All images and associated pages copyrighted © by Don Chesnut, 2006
We went to Guilin, China to attend the A2 Pre-Congress Excursion of the 2nd International Palaeontological Congress. The field trip guidebook was...
Ma Sueping; Chen Daizhao; and Yin Baoan, 2006, The Devonian of the Guilin-Xiangzhou area, South China: Stratigraphy and Sedimentology. The Second International Palaeontological Congress, June 17-21, 2006, Beijing, China. Guide Book for Field Excursion A2, 35 p.
In the evening, Anne, Mary, Nora and I drove from Lexington to Erlanger, Kentucky and stayed as the Comfort Inn.
In the morning, we took the hotel shuttle to the Cincinnati airport in northern Kentucky and boarded United flight 5823 to Chicago at 9:30 AM. In Chicago, we boarded United flight 835 to Shanghai at 12:23 PM. On this flight we flew within 40 miles of the North Pole.
this is all I took; this picture is from another trip, but this is exactly how I packed for this trip.
We arrived at Shanghai, China at about 3:55 PM and boarded China Eastern flight 5381 to Guilin at 6:45 PM and arrived in Guilin at about 9:00 PM. Some of the fieldtrip leaders were at the airport waiting for us and took us to the Hotel Universal Guilin.
We had breakfast at the hotel and then went out for a walk around Guilin.
map showing the Guilin area in China from Google Earth
map showing the field area, from Google Earth
view from our hotel room
a modern building around our hotel; another building; yet another building
people wading and washing along the Li River
fisherman with net on bamboo boat
ladies carrying fruit in baskets on bamboo pole
two ladies practicing ballroom dancing on sidewalk
Hotel Universal Guilin and numerous motorbikes parked nearby
After lunch, Nora and Mary had their hair cut and styled in the beauty shop at the hotel. The girls had a head massage and I had a back massage there.
Then we went for a walk across the bridge to the other side of the river.
crossing the bridge. It was hot and very humid.
view of landing from bridge
man playing Erhu; closer view
We got up early and had breakfast with the field trip group in the hotel. After breakfast, we boarded a chartered bus and drove about 200 km south of Guilin to the Dale (da-le) area.
typical brick house with tile roof
more brick houses, close together
Stop 1: Yingtang (p. 6-9).
walk along road to field stop
crossing small, swollen creek
look at type section
man in dark clothes stopped to watch us
looking at corals in the Guche Member of the Yingtang Formation
fossiliferous outcrop, same member. Mary and Nora gave the corals they found to a coral specialist on the field trip.
Stop 3: Baqi village (p.10-11; we did the stop out of order).
view from our walk to Xiufeng Hill
walking on gravel road
view of pinnacle karst from gravel road
pinnacle karst in the distance
group traveling on a tractor-truck
Xiufeng Hill in the distance
collecting rosin from pine tree
Xiufeng Hill with Rongxian, Baqi, and Donggangling Formations and the Givetian-Frasnian boundary (in the Rongxian Fm.)
farmhouse on walk back
Stop 2: Guche village (p. 9-10; out of order)
group examining the outcrop
roadcut showing the Emsian Dale Member of the Sipai Formation and the Eifelian Gupa Member of the Yingtang Formation
Drive to field area
bamboo stand along forest edge
view of Li valley from pinnacle road; another view of valley; downstream view
view of pinnacle from pinnacle road; same view with group; view with Anne, Mary and Nora; same view with me as well
First stop: Zhongnan village (Stop 4 of Day 4; out of order because of heavy rain and high water; p. 29-30)
our group walking on edge of rice paddy
discussion at edge of paddy
view of pinnacle karst from paddy; we had just been on the road on the other side of the paddy; same view, a little to the left; these hills are figured in the guidebook (Fig.30) and exhibit inclined foreslope strata adjacent to carbonate platform; however, one cannot see this because of the thick vegetation
discussion at outcrop
walking back along the road
barn along walk
Second stop: Fuhe (Stop 5 of Day 4, out of order because of heavy rain, p. 30-33).
outcrop along road
basinal strata composed of thin limestones, cherts, and tuffaceous beds deposited in the Yangshuo basin in the Frasnian.
examination of strata along the road
Third stop: Tieshan (Stop 2 of Day 2, out of order, p. 14-15).
view of hill; another view of same hill
Famenian (Late Devonian) limestones of Tieshan; note black strata in middle of exposure
Famenian limestones at the quarry
view of pinnacle karst from quarry, very humid day
Fourth stop
view from hill-side stop; very humid
Stop 1: we tried to get to this stop, but the area was flooded and we couldn't get to the outcrop (p.15-17).
Another stop: we walked a muddy path to another flooded area and we couldn't get to the outcrop. We looked at some exposures along the walk back.
Stop 2: Etoucun (p. 18-19); platform carbonates of the Upper Devonian Etoucun Formation and Lower Carboniferous Shangyueshan Formation.
rice paddies along walk to outcrop
flooded crops and orchard; pinnacle karst in background
flooded orchard in foreground
fisherman using electricity and dip net
Drive to stop 3: quick stop next to highway
basinal strata, Devonian
Stop 3: Nanbiancun, Devonian-Carboniferous Boundary stratotype candidate (p. 20-24).
swollen streams in village
brick house across stream
stratotype outcrop (boundary is between beds 55 and 56 in the limestone)
Nora and Mary at stand of bamboo
Stop 4: Reed-Flute Cave (p. 24)
young lady posing at overlook
Mary and Nora at overlook
blue-lit flowstone in cave; same view (to the right); green- and blue-lit flowstone; yellow-lit column; multi-colored flowstone
Stop 1: Boat excursion down the Li River (p. 25-26); Zhujiang to Yangshuo; most of the pinnacle karst is in the Upper Devonian Rongxian Formation, a platform carbonate.
map of the Li River showing the pinnacle karst, from Google Earth
flooded landing at Zhujiang
Nora and Mary in covered lower deck of the river boat
two men on small bamboo raft-boat in fast-moving, flooded waters of the Li River
the two men held onto our boat and tried to sell us curios; I thought their boat would tip over at any minute
viewof another river boat from our "sun deck"
mass of incipient pinnacle karst in clouds
group picture of a tour group; I don't know what group
large cave at river level
more tower karst in clouds
more pinnacles in clouds
pinnacles and muddy water
same view of towers as on yuan note
boat-ramp at village
whole-fried crabs for lunch
closer view of raft-boat
flooding stream entering Li River
man with two fishing cormorants on bamboo pole (in back), Yangshuo
pond in hotel compound at Yangshuo
Stop 2: Yangshuo petrol station; Devonian carbonate platform collapse with megabreccias (p. 26-27).
platform carbonate exposed in hill
displaced carbonate block as shown in guidebook
Stop 3: Baisha; Frasnian to Famenian, basin to carbonate platform transitions and sea level changes (p. 27-28).
concrete-block house with bark roof
We got up, had breakfast at the hotel and then checked out. Then we boarded our bus and went to the airport. We flew on Hainan Airlines flight 7216 to Beijing which left Guilin at 12:55 PM.
Beijing part of trip or Parent Page (up one level)
