Upper Devonian conodont zonation, sea-level changes and bio-events in offshore carbonate facies Lali section, South China

The Lali section (Guangxi Province, South China) is composed of quiet-water carbonates containing abundant conodonts, which allowed recognition of 12 Frasnian and 20 Famennian biozones. The Kellwasser and annulata events are characterized by transgressive black carbonates, while the Hangenberg Event is represented by black shale deposits. Other transgressive events recognized at Lali include the Middlesex, Nehden, Enkeberg, and Dasberg, as well as the Strunian transgression. Four regressive events were recognized on the basis of lithological and microfacies changes, i.e., the linguiformis regression, Condroz Event, velifer regression, and the Derwer regression. These sea-level change events were of short duration and globally isochronous based on conodont correlations. Microfacies analyses and the abundance of Palmatolepis indicate that the highest Frasnian sea level lies in FZ 12-13 (Upper rhenana Zone), whereas the highest Famennian sea level was in the utahensis Zone.