Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:32:01.223Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New carbon isotope stratigraphy of the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary interval from SW China: implications for global correlation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2009

DA LI ,
HONG-FEI LING ,
SHAO-YONG JIANG ,
JIA-YONG PAN ,
YONG-QUAN CHEN ,
YUAN-FENG CAI  and
HONG-ZHEN FENG
DA LI
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
HONG-FEI LING*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
SHAO-YONG JIANG
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
JIA-YONG PAN
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China Resource and Environmental Engineering Center, East China Institute of Technology, Fuzhou 344000, China
YONG-QUAN CHEN
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
YUAN-FENG CAI
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
HONG-ZHEN FENG
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
*
†Author for correspondence: hfling@nju.edu.cn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Yangtze Platform preserves relatively thick carbonate successions and excellent fossil records across the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary interval. The intensely studied Meishucun section in East Yunnan was one of the Global Stratotype Section candidates for the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary. However, depositional breaks were suspected in the section and the first appearance of small shelly fossils could not be verified. The Laolin section located in NE Yunnan is more continuous and shows great potential for global correlation of carbon isotope features across the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary. However, the stratigraphic framework and correlations were controversial. We studied and systematically sampled the Laolin section and present here new carbon isotope data for this section. The Laolin section consists of, in ascending order, the Baiyanshao dolostone of the Dengying Formation, the Daibu siliceous dolostone, Zhongyicun dolomitic phosphorite, lower Dahai dolostone and upper Dahai limestone of the Zhujiaqing Formation, and the black siltstone of the Shiyantou Formation. Our data reveal a large negative δ13C excursion (−7.2‰, L1′) in the Daibu Member, which matches the previously published data for the Laolin section, and a large positive excursion (+3.5‰, L4) in the Dahai Member, which was not shown in the published data. The excursion L1′ correlates well with the similarly large negative excursion near the first appearance of small shelly fossils in Siberia and Mongolia. Similar magnitude excursions are also known from Morocco and Oman, for which there are no robust fossil constraints but from where volcanic ash beds have been dated precisely at 542 Ma, thus confirming a global biogeochemical event near the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary. Our data also indicate that deposition was more continuous at the Laolin section compared with the Meishucun section, where there are no records of a comparable negative excursion near the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary, nor any comparable positive excursion in the Dahai Member. Therefore, the Laolin section has proven potential to be a supplementary Global Stratotype Section for the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary on the Yangtze Platform.

Keywords

C-isotope stratigraphyEdiacaran–Cambrian boundaryLaolin sectionYangtze Platform
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 146 , Issue 4 , July 2009 , pp. 465 - 484
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amthor, J. E., Grotzinger, J. P., Schröder, S., Bowring, S. A., Ramezani, J., Martin, M. W. & Matter, A. 2003. Extinction of Cloudina and Namacalathus at the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary in Oman. Geology 31, 431–4.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartley, J. K., Pope, M., Knoll, A. H., Semikhatov, M. A. & Petrov, P. Yu. 1998. A Vendian–Cambrian boundary succession from the northwestern margin of the Siberian Platform: stratigraphy, palaeontology, chemostratigraphy and correlation. Geological Magazine 135, 473–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bathurst, R. G. C. 1975. Carbonate sediments and their diagenesis. Development in Sedimentology 12, 1–658. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Bowring, S. A., Grotzinger, J. P., Isachsen, C. E., Knoll, A. H., Pelechaty, S. M. & Kolosov, P. 1993. Calibrating rates of Early Cambrian evolution. Science 261, 1293–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brasier, M. D. 1989. On mass extinctions and faunal turnover near the end of the Precambrian. In Mass extinctions, processes, and evidence (ed. Donovan, S. K.), pp. 73–88. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Brasier, M. D., Cowie, J. & Taylor, M. 1994. Decision on the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary stratotype. Episodes 17, 3–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brasier, M. D., Magaritz, M., Corfield, R., Luo, H.-L., Wu, X.-C., Ouyang, L., Jiang, Z.-W., Hamdi, B., He, T.-G. & Fraser, A. G. 1990. The carbon- and oxygen-isotope record of the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary interval in China and Iran and their correlation. Geological Magazine 127, 319–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brasier, M. D., Rozanov, A. Yu., Zhuravlev, A. Yu., Corfield, R. M. & Derry, L. A. 1994. A carbon isotope reference scale for the Lower Cambrian succession in Siberia: report of IGCP Project 303. Geological Magazine 131, 767–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brasier, M. D., Shields, G., Kuleshov, V. N. & Zhegallo, E. A. 1996. Integrated chemo- and biostratigraphic calibration of early animal evolution: Neoproterozoic–early Cambrian of southwest Mongolia. Geological Magazine 133, 445–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowie, J. W. 1985. Continuing work on the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary. Episodes 8, 93–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, H. 1953. The geochemistry of stable carbon isotopes. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 3, 53–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geyer, G. & Uchman, A. 1995. Ichnofossil assemblages from the Nama Group (Neoproterozoic–lower Cambrian) in Namibia and the Proterozoic–Cambrian boundary problem revisited. Beringeria Special Issue 2, 175–202.Google Scholar
Grotzinger, J. P., Bowring, S. A., Saylor, B. Z. & Kaufman, A. J. 1995. Biostratigraphic and geochronologic constraints on early animal evolution. Science 270, 598–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
He, T.-G. 1989. Classification and correlation of phosphatic sequences of Yuhucun Formation in east Yunnan. Minerals and Rocks 9 (2), 1–11 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
He, T.-G., Shen, L.-J. & Yin, J.-C. 1988. A new understanding on Meishucun Sinian–Cambrian boundary section in Jinning, Yunnan. Journal of Chengdu College of Geology 15 (3), 38–44 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Jiang, Z.-W. 1980. The Meishucun Stage and fauna of the Jinning County, Yunnan. Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences 2 (1), 75–96 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Kaufman, A. J. & Knoll, A. H. 1995. Neoproterozoic variations in the C-isotopic composition of seawater: stratigraphic and biogeochemical implications. Precambrian Research 73, 27–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaufman, A. J., Knoll, A. H., Semikhatov, M. A., Grotzinger, J. P., Jacobsen, S. B. & Adams, W. 1996. Integrated chronostratigraphy of Proterozoic–Cambrian boundary beds in the western Anabar region, northern Siberia. Geological Magazine 133, 509–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Khomentovsky, V. V. & Karlova, G. A. 1993. Biostratigraphy of the Vendian–Cambrian beds and the Lower Cambrian boundary in Siberia. Geological Magazine 130, 29–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kimura, H., Matsumoto, R., Kakuwa, Y., Hamdi, B. & Zibaseresht, H. 1997. The Vendian–Cambrian δ13C record, North Iran: evidence for overturning of the ocean before the Cambrian Explosion. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 147, E1–E7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kimura, H. & Watanabe, Y. 2001. Oceanic anoxia at the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary. Geology 29, 995–8.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knoll, A. H. & Carroll, S. B. 1999. Early animal evolution: Emerging views from comparative biology and geology. Science 284, 2129–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knoll, A. H., Grotzinger, J. P., Kaufman, A. J. & Kolosov, P. 1995 a. Integrated approaches to terminal Proterozoic stratigraphy: An example from the Olenek Uplift, northeastern Siberia. Precambrian Research 73, 251–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knoll, A. H., Kaufman, A. J., Semikhatov, M. A., Grotzinger, J. P. & Adams, W. 1995 b. Sizing up the sub-Tommotian unconformity in Siberia. Geology 23, 1139–43.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kouchinsky, A., Bengtson, S., Missarzhevsky, V. V., Pelechaty, S., Tossander, P. & Val'kov, A. K. 2001. Carbon isotope stratigraphy and the problem of a pre-Tommotian Stage in Siberia. Geological Magazine 138, 387–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kouchinsky, A., Bengtson, S., Pavlov, V., Runnegar, B., Torssander, P., Young, E. & Ziegler, K. 2007. Carbon isotope stratigraphy of the Precambrian–Cambrian Sukharikha River section, northwestern Siberian platform. Geological Magazine 144, 609–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kouchinsky, A., Bengtson, S., Pavlov, V., Runnegar, B., Val'kov, A. & Young, E. 2005. Pre-Tommotian age of the lower Pestrotsvet Formation in the Selinde section on the Siberian platform: carbon isotopic evidence. Geological Magazine 142, 319–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kump, L. R. 1991. Interpreting carbon-isotope excursions: Strangelove oceans. Geology 19, 299–302.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landing, E. 1994. Precambrian–Cambrian boundary global stratotype ratified and a new perspective of Cambrian time. Geology 22, 179–82.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, A. C. & Von Dreele, R. B. 2004. General Structure Analysis System (GSAS), Los Alamos National Laboratory Report LAUR, pp. 86–748.Google Scholar
Latham, A. & Riding, R. 1990. Fossil evidence for the location of the Precambrian/Cambrian boundary in Morocco. Nature 344, 752–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luo, H.-L., Jiang, Z.-W. & Tang, L.-D. 1994. Stratotype section for Lower Cambrian stages in China. Kunming: Yunnan Science and Technology Press (in Chinese with English summary), pp. 1–183 + 40 pp.Google Scholar
Luo, H.-L., Jiang, Z.-W., Wu, X.-C., Song, X.-L. & Ouyang, L. 1982. The Sinian–Cambrian boundary in eastern Yunnan, China, pp. 1–265. Kunming: People's Publishing House, Yunnan (in Chinese with English summary).Google Scholar
Luo, H.-L., Jiang, Z.-W., Wu, X.-C., Song, X.-L. & Ouyang, L. 1990. The global biostratigraphical correlation of the Meishucunian stage and the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary. Science in China (Series B) 14 (3), 313–18 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Luo, H.-L., Jiang, Z.-W., Wu, X.-C., Song, X.-L., Ouyang, L., Xing, Y.-S., Liu, G.-Z., Zhang, S.-S. & Tao, Y.-H. 1984. Sinian–Cambrian boundary stratotype section at Meishucun, Jinning, China, pp. 1–154. Kunming: People's Publishing House, Yunnan (in Chinese with English summary).Google Scholar
Luo, H.-L., Jiang, Z.-W., Xu, Z.-J., Song, X.-L. & Xue, X.-F. 1980. On the Sinian–Cambrian boundary of Meichcun and Wangjiawan, Jinning County, Yunnan. Acta Geologica Sinica 1980 (2), 95–112 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Luo, H.-L., Wu, X.-C. & Ouyang, L. 1991. Facies changes and transverse correlation of the Sinian–Cambrian boundary strata in eastern Yunnan. Sedimentary Facies and Palaeogeography 1991 (4), 27–35 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Magaritz, M., Holser, W. T. & Kirschvink, J. L. 1986. Carbon-isotope events across the Precambrian/Cambrian boundary on the Siberian Platform. Nature 320, 258–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magaritz, M., Kirschvink, J. L., Latham, A. J., Zhuravlev, A. Yu. & Rozanov, A. Yu. 1991. Precambrian/Cambrian boundary problem: Carbon isotope correlations for Vendian and Tommotian time between Siberia and Morocco. Geology 19, 847–50.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maloof, A. C., Schrag, D. P., Crowley, J. L. & Bowring, S. A. 2005. An expanded record of Early Cambrian carbon cycling from the Anti-Atlas Margin, Morocco. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 42, 2195–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCrea, J. M. 1950. On the isotopic chemistry of carbonates and a paleotemperature scale. The Journal of Chemical Physics 18, 849–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Narbonne, G. M., Kaufman, A. J. & Knoll, A. H. 1994. Integrated chemostratigraphy and biostratigraphy of the Windermere Supergroup, northwestern Canada: Implications for Neoproterozoic correlations and the early evolution of animals. Geological Society of America Bulletin 106, 1281–92.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Narbonne, G. M., Myrow, P. M., Landing, E. & Anderson, M. M. 1987. A candidate stratotype for the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary, Fortune Head, Burin Peninsula, southeastern Newfoundland. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 24 (7), 1277–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelechaty, S. M. 1998. Integrated chronostratigraphy of the Vendian System of Siberia: implications for a global stratigraphy. Journal of the Geological Society, London 155, 957–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelechaty, S. M., Grotzinger, J. P., Kashirtsev, V. A. & Zhernovsky, V. P. 1996. Chemostratigraphic and sequence stratigraphic constraints on Vendian–Cambrian basin dynamics, Northeast Siberian Craton. Journal of Geology 104, 543–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelechaty, S. M., Kaufman, A. J. & Grotzinger, J. P. 1996. Evaluation of δ13C chemostratigraphy for intrabasinal correlation: Vendian strata of northeast Siberia. Geological Society of America Bulletin 108, 992–1003.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pokrovsky, B. G. & Missarzhevsky, V. V. 1993. Izotopnaya korrelyatsiya pogranichnykh tolsch dokembriya i kembriya Sibirskoj platformy. [Isotopic correlation of Precambrian and Cambrian boundary beds of the Siberian platform.] Doklady Akademii Nauk 329, 768–71 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Qian, Y. 1977. Hyolitha and some Problematica from the Lower Cambrian Meishucun Stage in central and southwest China. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica 16 (2), 255–78 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Qian, Y. 1999. Taxonomy and biostratigraphy of small shelly fossils in China. Beijing: Science Press (in Chinese), 78 pp.Google Scholar
Qian, Y. & Bengtson, S. 1989. Palaeontology and biostratigraphy of the Early Cambrian Meishucunian Stage in Yunnan Province, South China. Fossils and Strata 24, 1–156.Google Scholar
Qian, Y., Zhu, M.-Y., He, T.-G. & Jiang, Z.-W. 1996. New investigation of Precambrian–Cambrian boundary sections in eastern Yunnan. Acta Micropalaeontologica Sinica 13 (3), 225–40 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Qian, Y., Zhu, M.-Y., Li, G.-X., Jiang, Z.-W. & Iten, H. V. 2002. A supplemental Precambrian–Cambrian boundary global stratotype section in SW China. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica 41 (1), 19–26.Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, J. & Sheppard, S. M. F. 1986. An isotopic study of siderites, dolomites and ankerites at high temperatures. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 50, 1147–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seilacher, A. 1984. Late Precambrian and Early Cambrian metazoa: Preservational or real extinctions? In Patterns of change in Earth evolution (eds Holland, H. D. & Trendall, A. F.), pp. 159–68. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shen, Y.-A. & Schidlowski, M. 2000. New C isotope stratigraphy from southwest China: Implications for the placement of the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary on the Yangtze Platform and global correlations. Geology 28, 623–6.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shen, Y.-A. & Schidlowski, M. 2001. New C isotope stratigraphy from southwest China: Implications for the placement of the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary on the Yangtze Platform and global correlations: reply. Geology 29, 872.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shields, G. 1999. Working towards a new stratigraphic calibration scheme for the Neoproterozoic–Cambrian. Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae 92 (2), 221–33.Google Scholar
Strauss, H., De Marais, D. J., Hayes, J. M. & Summons, R. E. 1992. The carbon isotopic record. In The Proterozoic Biosphere (eds Schopf, J. W. & Klein, C.), pp. 117–27. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tucker, M. E. 1986. Carbon isotope excursions in Precambrian/Cambrian boundary beds, Morocco. Nature 319, 48–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xing, Y.-S., Ding, Q.-X., Luo, H.-L., He, T.-G. & Wang, Y.-G. 1984. The Sinian–Cambrian boundary of China and its related problems. Geological Magazine 121, 155–70.Google Scholar
Yin, J.-C., Li, D.-Q. & He, T.-G. 1993. New discovery of trace fossils from the Sinian–Cambrian beds in eastern Yunnnan and its significance for global correlation. Acta Geologica Sinica 67 (2), 146–58 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Zhou, C.-M., Zhang, J.-M., Li, G.-X. & Yu, Z.-Y. 1997. Carbon and oxygen isotopic record of the early Cambrian from the Xiaotan section, Yunnan, South China. Scientia geologica sinica 32 (2), 201–11 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Zhu, M.-Y., Li, G.-X. & Zhang, J.-M. 2001. New C isotope stratigraphy from southwest China: Implications for the placement of the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary on the Yangtze Platform and global correlations: Comment. Geology 29, 871.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhu, M.-Y., Li, G.-X., Zhang, J.-M., Steiner, M., Qian, Y. & Jiang, Z.-W. 2001. Early Cambrian stratigraphy of east Yunnan, southwestern China: A synthesis. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica 40 (Supplement), 4–39.Google Scholar
Zhu, M.-Y., Zhang, J.-M., Steiner, M., Yang, A.-H., Li, G.-X. & Erdtmann, B. D. 2003. Sinian–Cambrian stratigraphic framework for shallow- to deep-water environments of the Yangtze Platform: an integrated approach. Progress in Natural Science 13, 951–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Li supplementary material

Appendix.doc

Download Li supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 603.5 KB