containing GSSP in the following photos)
The part of Paibian Section containing the point of GSSP
The specific interface of GSSP in Paibian Section (at the hammer)
The specific interface of GSSP in Paibian Section (at the marking place)
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