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The decimeter-scale 3-D network structure of the Upper Ordovician Pagoda Formation in South China has been an enigmatic sedimentary feature and a case of non-uniformitarian carbonate depositional system, without modern analog. The network bands are developed pervasively throughout the entire Pagoda Formation, superficially resembling desiccation or syneresis cracks, especially in bedding-plane view, with decimeter-scale sub-polygonal to irregularly sinuous patterns. Detailed petrographic analysis, however, shows that the crack-like network bands have the same carbonate matrix, skeletal grains, and overall fabrics as the rock they surround. In this study, we demonstrate that the network structure is not generated by shrinkage cracks but is rather a time-specific lithofacies. It originated from prolonged growth of nodular carbonate, controlled by the convergence of several geological and paleoclimatic factors, including a) a protracted sea-level highstand lasting for about 5 Myr, b) an interval of tectonic quiescence favoring the dominance of carbonate production, with minimal siliciclastic input, and c) location of the South China paleoplate in the hurricane-free paleoequatorial zone devoid of severe storm disturbances between the fairweather and maximum storm wave bases (normally 15–120 m depths), favoring long-term, uninterrupted growth of CaCO 3 meganodules on a mid-shelf substrate. This study corroborates recent paleogeographic reconstructions that position the South China paleoplate on the Equator during the Late Ordovician. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oldest Foliomena fauna was, until now, known from the middle-upper Miaopo Formation ( Nemagraptus gracilis Biozone, lower Sandbian, basal Upper Ordovician) of South China. In this study, the oldest record of the fauna is set back to the latest Darriwilian (upper Hustedograptus teretiusculus Biozone), represented by Foliomena jielingensis and some typical constituents of the Foliomena fauna from the basal Miaopo Formation at Jieling, northern Yichang, western Hubei Province, central China. The Miaopo Formation is characterized by its organic-rich dark-grey shale facies, unique in its localized distribution on the Yangtze Platform, and distinguished by its rich and diverse benthic and graptolitic faunas. This suggests an origin of the Foliomena fauna in periodically oxygen-starved local depressions on the Yangtze Platform during the Middle-Late Ordovician transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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