The GSSP of the Second (Upper) Stage of the Lower Ordovician Series: Diabasbrottet at Hunneberg, Province of Västergötland, Southwestern Sweden

Diabasbrottet, selected by the International Subcommisson on Ordovician Stratigraphy and in 2002 ratified by the International Commission on Stratigraphy as the GSSP of the Second (Upper) Stage of the Lower Ordovician, is located on the Hunneberg Mountain in southwestern Sweden. The stratigraphic succession represents an outer shelf environment near the Baltic Shield margin. The shale-dominated, biostratigraphically complete, richly fossiliferous boundary interval is completely exposed in a disused quarry. The GSSP is in the lower TØyen Shale 2.1 m above the top of the Cambrian and is marked by the first appearance of the graptolite Tetragraptus approximatus Nicholson. The boundary interval contains a diverse graptolite fauna and biostratigraphically diagnostic conodonts and trilobites that make it possible to define the boundary in terms of zone schemes based on these groups. In this respect, the Diabasbrottet and nearby sections are unique in the world among described localities having this boundary interval. Based on the appearance of T. approximatus, the base of the Second Stage can be identified in many graptolitiferous successions round the world but this level is currently more difficult to recognize precisely in some carbonate sequences outside Baltoscandia. We propose the Second Stage be called the Floan Stage. It is named for the Village of Flo, which is situated about 5 km southeast of the GSSP.