New Advances in the Study of the Devonian ‐ Carboniferous Boundary Stratotype in Muhua, Changshun, Guizhou——An Introduction to the Daposhang Devonian‐Carboniferous Boundary Section

Abstract The Daposhang section at Muhua, Changshun, Guizhou, is an excellent and attractive Devonian‐Carboniferous boundary section. The transitional beds between the Devonian and Carboniferous of the section are continuous and well exposed, belonging to the deep‐water basin facies. Abundant fossil groups have been discovered from this section: conodonts, ammonoids, trilobites, ostracods, vertebrate microfossils and so on. So far as known, it has the most continuous and complete conodont zonation for the Devonian‐Carboniferous boundary beds in the world. It is especially worth pointing out that both typical Siphonodella praesulcata and the transitional forms between S. praesulcata and S. sulcata have been found from the upper praesulcata Zone of the Daposhang section. Evidently, we can not only prove the actual existence of the evolutionary lineage from S. praesulcata to S. sulcata, but also exactly define the level of the Devonian‐Carboniferous boundary. In this paper, the development of the Devonian‐Carboniferous boundary beds at the Daposhang section is dealt with and the section is compared with the Muhua section and the Nanbiancun section which are the candidates for the Devonian‐Carboniferous boundary stratotype. In the authous' opinion the Daposhang section is obviously better than the Muhua and the Nanbiancun sections, hence it can be recommended as one of the candidates for the international Devonian‐Carboniferous boundary stratotype.