Western Hubei Research Articles

The DOUNCE event at the top of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation, South China: Broad stratigraphic occurrence and non-diagenetic origin

The DOUNCE (Doushantuo negative carbon isotope excursion), characterized by a large shift in δ13Ccarb from +5‰ down to −12‰ in the upper part of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation, was previously known only from a few sections mainly in the Yangtze Gorges area, western Hubei, South China. As a consequence, it remains uncertain whether the DOUNCE is of diagenetic origin, of local significance only, or corresponds to the worldwide mid-Ediacaran Shuram–Wonoka anomaly. Here we report the widespread occurrence of the DOUNCE in nine sections from various depositional settings ranging from coastal shallow basin, offshore intra-shelf basin to deepwater slope on the Yangtze platform. The results indicate that the DOUNCE starts in the upper part of Doushantuo Sequence 2 and ends at the base of the Dengying Formation. The variable appearance of the DOUNCE is facies dependent and any absence of the DOUNCE is shown to be the result of stratigraphic hiatus. The fall and recovery of δ13Ccarb values that bracket the DOUNCE occur over a relatively short stratigraphic interval and were possibly of shorter duration than the nadir of δ13Ccarb values which remain stable for a much longer interval from the transgressive systems tract to the condensed portion of the sedimentary sequence. Both the fall and the recovery of δ13Ccarb values are gradual and independent of lithology, suggesting a non-diagenetic origin for the DOUNCE which is further supported by the lack of any systematic diagenetic positive covariation between δ13Ccarb and δ18Ocarb data, and systematic differences in absolute isotope values between dolostone and limestone units. Field investigations and sedimentary analysis suggests the occurrence of a major sequence boundary at the basal part of the DOUNCE and reveals that previous reports of an interval of positive δ13C values within the DOUNCE resulted from either post-depositional sliding or faulting. Similarities between the evolutionary pattern and stratigraphic occurrence of the DOUNCE and global Shuram–Wonoka anomalies demonstrate that the DOUNCE represents a global change in seawater chemistry during the mid-Ediacaran which was closely related to the evolution of macroscopic metazoans.

Retrieval and analysis of aerosol optical characteristics in Hubei Province, China, based on CALIPSO

The aerosol optical characteristics in Hubei Province, China, derived from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO), are investigated. Through this spaceborne lidar, some limitations of airborne and ground-based systems can be overcome and a global survey of clouds and aerosol can be provided. First, a lidar ratio selection algorithm is introduced. Since the lidar ratio (the aerosol extinction-to-backscatter ratio, S a) is an important parameter used in aerosol retrieval, it is required for a reliable aerosol model. After retrieving the original signal, aerosol optical parameters are obtained. Based on these steps, the impacts of atmospheric motion on aerosol diffusion in different layers, the distribution of these aerosols, as well as their time-changing characteristic in Hubei Province are discussed. The studies show that in areas of plains aerosols are easily influenced by wind; furthermore, aerosol distribution in the western Hubei Province is usually influenced by biomass burning and in eastern Hubei by industrial emission. Although errors still exist, the aerosol optical characteristics in different regions are strongly related to the ground surface, wind direction and visible distinctions exist in urban and country areas.

Mesoproterozoic to Paleozoic Nd isotope stratigraphy of the South China continental nucleus and its geological significance

The Yangtze continental nucleus in South China is situated in the Huangling-Shennongjia area in western Hubei Province. It comprises the early Precambrian crystalline basement and generally successive Proterozoic to Phanerozoic sedimentary covers. This paper reports a comprehensive Nd isotope study of fine-grained sedimentary rocks from the regional Mesoproterozoic to early Paleozoic strata. The Nd model ages display a V-shaped variation from ∼2.5–2.8 Ga during the late Mesoproterozoic through ∼1.5–1.7 Ga during the Neoproterozoic Nanhua Period to ∼1.8–2.1 Ga during the Paleozoic Ordovician, with corresponding ɛ Nd(t) ranges of −11 to −14, −1.1 to −5.3, and −7.9 to −9.9, respectively. This evolutionary trend broadly resembles those documented in the sedimentary strata along the southeastern margin of the Yangtze Craton and within the Jiangnan orogenic belt, indicating that the whole South China block underwent a mantle-input related tectono-magmatic event at ∼0.8 Ga or earlier. However, the Huangling-Shennongjia area is discriminated from the other two regions by highly variable model ages (∼1.5–2.7 Ga) and ɛ Nd(t) values (1.38–−12.0) of the early Mesoproterozoic strata. Combined with the Archean model ages of the late Mesoproterozoic strata, it is suggested that the Mesoproterozoic sedimentary provenance of the Yangtze continental nucleus was distinct from that of the southeastern Yangtze Craton, likely indicative of an intervening aulacogen (or rift zone) or oceanic basin. In addition, the high comparability in Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic Nd isotope stratigraphy between the Yangtze Craton and the Jiangnan orogenic belt infers that the whole South China block had shared the same sedimentary basin and provenance since the Yangtze-Cathaysia welding at ∼0.9 Ga. Thus, it is proposed that the Yangtze Craton had comprised a collage of micro-continents during the pre-Neoproterozoic until the Rodinia assemblage when the primitive South China block was formed.

Predominance of stratified anoxic Yangtze Sea interrupted by short-term oxygenation during the Ordo-Silurian transition

The Ordo-Silurian transition was a critical interval in geological history, during which profound biotic, climatic and oceanic changes occurred. In order to explore the oceanic palaeoredox changes, multiple geochemical proxies, including ratios of S/C, FeHR/FeT, FeP/FeHR and DOP values, are presented here from three sections (Wangjiawan, western Hubei, Sanjiaguan, northern Hunan, and Nanbazi, northern Guizhou) across the Ordo-Silurian boundary on the Yangtze Platform. These palaeoredox data indicate a predominance of stratified, anoxic (ferruginous) ocean on the Yangtze block during this transition, which was interrupted by a brief episode of oceanic oxygenation in the early Hirnantian. This oxygenation, temporally coinciding with the end-Ordovician glaciation and global glacio-eustatic sea level fall, likely resulted from enhanced circulation of polar cold, dense oxygen-rich water onto the low-latitude shelf. The prior and subsequent longer-term episodes of anoxic ocean, particularly the later one which started in the late Hirnantian, occurred in parallel with the rapid climatic warming and sea level rise, which could have slowed down oceanic circulation, thereby enhancing oceanic stratification, anoxia and organic preservation. Oceanic redox changes, together with rapid climatic and sea-level fluctuations, were likely responsible for the stepwise massive demise of the Ordo-Silurian biotic crisis.

Carbon isotope chemostratigraphy and sedimentary facies evolution of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in western Hubei, South China

The Doushantuo Formation of South China, consisting of intercalated siliciclastic and carbonate rocks which exhibit considerable variation in thickness and sedimentary facies, is one of the key sedimentary units in the world for understanding Ediacaran geobiological processes. However, stratigraphic correlation and sedimentary facies evolution of the Doushantuo Formation remain controversial. Sedimentary facies analysis of the well-known sections of the Yangtze Gorges area and new sections in northern Yichang, western Hubei indicate that the Doushantuo succession in the Yangtze Gorges area was deposited in an offshore intra-shelf basin within the Yangtze platform. In contrast, the Doushantuo Formation in the northern Yichang area which is characterized by one or a few phosphate-rich horizons represents deposition on the subtidal or intertidal shelf, and so is similar to the succession in the Weng’an area (central Guizhou Province). The carbon isotope profiles of the different sections exhibit significant variation, which is interpreted to result from facies differences. Sequence and high-resolution carbon isotope stratigraphy have clarified problematic correlations and the temporal relationship between fossil assemblages of the Doushantuo Formation on the Yangtze platform. The results confirm that a prominent negative δ13Ccarb excursion (BAINCE, nadir down to −5‰) in the middle portion of the second sequence of the Doushantuo Formation is a widely traceable event. BAINCE together with three other δ13Ccarb excursions, namely CANCE at the base, WANCE near the first sequence boundary near the middle, and DOUNCE at the top of the Doushantuo Formation, constitute a complete carbon isotope profile for the Doushantuo Formation that reflects contemporaneous seawater and so serves as a reference chemostratigraphic profile for global stratigraphic correlation and for evaluating the chemical evolution of seawater during the Ediacaran Period.

Research on paleo-fluid sources and hydrocarbon preservation conditions in marine carbonates in the central Yangtze, China

87Sr/86Sr, δ18O and δ13C ratios of calcite, dolomite, gypsum filling vugs and fissures in marine carbonates and their host rocks from the Sinian to the middle Triassic, are employed to trace the possible source and migration path of key fluids related to development of hydrocarbon, hydrocarbon preservation condition are then discussed further. Comprehensive research, based on the paleo-fluid, the property of formation water and the deformation intensity etc., indicates that the preservation conditions in the Shizhu synclinorium zone and Fangdoushan anticlinorium zone are the most predominant in the central Yangtze. Three sets of fluid systems in the Shizhu synclinorium zone are identified. Little fluid exchange occurs between the upper- middle fluid system and the lower fluid system, so two independent preservation units have developed. Both the Permian and the Triassic in the upper preservation units and the Dengying Formation of the Sinian and the lower Cambrian in the lower preservation units have good preservation conditions. The preservation condition in the lower association (Z-S) located in the Huaguoping synclinorium zone in the western Hubei and Hunan is better than that in other tectonic units, where the fluids in the lower association migrated vertically across strata when the fluid isolating intervals were destroyed, the regional seals are absent and the conditions for the preservation of hydrocarbon accumulations are totally destroyed. The preservation condition is increasingly more favorable from the western Jiangxi and Hunan to the western Hubei & eastern Chongqing on the whole.

Research on Urbanization Development of Mountainous Area - Take in Yichang for Example

Urbanization can not be avoided in the phase of human civilization. Urbanization in developed countries such us Europe, America has experienced the course of agricultural revolution, industrial revolution and the commercial revolution, and from this we can learn a lot. Through this article, we can analyze the development history of urbanization in developed countries, learn from their good experiences, and summarize the problems and disadvantages brought in the process of urbanization. According to the urbanization development in western Hubei, urbanization in mountainous area should be on the way of ecological development and it can be done by focusing on the cultivation character, making full use of the natural resources so that we can promote urbanization in a healthy, scientific and sustainable fashion.

Magnetizing roasting mechanism and effective ore dressing process for oolitic hematite ore

Magnetizing roasting of oolitic hematite ore from western Hubei Province was investigated. The mechanism for reduction roasting of oolitic hematite ore was discussed and analyzed. It is found that flash magnetizing roasting-magnetic separation process is a promising approach for the processing of oolitic hematite ore from western Hubei Province.

High Prevalence of HIV Type 1 Subtype B' Among Heterosexuals in Western Hubei, Central China: Bridging the Epidemic into the General Population

A molecular epidemiological investigation (n = 62) conducted in western Hubei, Central China, revealed that HIV-1 subtype B' (Thailand variant of subtype B) predominated not only among former plasma donors (FPDs) (29/29, 100%) but also among heterosexuals (27/31, 87%), suggesting that subtype B' appears to bridge the spread from FPDs in the general population in this particular area in Central China.

A new species of newt of the genus Paramesotriton (Salamandridae) from southwestern Guangdong, China, with a new northern record of P. longliensis from western Hubei

A new species of newt of the genus Paramesotriton (Salamandridae) from southwestern Guangdong, China, with a new northern record of P. longliensis from western Hubei

Preparation of eco-friendly construction bricks from hematite tailings

With the objective of reducing the negative impacts on environment and utilizing the secondary resource of tailings, the possibility of making construction bricks by using the hematite tailings from western Hubei province of China was investigated. Besides hematite tailings, the additives of clay and fly ash were added to the raw materials to improve the brick quality. Through the process of mixing, forming, drying and firing, the bricks were produced. The optimum conditions were found to be that the hematite tailings content were as high as 84%, forming water content and forming pressure were respectively in the range of 12.5–15% and 20–25 MPa, and the suitable firing temperature was ranged from 980 to 1030 °C for 2 h. Under these conditions, the mechanical strength and water absorption of the reddish fired specimens were 20.03–22.92 MPa and 16.54–17.93%, respectively, and the other physical properties and durability were well conformed to Chinese Fired Common Bricks Standard (GB/T5101-2003). The phases and morphologies of the green tailings and fired specimen were characterized by XRD and SEM. The results showed that the main mineral phases of the product were hematite, quartz, anorthite and tridymite, which were principally responsible for the mechanical strength of bricks.

River water quality assessment in selected Yangtze tributaries: Background and method development

Water pollution is among the most severe environmental problems in China, particularly in the vicinity of residential and urban areas. In almost all Asian countries, river monitoring is predominantly based on the analysis of chemical data. However, biological data are a worthwhile addition for the determination of the long-term ecological status of rivers and are particularly well-suited in case of steep pollution and disturbance gradients. A tool for river water quality assessment using benthic invertebrates has been developed for selected tributaries of the middle reach of the Yangtze River. Site selection was supported by a preclassification considering physico-chemical and hydromorphological conditions. Following a stratified sampling design, 34 samples were taken in small and large streams in the subtropical mountainous area of western Hubei (湖北) (China) covering a pollution gradient, accompanied by an extensive field protocol on stream characteristics and (physico-) chemical water analyses. The proposed assessment system is computed as an average score per taxon. The challenge to further consider the additional impact from global change into the development of such tools is discussed.

A new species of newt of the genus Paramesotriton (Salamandridae) from southwestern Guangdong, China, with a new northern record of P. longliensis from western Hubei

We report two previously unknown populations of Asian warty newts (Salamandridae: Paramesotriton) in China. The first population, from southwestern Guangdong, is described as a new species, which is closely related to P. guangxiensis based on morphological and molecular data. The second new population, from western Hubei, is assigned to P. longliensis, which extends the known range of this species 400 km northwards. Limited genetic differentiation between P. longliensis and P. zhijinensis suggests that these two names may refer to the same (single) species.

Fractal and multifractal analysis of carbonate pore-scale digital images of petroleum reservoirs

The petrophysical evaluation of the reservoir capacity is of great importance in predicting the reserves and productivity of petroleum fields, which may directly affect petroleum exploration. In the past, such kind of evaluation was mainly based on the experimental measurements of the petrophysical porosity and permeability of reservoir rock samples. Assessing quantitatively the microstructures of carbonates, including irregularities of pore shapes and frequency distributions of pore sizes, is becoming one of the most challenging efforts in pore-scale analysis. Based on the digital analyses of the two-dimensional images from thin sections taken under the environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) at various magnification scales, the current paper tries to quantify the pore spaces of carbonate samples by fractal and multifractal methods, which have been demonstrated to be effective. The study area is located in the western Hubei and eastern Sichuan, China. As many as 25 carbonate samples from various members in five formations of the Permian-Triassic periods and 132 ESEM images were chosen in this study. All individual pores had been recognized, and their areas and perimeters had been calculated as well. The box-counting fractal dimensions and four major multifractal parameters associated with the multifractal spectra are used. The results show that the values of the petrophysical porosity and permeability are closely related to the box-counting dimensions and the multifractal parameters, which demonstrates that the textural arrangements of the pores control the porosity and permeability to a certain extent. There is also a link between the reservoiring capabilities of different formations and the fractal and multifractal parameters. The reservoiring capability assessment result is in agreement with the field research analysis.

Qing Reconstruction in the Southern Shaanxi Highlands: State Perceptions and Plans, 1799–1820

Qing Reconstruction in the Southern Shaanxi Highlands:State Perceptions and Plans, 1799–1820 Daniel McMahon (bio) Qing dynasty (1644–1911) decline began at the edges of empire. Borderland conflicts with Taiwan Han settlers, Jinchuan Qiang, Hunan Miao, southern Shaanxi sectarians, Guangdong pirates, and Kashgarian Khwajas all indicated that the Qing's grip on its "remote regions" had loosened.1 Qing officialdom feared a fractured realm and its actions to avoid one—open to the lessons of frontier rule, fixated on resources and polity—set the stage for China's nineteenth-century crisis management.2 This essay considers the logic and measures of late Qing policy as seen in one important early project: reconstruction in southern Shaanxi in the wake of the 1796–1804 White Lotus revolt. The paper addresses two general questions. First, how did early-nineteenth-century Qing planners see this highland region? And second, what manner of plans arose in response to their perception? In considering these questions, a range of views will be discussed, albeit with the greatest focus upon leading southern Shaanxi field officials such as Yan Ruyi (1759–1826).3 [End Page 85] The reports of concerned officials of the Jiaqing reign (1796–1820) reveal that Shaannan (southern Shaanxi) was understood as a distinctive settlement frontier.4 These mountains were a site of defining events of imperial history, at the center of the Qing realm, and peopled by Han Chinese, albeit infamous for cycles of cultural degeneration, heretical dissent, and violent revolt. The White Lotus rebellion seemed the latest case of cyclical deterioration in the region, a concern that connected directly with an emerging project of imperial reforms advanced under the Jiaqing emperor from 1799. Official views of polity and place framed the possibilities of postwar reconstruction. Confucian-defined ills of rootlessness and revolt underlay conventional bureaucratic measures for order, settlement, livelihood, and education. The proximity of the hills and cultural sophistication of the local Han people oriented these plans toward greater integration with the Qing heartland—pursued via revitalized infrastructure, production, commercial circulation, inculcation, and state oversight. Frontier-like conditions of harsh environment and "confused" people yielded a concurrent (and somewhat contradictory) focus on security, seen in administrative restructuring, empowered officials, military redeployment, and transformative education. The reordering of the Shaannan highlands was a state priority and regional officials drew flexibly from both frontier and heartland precedent for solutions. The results were discernable but uneven.5 The Southern Shaanxi Highlands In a study of Burma, E.R. Leach observed that Burmese land existed not as a smooth contiguous expanse, but as a patchwork of controlled territories interspersed by obstructing "non-state spaces." Within the realm lay highlands that, in intensity proportionate to elevation, resisted agricultural production and governmental intervention.6 The southern Shaanxi highlands were a similar non-state space. The Hubei-Shaanxi-Sichuan border region, part of the vast Central Mountain Belt, was classic hostile terrain. One regional official, Yan Ruyi, likened it to a "vile beast" (e shou). Its head lay in northeastern Sichuan's Kuizhou prefecture and Taiping subprefecture: a land of "steep cliffs and treacherous, winding paths" in which bandits hid and the worst gangs formed. Its belly lay [End Page 86] in western Hubei's Yunyang prefecture: a poorly-controlled region of "high mountains and deep valleys that stretched for thousands of li." Its back lay in southern Shaanxi's Hanzhong and Xing'an prefectures: a "land of celestial peril (tian xian)" with mountains that "jut like teeth into the air," deep valleys, and inaccessible peaks.7 The heights of this borderland loomed seven thousand feet above sea level, blanketed by a dense "Old Forest" (laolin) of bamboo and timber: a mat of highland wilderness more than ten thousand square miles in extent that sheltered bandits, migrants, fugitives, and rebels.8 This discussion examines the "back of the beast": southern Shaanxi's Shaan'an circuit (Hanzhong and Xing'an prefectures). Here lay a "sea" of dense mountains divided between the Qinling Range, to the north of the east-running Han River, and the Daba Shan Range9, to its south. These highlands were largely inimical to intensive agriculture, although by Qing times had proved adaptable to maize, Irish potato...

Carbon and sulfur isotopic anomalies across the Ordovician–Silurian boundary on the Yangtze Platform, South China

Abundance of organic matter, carbon isotopic compositions of organic matter ( δ 13C org) and sulfur isotopic compositions of iron sulfide ( δ 34S sulfide) across the Ordovician–Silurian (O–S) boundary was analysed from two sections (Wangjiawan, western Hubei; Nanbazi, northern Guizhou) on the Yangtze Platform, South China. The organic abundance across the O–S boundary at these two sections is generally high, except for the Hirnantian interval. At Wangjiawan section in western Hubei, the δ 13C org values vary from about − 30.8‰ VPDB in the mid-Ashgill to − 27.6‰ in the upper Hirnantian interval, which abruptly return to the pre-Hirnantian values. At Nanbazi section in northern Guizhou, δ 13C org values vary from − 30.5‰ to − 26.6‰ from the mid-Ashgill to the upper Hirnantian horizons, which shift negatively to the low spike at − 29.2‰ in the lowermost Rhuddanian, then increase slightly to relatively persistent values around − 28‰. Similar variation patterns of δ 34S sulfide values are unravelled at the two sections, showing a positive excursion from the mid-Ashgill to the upper Hirnantian, then a sharp negative shift in the lowermost Rhuddanian, although with different background values of δ 34S sulfide from these two sections. These data, together with those from other areas, demonstrate large climatic fluctuations from warming to cooling, then to warming, oceanic changes from and anoxic to oxygenated, to anoxic water columns, during the O–S transition. Climatic fluctuations, together with multiple oceanic anoxia and sea-level fluctuations, were likely responsible for the stepwise massive demise of the O–S biotic crisis.

Fossil Association from the Lower Cambrian Yanjiahe Formation in the Yangtze Gorges Area, Hubei, South China

Abstract: Apart from previously reported Small Shelly Fossils (SSFs), a macroscopic fossil assemblage, comprising abundant algae, cone‐shaped tubular fossil forms, and probable impressions of a megascopic metazoan, comes from the Lower Cambrian Yanjiahe Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area of western Hubei Province, south China. The visible fossils are preserved in thinlaminated siltstone or muddy siltstone intercalated between 8–15 mm‐thick carbonate deposits, probably representing sedimentary settings of a constrained local depression in the shallow water carbonate platform during the Early Cambrian Meishucunian Stage. The macroscopic fossil association provides significant fossil evidence about the evolution of life from the late Precambrian to the ‘Cambrian explosion’ interval.

A dipteridaceous fern with in situ spores from the Lower Jurassic in Hubei, China

Dictyophyllum, a genus of the fern family Dipteridaceae, was widespread during the Triassic and Jurassic. However, the in situ spores are relatively poorly known. The specimens described here represent the first report of fertile fronds with in situ spores from Asia. Well-preserved and compressed specimens of the dipteridaceous fern Dictyophyllum nilssonii (Brongniart) Goeppert were investigated from the type locality of the Hsiangchi Flora in western Hubei province, southern China, collected from the upper part of the Lower Jurassic Hsiangchi Formation. Sporangia and in situ spores were examined using light and electron microscopes. The sporangia are rounded, 300–450 µm in diameter, with an oblique annulus. Each sporangium produces 220–280 trilete spores. These are triangular to subtriangular in outline, 40 µm in average diameter, with smooth exines, as well as interradial thickenings along the laesura situated on the proximal surface. The in situ spores are comparable to the dispersed trilete spore genus Dictyophyllidites. Preliminary observations on the ultrastructure of the in situ spores are reported, which supply clues for further investigation of the systematics and phylogeny of the Dipteridaceae. In addition, the ecological implications of Dictyophyllum and its associated ferns are briefly discussed.

On Chinese, European & American universities

past three decades have seen an unprecedented expansion of higher education and, in the most recent time, efforts at reform and restructuring.1 My own university, Harvard, has overhauled its undergraduate curriculum in a comprehensive fashion for the 1⁄2rst time in thirty years. European universities have witnessed even more thoroughgoing changes in the structure of undergraduate education. But perhaps nowhere on earth have recent decades seen more revolutionary change in higher education than in the People’s Republic of China. Thirty years ago, Chinese universities were just reopening after the catastrophe of the Cultural Revolution. Today they are poised for positions of international leadership in research and education. The case of Wuhan University, arguably China’s oldest modern university, illustrates the dramatic changes the Chinese system of higher education has undergone in the past century. Wuhan and the surrounding province of Hubei have long been important centers of commerce, scholarship, and political leadership. It was the great reforming Governor-General Zhang Zhidong, who founded in 1893–1⁄2ve years before Peking University began–the “Self-Strengthening Institute” that would become Wuhan University. That university would be a witness to central events of China’s twentieth century: it was in Wuhan that the revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty in 1912 began; Wuhan hosted one of the two contending Nationalist governments in 1927, and the retreating government of Chiang Kaishek in 1938. In the early People’s Republic, Wuhan became a great industrial sector. Today, western Hubei, upriver from Wuhan, is home to the largest engineering project in world history, the Three Gorges Dam (and even a “Three Gorges Dam University”). Wuhan University had a strong history of growth before 1949. It was then nearly destroyed during the Cultural Revolu-

Chitinozoans from the Fenxiang Formation (Early Ordovician) of Yichang, Hubei Province, China

Abstract: Chitinozoans collected from upper Tremadocian to lower Floian strata of Chenjiahe section, Yichang, western Hubei, China comprise six species belonging respectively to the genera Euconochitina including a new species, Euconochitina fenxiangensis, Lagenochitina and Bursachitina, together with Desmochitina sp. and Eremochitina sp. The chitinozoan succession across the interval is correlated with relevant conodont and chitinozoan biozones and two new regional chitinozoan biozones, the Lagenochitina destombesi Biozone and the Euconochitina symmetrica Biozone are proposed based on their stratigraphic ranges in the Fenxiang to Honghuayuan formations in the Chenjiahe section.