Furongian
Fourth and final epoch and series of the Cambrian
title: "Furongian" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["furongian", "cambrian-geochronology", "geological-epochs"] description: "Fourth and final epoch and series of the Cambrian" topic_path: "philosophy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furongian" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Fourth and final epoch and series of the Cambrian ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox geologic timespan"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Furongian |
| color | Furongian |
| time_start | 497 |
| time_start_prefix | ~ |
| time_end | 486.85 |
| time_end_uncertainty | 1.5 |
| image_map | Mollweide Paleographic Map of Earth, 495 Ma (Paibian Stage).png |
| caption_map | A map of Earth as it appeared 495 million years ago during the Furongian Series, Paibian Stage |
| timeline | Cambrian |
| name_formality | Formal |
| name_accept_date | 2003 |
| former_names | Cambrian Series 4 |
| celestial_body | earth |
| usage | Global (ICS) |
| timescales_used | ICS Time Scale |
| chrono_unit | Epoch |
| strat_unit | Series |
| proposed_by | Shanchi et al., 2002 |
| timespan_formality | Formal |
| lower_boundary_def | FAD of the Trilobite Glyptagnostus reticulatus |
| lower_gssp_location | Paibi section, Paibi, Hunan, China |
| lower_gssp_coords | |
| lower_gssp_accept_date | 2003 |
| upper_boundary_def | FAD of the Conodont Iapetognathus fluctivagus. |
| upper_gssp_location | Greenpoint section, Green Point, Newfoundland, Canada |
| upper_gssp_coords | |
| upper_gssp_accept_date | 2000 |
| :: |
| name = Furongian | color = Furongian | time_start = 497 | time_start_prefix = ~ | time_end = 486.85 | time_end_uncertainty = 1.5 | image_map = Mollweide Paleographic Map of Earth, 495 Ma (Paibian Stage).png | caption_map = A map of Earth as it appeared 495 million years ago during the Furongian Series, Paibian Stage | image_outcrop = | caption_outcrop = | image_art = | caption_art = | timeline = Cambrian | name_formality = Formal | name_accept_date = 2003 | alternate_spellings = | synonym1 = | synonym1_coined = | synonym2 = | synonym2_coined = | synonym3 = | synonym3_coined = | nicknames = | former_names = Cambrian Series 4 | proposed_names = | celestial_body = earth | usage = Global (ICS) | timescales_used = ICS Time Scale | formerly_used_by = | not_used_by = | chrono_unit = Epoch | strat_unit = Series | proposed_by = Shanchi et al., 2002 | timespan_formality = Formal | lower_boundary_def = FAD of the Trilobite Glyptagnostus reticulatus | lower_gssp_location = Paibi section, Paibi, Hunan, China | lower_gssp_coords = | lower_gssp_accept_date = 2003 | upper_boundary_def = FAD of the Conodont Iapetognathus fluctivagus. | upper_gssp_location = Greenpoint section, Green Point, Newfoundland, Canada | upper_gssp_coords = | upper_gssp_accept_date = 2000 | o2 = | co2 = | temp = | sea_level = The **Furongian ** or Late Cambrian is the fourth and final epoch and series of the Cambrian. It lasted from to million years ago. It succeeds the Miaolingian series of the Cambrian and precedes the Lower Ordovician Tremadocian Stage. It is subdivided into three stages: the Paibian, Jiangshanian and the unnamed 10th stage of the Cambrian.
History and naming
The Furongian was also known as the Cambrian Series 4, and the name replaced the older term Upper Cambrian and equivalent to the local term Hunanian. The present name was ratified by the International Commission on Stratigraphy in 2003. Fúróng (芙蓉) means 'lotus' in Mandarin and refers to Hunan which is known as the "lotus state".
Definition
The lower boundary is defined in the same way as the GSSP of the Paibian Stage. Both begin with the first appearance of the trilobite Glyptagnostus reticulatus around million years ago. The upper boundary is the lower boundary and GSSP of the Tremadocian Stage which is the first appearance of the conodont Iapetognathus fluctivagus around million years ago.
Subdivisions
The following table shows the subdivisions of the Furongian series/epoch:
::data[format=table]
| Series | Stage | Age (Ma) |
|---|---|---|
| Lower Ordovician | ||
| Floian | ||
| Tremadocian | ||
| Furongian | ||
| Stage 10 | ||
| Jiangshanian | ||
| Paibian | ||
| Miaolingian | ||
| Guzhangian | ||
| Drumian | ||
| Wuliuan | ||
| :: |
Biostratigraphy
The base of two of three stages of the Furongian are defined as the first appearance of a trilobite. The base of the Paibian is the first appearance of Glyptagnostus reticulatus and the base of the Jiangshanian is the first appearance of Agnostotes orientalis. The still unnamed Cambrian Stage 10 might be defined as the first appearance of Lotagnostus americanus or the conodont Eoconodontus notchpeakensis.
The Furongian can be divided into a number of trilobite zones:
::data[format=table]
| Series | Stage | Trilobite zone | Trilobite GSSP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Furongian}};" | Furongian | Stage 10}};" | Stage 10 |
| stage 9}};" | Jiangshanian | Ellipsocephaloides zone, Saukia zone (lower part) | Agnostotes orientalis |
| Paibian}};" | Paibian | ? (?) | Glyptagnostus reticulatus |
| Aphelaspis Zone | |||
| :: |
Major events
At the beginning of the Furongian epoch, the Guzhangian–Paibian extinction ended. Species diversity, which had decreased by 45%, returned to its previous level at the very beginning of the Jiangshanian age. The ensuing Jiangshanian extinction reduced species diversity by 55.2% and was followed by an interval of relatively small fluctuations in species richness, which ended shortly after the beginning of the Ordovician.
Steptoean positive carbon isotope excursion (SPICE) occurred in close proximity in time to the Miaolingian–Furongian boundary (and, accordingly, the Guzhangian–Paibian boundary).
From the Furongian to the Early Ordovician, around 495-470 Ma, the mantle plume activity, known as the Ollo de Sapo magmatic event, occurred on the North-Western territory of the Gondwana which is now the Iberian Peninsula.
Paleontology
Researchers have been noted that the significant macroscopic soft-bodied animals that lived between the Cambrian Explosion and the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event were not discovered. In 2019, this time interval was named the Furongian Biodiversity Gap by Harper et al. This gap has been characterized as probably caused by lack of rocks, environmental events or a specific palaeogeography and extreme climates of the late Cambrian. However, a review of the literature and locations with Cambrian deposits showed that the gap is caused by the insufficient presence of Furongian deposits in sufficiently studied areas, as well as the lack of attention to fossils of this interregnum. Later discoveries of the Furongian deposits in South China have allowed for a better understanding of the biostratigraphy and fluctuations in species diversity of this epoch.
8502 specimens of trilobite-agnostoid fauna have been collected from the Furongian strata of the Alum Shale Formation of Bornholm, Denmark. Described gerena include Ctenopyge, Eurycare, Leptoplastus, Olenus, Parabolina, Peltura, Protopeltura, Sphaerophthalmus, Lotagnostus and Triangulopyge. Benthic graptolites, including genera Rhabdopleura, Dendrograptus, Callograptus and Siberiograptus, were found in the Furongian sediments of South China.
References
References
- "PROPOSED GLOBAL STANDARD STRATOTYPE-SECTION AND POINT FOR THE PAIBIAN STAGE AND FURONGIAN SERIES (UPPER CAMBRIAN)".
- Peng, S. C.. (2004). "Global Standard Stratotype-Section and Point (GSSP) of the Furongian Series and Paibian Stage (Cambrian)". Lethaia.
- (March 2001). "Global Stratotype Section and Point for base of the Ordovician System". Episodes.
- "GSSP Table - Paleozoic Era".
- "GSSP for the Paibian".
- "GSSP for the Cambrian - Ordovician Boundary".
- "GSSP for Jiangshanian".
- Landing, E.. (19 September 2011). "The Lawsonian Stage - the Eoconodontus notchpeakensis FAD and HERB carbon isotope excursion define a globally correlatable terminal Cambrian stage". Bulletin of Geosciences.
- David R. Schwimmer, William M. Montante. "An Aphelaspis zone (Upper Cambrian, paibian) trilobite faunule in the central conasauga River Valley, North Georgia, USA". Southeastern Geology.
- Yiying Deng, Junxuan Fan, Shengchao Yang, Yukun Shi, Zhengbo Lu, Huiqing Xu, Zongyuan Sun, Fangqi Zhao, Zhangshuai Hou. (2023). "No Furongian Biodiversity Gap: Evidence from South China". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.
- Guangying Ren, Mikaela A. Pulsipher, James D. Schiffbauer, Jin-Liang Yuan, Ying Guo, Chao Chang, Fanwei Meng, Yan Zhao, Jian Gao. (2021). "A contiguous record of the SPICE event, sea-level change and the first appearance of Fenghuangella laevis in Shandong Province, North China". Lethaia.
- Josep Maria Casas, J. Brendan Murphy, Teresa Sanchez-Garcia, Jacques de Poulpiquet, José-Javier Alvaro, A. Díez-Montes, Joan Guimerà. (2023). "Does the Ollo de Sapo magmatic event support Furongian-Tremadocian mantle plume activity fringing NW Gondwana?". International Geology Review.
- Rudy Lerosey-Aubril, Stacey Gibb, John Paterson, Brian D. E. Chatterton. (2016). "Late Cambrian (Furongian) exceptional fossils from McKay Group of British Columbia, Canada". Conference: Palaeontology Down Under 2.
- David A.T. Harper, Borja Cascales-Miñana, Yuan-Dong Zhang, Timothy Topper, Thomas Servais, Per Ahlberg. (2019). "The Furongian (late Cambrian) Biodiversity Gap: Real or apparent". Palaeoworld.
- Arne Thorshøj Nielsen, Line Frigaard Andersen. (2021). "Furongian (upper Cambrian) trilobites and agnostoids from the Alum Shale Formation of Bornholm, Denmark: revised taxonomy and biostratigraphy". Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark.
- Jörg Maletz, Xuejian Zhu, Yuan-Dong Zhang. (2022). "Graptolithina from the Guole Biota (Furongian, upper Cambrian) of South China". Palaeoworld.
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