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".[3]
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.[11]
Steptoean positive carbon isotope excursion (SPICE) occurred in close proximity in time to the Miaolingian–Furongian boundary (and, accordingly, the Guzhangian–Paibian boundary).[12] This event is recorded on almost all Cambrian paleocontinents, but its exact causes are not fully understood. It is assumed that it may be associated with the Sauk megasequence, which in turn is associated with sea level changes; decrease in oxygen or occurrence of euxinic conditions in ocean waters; or the trilobite biomere turnover.[12]
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.[13]
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.[14] 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.[15] 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.[11]
