Proposed GSSP for the base of Cambrian Stage 7, coinciding with the first appearance of Lejopyge laevigata, Hunan, China

The Luoyixi section, exposed in a roadcut along the Youshui River (Fengtan Reservoir), Guzhang County, Hunan Province, China, is proposed as the stratotype for the base of an unnamed stage boundary (base of the Cambrian stage provisionally termed Stage 7). The proposed position of the GSSP is 121.3 m above the base of the Huaqiao Formation, at a horizon coinciding with the first appearance of the cosmopolitan agnostoid trilobite Lejopyge laevigata. The section fulfills all the requirements for a GSSP, and the horizon can be constrained not only with the primary stratigraphic marker (L. laevigata) but also with secondary biostratigraphic, sequence-stratigraphic, and chemostratigraphic correlation tools. The first appearance of L. laevigata is one of the most readily recognizable levels in the Cambrian, and can be correlated with precision to all paleocontinents.