Discovery of Lower Devonian plants from Jiangxi, South China and the pattern of Devonian transgression after the Kwangsian Orogeny in the Cathaysia Block

Abstract

The Kwangsian Orogeny is a major geological event in the Paleozoic of South China and has been debated with data of lithofacies, biofacies, palaeogeography and geodynamics. However, the transgression after the Kwangsian Orogeny has been less concerned. In this study, Early Devonian plants, including a basal euphyllophyte plant attributed to Pauthecophyton sp., are discovered for the first time from the Yangling Psephyte, Chongyi, Jiangxi Province, China, which palaeogeographically belongs to the Cathaysia Block of the South China Plate. Based on the presence of these plant fossils, the Yangling Psephyte is dated as Pragian (Early Devonian). Combined with 23 horizons and 52 Devonian plant fossil localities in southern China reported in previous studies, the transgression and deposition pattern after the Kwangsian Orogeny is recognized. It is indicated that in the Cathaysia Block the transgression and deposition after the Kwangsian Orogeny was stepwise, started not later than the Pragian Stage, continued until at least the Late Devonian and gradually strengthened northeastwards from the Early Devonian to the Late Devonian.