The West Pingdingshan Section in Chaohu, Southeast China’s Anhui Province is one of the potential GSSP candidates for the Induan-Olenekian boundary. Extensive study has been done on the Induan-Olenekian boundary strata at the section to meet the requirements of defining the GSSP precisely. This paper focuses on the boundary strata at the section to present a review of the main results achieved in recent years. The Induan-Olenekian boundary strata here cover an interval of about four meters at the West Pingdingshan Section, in which the key indices of defining the boundary and the chief transitional processes of some parameters at the boundary are included. The relationship between the boundaries defined by ammonoids and by conodonts is well clarified at the section. The magnetic polarity analysis shows that the boundary interval belongs to a normal polarity zone. Both the carbonate and organic carbon isotopes com- positions experienced a significant conversion in the boundary interval.
The Induan sequence in the West Pingdingshan Section, Chaohu, Anhui Province, displays a series of superimposed mudstone/limestone cycles. The lithological character of the cycles, combined with power spectral and wavelet analysis of magnetic susceptibility readings, reveals 12 short eccentricity and 56 precession Milankovitch cycles - obliquity cycles are not apparent. The uniformity of cycle thicknesses indicates a stable depositional setting making this section ideal to perform various geo-logical studies. Accordingly, the Induan Stage is estimated to have lasted 1.1 Ma, and the depositional rate for this part of the section is about 3.7 cm/ka. This places the Induan-Olenekian boundary in the West Pingdingshan Section at about 251.5 Ma based on an age of 252.6 Ma for the Permian-Triassic boundary.
