Ordovician graptolite-bearing strata in southern Jiangxi with a special reference to the Kwangsian Orogeny

The Ordovician graptolite sequence of the Yongxin-Chongyi area in southern Jiangxi was suggested as a standard for the correlation of Ordovician in the Zhujiang region of South China. Based on a restudy of the Upper Ordovician graptolites, the Shikou and Huamianlong formations are recognized herein as a part of the Hanjiang Formation, corresponding only to the Diplacanthograptus caudatus-Diplacanthograptus spiniferus Zone. Two graptolite zones in the Longxi Formation of Yongxin and Chongyi, the Nemagraptus gracilis Zone and Climacograptus bicornis Zone, are redefined here. A rapid replacement of facies from the typical deep-water graptolitic black shale of Longxi Formation to the rapidly-accumulated, shallow-water clastic deposits of Hanjiang Formation indicates the tectonic initiation of the Kwangsian Orogeny. The thick clastic deposits of the Hanjiang Formation are proposed to come from a nearby source area that rose during the Kwangsian Orogeny. The D. caudatus-D. spiniferus graptolite Zone of the Hanjiang Formation indicates the initiation time of this tectonic event.