The Wuliuan

stage Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * Sta ...

is the fifth stage of the Cambrian, and the first stage of the

Miaolingian The Miaolingian is the third Series of the Cambrian Period, and was formally named in 2018. It lasted from about to million years ago and is divided in ascending order into 3 stages: the Wuliuan, Drumian, and Guzhangian. The Miaolingian is pr ...

Series of the Cambrian. It was formally defined by the ICS in 2018. Its base is defined by the first appearance of the trilobite species ''

Oryctocephalus indicus ''Oryctocephalus indicus'' is a species of corynexochid trilobite from the Cambrian. Its first appearance is proposed for the lower boundary of the Wuliuan, which corresponds to the beginning of the Miaolingian (The other proposal was '' Ovator ...

''; it ends with the beginning of the

Drumian The Drumian is a stage of the Miaolingian Series of the Cambrian. It succeeds the Wuliuan and precedes the Guzhangian. The base is defined as the first appearance of the trilobite '' Ptychagnostus atavus'' around million years ago. The top i ...

Stage, marked by the first appearance of the trilobite ''

Ptychagnostus atavus ''Ptychagnostus atavus'' is a species of agnostid trilobite. It was originally described by Swedish paleontologist Sven Axel Tullberg as ''Agnostus atavus'' in 1880. It is used in biostratigraphy as an index fossil. Its first appearance at the ...

'' around million years ago. The '

golden spike The golden spike (also known as The Last Spike) is the ceremonial 17.6- karat gold final spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States connecting the Central Pacific Railroad ...

' that formally defines the base of the period is driven into the Wuliu-Zengjiayan(乌溜-曾家崖)section of the Kaili formation, near Balang Village in the Miaoling Mountains, Guizhou, China.

GSSP

Three sections were discussed as

GSSP A Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) is an internationally agreed upon reference point on a stratigraphic section which defines the lower boundary of a stage on the geologic time scale. The effort to define GSSPs is conducted ...

candidates: the Wuliu-Zengjiayan section near

Balang John Philip Bughaw, popularly known as Balang (born November 7, 2008), is a Filipino child dancer and actor. Balang started dancing when he was 4 years old and his cover of Justin Bieber’s " Sorry" has been viewed more than 8 million times hav ...

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to the ...

province (China), a section on Split Mountain in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

(USA) and the "Molodo river section" along the

Molodo river The Molodo (russian: Молодо, sah, Муолада) is a river in Bulunsky District, Sakha Republic, Russia. It is a major left tributary of the Lena. The Molodo is long, and the area of its basin . The banks of the Molodo are not inhabite ...

(Sakha Republic, Russia). The Wuliu-Zengjiayan section is an outcrop of the Kaili Formation in the Wuliu quarry. The first candidate for the beginning of the Wuliuan was the trilobite ''

'', the second candidate was the trilobite ''

Ovatoryctocara granulata ''Ovatoryctocara granulata'' is a species of corynexochid trilobite from the Cambrian. Its first appearance is one of the proposals for the base of Wuliuan (The other proposal having been ''Oryctocephalus indicus ''Oryctocephalus indicus'' i ...

''. The Wuliu-Zengjiayan section was chosen as the formal base in 2018, with the first appearance of ''Oryctocephalus indicus'' being chosen as the defining marker for the GSSP.

References

{{Geological history, p, p, state=collapsed Cambrian geochronology Geological ages Miaolingian