Jianhe County Research Articles

Analysis of factors influencing terrace abandonment based on unmanned aerial photography and farmer surveys: A case study in Jianhe, Guizhou

AbstractStudying the abandonment status of mountain terraces and its determinants, as well as exploring opportunities for the sustainable use of mountain terraces, are of great significance for the protection of regional cultivated land resources. The present study analysed eight typical villages in Jianhe County, Guizhou Province, China, as examples. A combination of high‐resolution remote sensing images and farm household survey data were used to explore the abandonment of terraces in mountainous areas. A multi‐level logistic model was constructed to analyse the determinants of terrace abandonment based on three levels: plot, household and village. The results show that serious terrace abandonment occurred in the study area, with 33.78% of all terraces having been abandoned. The plot and household levels were important in influencing terrace abandonment by farmers. At the plot level, terrace abandonment is more likely to occur on small plots found at a long distance from residences with poor irrigation conditions and collapsed ridges. At the household level, households where the head had a relatively high level of education and households with relatively small agricultural labour forces and lower degrees of mechanisation had a higher probability of their terraces being abandoned. At the village level, a relatively high risk of terrace abandonment was found in villages relatively close to an administrative centre, with a low land transfer rate and a low rate of forest coverage. In conclusion, carrying out land consolidation projects and improving agricultural infrastructure in mountainous areas are important means to achieving the sustainable use of terraces.

Soil Heavy Metal Content and Enzyme Activity in Uncaria rhynchophylla-Producing Areas under Different Land Use Patterns.

In this study, we investigated the content of soil heavy metals, the level of heavy metal pollution and the characteristics of soil enzyme activity under three different land use patterns of Uncaria rhynchophylla base, forestland and wasteland in Jianhe County, Qiandongnan Prefecture, Guizhou Province, revealing the intrinsic correlation between heavy metal content and soil enzyme activity to reveal the relationship between soil enzyme activity and heavy metal content under different land use patterns in the Uncaria rhynchophylla production area. The results showed that soil Cd and Hg contents in Uncaria rhynchophylla base both exceeded the national soil background value. The single pollution index indicated that Cd had the greatest contribution to Pn, and the comprehensive pollution index (Pn) demonstrated no heavy metal pollution in the soil of Uncaria rhynchophylla-producing areas. Under different land use patterns, the enzyme activity was forestland > wasteland > Uncaria rhynchophylla base, and catalase and acid phosphatase activities presented significant spatial differences (p < 0.05). The correlation between soil enzyme activity and heavy metal content was uncertain due to the changes in land use patterns and heavy metal species. The proportions of positive correlation and negative correlation between soil enzyme activity and heavy metals in Uncaria rhynchophylla base were 50%, respectively. In the forestland, soil enzyme activity was positively correlated with heavy metals, while in the wasteland, soil enzyme activity was negatively correlated with heavy metals. This study revealed that the changes in heavy metal content should be focused on for the soil quality in Uncaria rhynchophylla-producing areas under different land use patterns. The results of the study provide some basic theoretical references for the improvement of soil quality in the production area of Uncaria rhynchophylla under different land use practices.

Quantitative Research Methods of Linguistic Niche and Cultural Sustainability

Building Sustainable Cities and Human Communities is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. And the sustainability of culture plays an important role in the sustainable development of cities and human communities. Language is an important carrier of culture, and the sustainability of language is the key factor in the sustainability of culture. How to measure the sustainability of language and its niche is key to achieving sustainable cities and communities. This paper systematically summarized the concept of niche and the theory of ecolinguistics as a theoretical basis for the quantitative study of the linguistic niche, and at the same time, the methods of niche measurement were summarized to provide mathematical support for the quantitative study of the linguistic niche. The Shannon-Wiener index and Pianka index were used to quantitatively study a particular linguistic niche for the first time, based on the use of Hmong and Mandarin in Jianhe County, Guizhou Province, China. The results showed that in the temporal dimension, the niche overlap indexes of Hmong and Mandarin were all above 0.9 in the sample villages, but in the spatial dimension, the niche overlap indexes of both languages were between 0.5 and 0.6. The spatial niche separation moderated the high temporal niche overlap, which made the two languages’ spatio-temporal niche overlap at a medium-high level. The quantitative study of a linguistic niche proved helpful in quantifying the level of sustainable development of language and culture, thus providing timely, accurate, and dynamic reference data to inform macro-control policies on the sustainable development of cities and human communities.

Organic-walled microfossils from Cambrian Stage IV in the Jiaobang section, eastern Guizhou, China

The lower Cambrian succession in the Jiaobang section, Jianhe County, eastern Guizhou, China, includes, in ascending order, the Bianmachong, Balang, and Tsinghsutung formations, with a total thickness of about 645 m. Twenty-six morphological genera (including one new genus) are identified from the Balang and the underlying Bianmachong formations, many of which are common and widely distributed. Six acritarch assemblages are discerned in the Balang Formation. They are, in ascending order, the Adara alea‒Skiagia ornata, the Acrum radiale‒Pterospermella velata, the Comasphaeridium molliculum‒Solisphaeridium baltoscandium, the Corrugasphaera perfecta n. sp.‒Pterospermella vinctusa n. sp., the Acrum novum‒Heliosphaeridium oligum, and the Acrum membranosum‒Adarve diafanum acritarch assemblages. An obvious change of organic-walled microfossil assemblages occurred in the interval between 84 m and 98 m from the bottom of the Balang Formation which roughly corresponds to the boundary between the Oryctacarella duyunensis trilobite Zone and the overlying Arthricocephalus chauveaui trilobite Zone. In addition, organic-walled microfossils are scarce in about 24 m thick from the bottom of the Balang Formation. One new genus and five new species including Plagasphaera balangensis n. gen. n. sp., Asteridium tubulus n. sp., Cymatiosphaera spina n. sp., Corrugasphaera perfecta n. sp., and Pterospermella vinctusa n. sp. are described.

First report of Schizopholis (Lingulata, Brachiopoda) from the Tsinghsutung Formation (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4) in Guizhou, China

SchizopholisWaagen, 1885 is a genus of linguliform brachiopod, which is known from Cambrian Stage 4 to the Wuliuan Stage of Australia, Antarctica, Pakistan and China. Recently, new material of Schizopholis was discovered from the upper part of the Tsinghsutung Formation (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4) near Balang village, Jianhe County, Guizhou Province, China. These specimens display the oval pedicle opening in the ventral valve, a median tongue and a pair of tubercles in the dorsal valve that are characteristic features of Schizopholis napuru (Kruse, 1990). This is the first time that this species has been described from Guizhou Province, China. Previously, fossils of this species are usually preserved in carbonate deposits, but the new material documented herein preserved in mudstone of the Tsinghsutung Formation, providing new information regarding both the paleogeographic distribution and paleoecology of this species.

Global Standard Stratotype-Section and Point (GSSP) for the conterminous base of the Miaolingian Series and Wuliuan Stage (Cambrian) at Balang, Jianhe, Guizhou, China

The International Commission on Stratigraphy and the IUGS Executive Committee have recently ratified a Global Standard Stratotype-section and Point (GSSP) defining the conterminous base of the third series and the fifth stage of the Cambrian System. The series and the stage are respectively named the Miaolingian Series and Wuliuan Stage, after the Maioling Mountains in southeastern Guizhou and the Wuliu sidehill, Jianhe County, in eastern Guizhou Province, South China, where the GSSP is located. The GSSP is exposed in a natural outcrop near the Balang Village at a position of 26° 44.843′N latitude and 108° 24.830′E longitude. It is defined at the base of a silty mudstone layer 52.8 m above the base of the Kaili Formation in the Wuliu-Zengjiayan section, coinciding with the first appearance of the cosmopolitan oryctocephalid trilobite Oryctocephalus indicus (base of the O. indicus Zone). Secondary global markers at or near the base of the series and stage include the peak of a rather large negative carbon isotopic excursion (ROECE excursion), the simultaneous appearance of many acanthomorphic acritarch forms, a transgressive phase of a major eustatic event, and the last appearance of intercontinental polymerid trilobites, either Bathynotus or Ovatoryctocara. Faunal turnovers close to the base of the Miaolingian Series and Wuliuan Stage have been recognized as being at the base of the Oryctocephalus indicus Zone of Amgan Stage in Siberia, the Delamaran Stage in Laurentia, the Oryctocephalus indicus Zone in the Indian Himalaya and North Greenland, near the base of the Delamaran Stage in Australia, and within the Eccaparadocides sdzuyi Zone in Iberia and the Ornamentaspis frequens Zone in Morocco.

Morphology and trunk development of the trilobite Arthricocephalus chauveaui from the Cambrian series 2 of Guizhou, South China

ABSTRACTThe morphology and trunk development of the trilobite Arthricocephalus chauveaui described herein are based on 216 articulated specimens collected from the Lazizhai section of the Balang Formation (Stage 4, Series 2 of the Cambrian) in Jianhe County, Guizhou Province, South China. The new specimens exhibit a relatively complete ontogenetic sequence ranging from the protaspid to holaspid periods and reveal more morphological changes of the species in detail. For example, from degrees 0 to 4, the facial sutures are proparian and then gradually move backward from degree 5, until in the holaspid period, the suture becomes gonatoparian. Based on both linear measurements, we investigate here the morphological variation of some cranial traits throughout ontogeny. Our results demonstrate that the allometric growth pattern shows continuous variations, some of which are related to trunk development. By exploring the trunk segmentation in A.chauveaui, the developmental mode shows that somitogenesis and tagmosis may have developed independently at each meraspid degree beyond degree 0. The holaspid period is consistent with the beginning of the epimorphic phase.

Restudy of Ovatoryctocara Tchernysheva, 1962 from the Kaili Formation, Jianhe County, Guizhou, South China

The First Appearance Datum (FAD) of the oryctocephalid trilobite Ovatoryctocara granulata Tchernysheva, 1962 is one of the candidates for establishing the base of the Cambrian Series 3, Stage 5. However some records of this taxon in China and elsewhere are doubtful and in need of review. Ovatoryctocara cf. granulata and Ovatoryctocara sp., previously described from the lower part of the Kaili Formation, China are transferred herein to Ovatoryctocara sinensis sp. nov., which shows significant morphological differences with type specimens of O. granulata. All Chinese specimens of Ovatoryctocara are therefore transferred to O. sinensis sp. nov. As consequence, the former trilobite Zone Bathynotus kueichouensis-Ovatoryctocara cf. guanulata is renamed the Bathynotus kueichouensis-Ovatoryctocara sinensis Assemblage Zone. O. granulata from Newfoundland also exhibits large differences in morphology with type specimens of O. granulata from Siberia. It is concluded that O. granulata does not occur in China but is restricted to Siberia and North Greenland. Hence, O. granulata is not suitable for defining the Cambrian Series 2–3 boundary, as previously suggested.

Morphology and ontogeny of Tuzoia bispinosa from the Kaili Biota (Cambrian Stage 5) of eastern Guizhou, China

Tuzoia is a large bivalved arthropod having a wide geographic distribution in the strata of the Cambrian Series 2 and 3. One species, Tuzoia bispinosa, is known from abundant material in the Kaili Biota (Cambrian Series 3, Stage 5). Based on 168 specimens from near Balang Village, Jianhe County, Guizhou Province, China, six ontogenetic stages of this species can be distinguished. In addition, the material provides information pertinent to interpreting the taphonomic history of T. bispinosa.

Biomarker evidence for biotic and environmental change across the Cambrian Series 2-Series 3 boundary at the Wuliu-Zengjiayan section, Guizhou, China

The Wuliu-Zengjiayan section in Jianhe County, Guizhou Province, China has been suggested as a potential Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the defined base of Cambrian Series 3. A molecular organic geochemical study on the Cambrian Series 2-Series 3 boundary interval was carried out to reveal the biotic and environmental change during this transition. The hydrocarbons extracted from the Kaili Formation were proved to be indigenous. The various geochemical proxies such as biomarker parameter, δ13Corg, atomic H/C value of kerogen, and TOC content, co-vary along with the sedimentary column, and show a quick and significant change just across the Cambrian Series 2-Series 3 boundary. The less abundance of isoprenoid hydrocarbons, the relative enrichment of midchain monomethyl branched alkanes (mmb-alkanes), the relatively negative value of δ13Corg, and the higher TOC contents may suggest that the upper Cambrian Series 2 was deposited in a relatively reducing environment with a higher organic input from cyanobacteria-predominated benthic microbial mats. On the other hand, the relative enrichment of isoprenoid hydrocarbons, the less abundance of mmb-alkanes, the relatively positive value of δ13Corg, the lower TOC contents, and the lower atomic H/C values of kerogen are combined to indicate an enhanced phytoplankton production and an increased oxygen content and nutrients in the ocean during the early Cambrian Series 3, which could have benefited the explosion of the Kaili Biota. The Wuliu-Zengjiayan section may provide a typical case to understand the co-variation of marine microbe, animal, and environment.

Policy recommendations based on SWOT analysis for agricultural industrialization of traditional Chinese medicinal materials——a case study of Uncariae Ramulus Cum Uncis from Jianhe county in Guizhou province

This thesis reviews the historical background of agricultural industrialization, and analyzes the major theories of agricultural industrialization. It also utilizes SWOT analysis method to discuss the industrialization of traditional Chinese medicinal materials in Jianhe county, and finally it puts forward the recommendations for its further development.

Geochemistry of the trace elements and rare-earth elements at the boundary between Cambrian Series 2 and Series 3 at Jianshan, South China: Paleoenvironmental and stratigraphic implications

The Jianshan section in Jianhe County, Guizhou Province, is a very important auxiliary section to the candidate stratotype at the boundary between Cambrian Series 2 and Series 3. Twenty four samples collected from the Jianshan section of the Kaili Formation were analyzed for the concentrations of trace element and rare-earth elements (REEs) by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The trace element and REE geochemical characteristics of the Kaili Formation at the Jianshan section show that trace element composition and REE distribution patterns across the section are covariant. Notably, at 44 m above the base of the Kaili Formation, most trace element contents and REEs concentrations are lower than those values observed below 44 m. Above 44 m, an increasing trend in the concentration of both trace elements and REEs is observed. These geochemical data indicate important, but subtle, changes at the 44 m horizon. If this is, in fact, verified by work in progress, geochemical criteria can provide additional supports for defining the top surface of Cambrian Series 2, especially in sections where Oryctocephalus indicus is absent. Trace element ratios, specifically Ni/Co, V/Cr, V/(Ni+V) and Th/U as well as Ce and Eu anomalies indicate that the sedimentary environment of the Kaili Formation at the Jianshan section was oxidizing, that benthic redox conditions were less oxic, and may have been influenced by freshwater as compared to the Balang area. Moreover, the Eu anomalies observed in the Kaili Formation are similar to the negative Eu anomalies observed in post-Archean sedimentary rocks, and reveal fluctuations in oxygen content from the bottom to the top of the Kaili Formation.

Stratigraphic and microfacies analysis of the Kaili Formation, a candidate GSSP for the Cambrian Series 2–Series 3 boundary

The Kaili Formation of South China is a ~ 200–300 m thick succession of fine-grained siliciclastic sediments with minor carbonates that spans the proposed Cambrian Series 2–Series 3 boundary interval, formerly the Early-Middle Cambrian boundary. It was deposited at low latitude on a slope lying between the Yangtze carbonate platform to the northwest and deep-water outer shelf facies of the Jiangnan Basin to the southeast. Because the Kaili Formation contains abundant and well-preserved fossils throughout, most importantly oryctocephalid trilobites that have a broad geographic distribution, and because it appears to be less condensed than other contemporaneous sections found on other paleocontinents, a section near Balang Village, Jianhe County, Guizhou Province, has been proposed as a candidate Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Cambrian Series 2–3 boundary. However, because the Kaili Formation is mudstone-dominated, it is not possible to determine from outcrop study whether a change in depositional regime or a condensed interval may be present around the proposed boundary. Because the proposed boundary interval coincides with the maximum flooding stage of a global transgression, it is possible that subtle, yet significant facies changes may occur within the mudstones that comprise the proposed boundary interval, rendering its utility as a potential GSSP questionable. Here, we present an analysis of a composite section of the complete Kaili Formation exposed along two ridges and in a road cut near Balang Village. The section was measured at the cm-scale and sampled every 1 m throughout the complete thickness of the unit, except where covered. Microfacies analysis of 138 samples, using thin sections, polished slabs, acetate peels, X-radiographs and scanning electron microscopy was conducted in the laboratory. These analyses confirm that depositional processes within the Kaili Formation were consistent and unshifting throughout complete thickness of the formation. Event-driven deposition was maintained across the Kaili Formation with no evidence for condensation present, even at the 5–20 μm scale. The signal of the global transgression in the boundary interval is manifest as a slight thinning of individual millimeter-scale event-deposited lamina from 50 to 55 m above the base of the formation, around the proposed GSSP boundary at 52.8 m. The entire Kaili Formation appears to have been deposited below storm wave base, as no silt-sized or coarser clastic particles are present, and no evidence of cross-bedding or graded bedding occurs within any of the facies present within it. The great majority of its thickness, including the entirety of the proposed boundary interval, is comprised of mm-laminated calcareous claystones that exhibit randomly oriented clay microfabrics characteristic of deposition from turbid suspension by sediment-gravity flows.

New macroalgal fossils of the Kaili Biota in Guizhou Province, China

The Kaili Biota of Jianhe County, Guizhou Province is found in a Burgess Shale type of deposits, and as such it provides a key fossil record for studying biotic differentiation following the Cambrian explosion. Macroalgae represent several important groups of primary producers and yet have not been well studied. Here, we report two new forms of macroalgae from the Kaili Biota, including a new genus and species and an indeterminate genus and species. The new genus and species, Parallelphyton tipica, is a heterotrichous alga with thalli composed of a prostrate cardinal axis, and parallel bundles of erect trichomes on the axis. The bifurcation of the trichomes is somewhat similar to the living heterotrichous Fritschiella (Chlorophyta), representing “architectonic differentiation” only known in higher plants as an adaptation to terrestrial conditions. The indeterminate genus and species consists of an arched, thick, cylindrical major shaft and irregularly spaced, curved lateral branches attached to the major shaft and subdivided into subbranches. The characteristics of the thick and strong major shaft and the lateral branch subdivided branches are analogous to the dichotomous branching of Psilophyton in Protopteridophyta. Thus, the differentiation of the thalli in these two algal forms represents the expression of properties of some higher metaphytes, indicating that the ecological differentiation of the macroalgae was well underway at the time of the Kaili Biota.

A new turban-shaped gogiid eocrinoid from the Kaili Formation (Kaili Biota), Balang, Jianhe County, Guizhou Province, China

A rare new turban-shaped basal Middle Cambrian gogiid eocrinoid, Turbanicystis inflatus new genus and species is described from the Kaili Formation (Kaili Biota), Guizhou Province, China. It co-occurs with three other markedly different gogiids, Sinoeocrinus, Globoeocrinus, and Balangicystis, and is part of a unique Middle Cambrian community that is dominated by echinoderms.

A new section of Kaili Formation (Cambrian) and a biostratigraphic study of the boundary interval across the undefined Cambrian Series 2 and Series 3 at Jianshan, Jianhe County, China with a discussion of global correlation based on the first appearance datum of Oryctocephalus indicus (Reed, 1910)

A trilobite biostratigraphic study of a new section of the Kaili Formation at Jianshan, Chuandong Village, Jianhe County, Guizhou is reported. Additional occurrences of key species associated with the Ovatoryctocara granulata–Bathynotus holopygus Zone and the overlying Oryctocephalus indicus Zone that were originally defined from the trilobite assemblages at the Wuliu-Zengjiayan section of the Kaili are reported from this new section. The first appearance datum (FAD) of Oryctocephalus indicus occurs at the 44.52 m above the base of the unit. Based on study of abundant specimens ( n = 800) from the Kaili Formation, we argue that Oryctocephalus indicus is a widespread taxon with a global distribution. O. reticulatus (Lermontova, 1940) from the middle part of the Kounamkites Zone of the Amganian Stage in the Molodo River region of Siberia and O. americanus (Sundberg and McCollum, 2003) from Nevada, North America are similar to representatives of O. indicus which occur in the O. indicus Zone of the Kaili Formation. O. reticulatus and O. americanus are here synonymized with O. indicus (Reed, 1910). This study strengthens the Wuliu-Zengjiayan section of the Kaili Formation as a candidate section for a Global Stratotype for the base of the unnamed Cambrian Series 3.