Revisiting the Tianjiayuanzi section - the stratotype section of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation, Yangtze Gorges, South China

 

Authors: Lu M, Zhu M, Zhao F

Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences, volume 87, issue 1; pages: 183 - 194; Received 12 September 2010; Accepted in revised form 7 October 2011; Online 29 February 2012

Keywords: Ediacaran, Doushantuo, chemostratigraphy, carbon isotopes, South China,

full text (PDF, 5.43 MB)

Export to RIS

 

Abstract

The Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation (dating from 635 Ma to 551 Ma) of South China is composed of alternating siliciclastic and carbonate units and yields abundant extraordinarily preserved animal embryos, macroscopic multicellular algae and Ediacara-type fossils. Thus, it is critical for the chronostratigraphic calibration of the Ediacaran Period and for deciphering the evolutionary history of life during this time interval. In order to establish a high-resolution Ediacaran chronostratigraphic framework and to clarify the correlation problem of the Doushantuo Formation, we reinvestigated the Tianjiayuanzi section, which is the stratotype section of the Doushantuo Formation. The new carbon isotope and sequence stratigraphic data, as well as the integrative correlation of the Tianjiayuanzi section with other sections in the Yangtze Gorges area demonstrate that there are four negative carbon isotope excursions (N1-N4) in the Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area. The N1 (CANCE) excursion occurs within the cap carbonate interval at the base of the formation. Extreme negative δ13C values (< -18‰) are recorded within this interval from most of the sections in the Yangtze Gorges area. The N2 (WANCE) excursion, with δ13C values shifting from +6‰ to -1‰, occurs in the middle of Member 2 at a major sequence boundary in the middle of the formation. The N3 excursion is situated in a horizon near the boundary between Member 2 and Member 3 of the formation and is characterized by δ13C values down to -6‰. The N4 (DOUNCE) excursion with a nadir of δ13C values as low as -9.6‰ at the top of the formation represents the most distinct negative carbon isotope excursion in the Ediacaran. New observations in the field confirm the presence of a sequence boundary at a karstic surface in the upper part of the Doushantuo Formation, which coincides with the beginning of the nadir of δ13C values within the DOUNCE. Additional δ13C data from the basal Dengying Formation indicates that the DOUNCE interval with the most negative δ13C values crosses entirely the black shale Member 4 at the top of the Doushantuo Formation.

References

Bowring, S.A., Grotzinger, J.P., Condon, D.J., Ramezani, J., Newall, M.J. & Allen, P.A. 2007. Geological constraints on the chronostratigraphic framework of the Huqf Supergroup, Sultanate of Oman. American Journal of Science 307(10), 1097-1145. View article

Bristow, T.F., Kennedy, M.J., Derkowski, A., Droser, M.L., Jiang, G.Q. & Creaser, R.A. 2009. Mineralogical constraints on the paleoenvironments of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106(32), 13190-13195. View article

Canfield, D.E., Poulton, S.W., Knoll, A.H., Narbonne, G.M., Ross, G., Goldberg, T. & Strauss, H. 2008. Ferruginous conditions dominated later Neoproterozoic deep-water chemistry. Science 321(5891), 949-952. View article

Chen, J.Y., Oliveri, P., Gao, F., Dornbos, S.Q., Li, C.W., Bottjer, D.J. & Davidson, E.H. 2002. Precambrian animal life: Probable developmental and adult cnidarian forms from Southwest China. Developmental Biology 248(1), 182-196. View article

Chen, J.Y., Bottjer, D.J., Davidson, E.H., Li, G.X., Gao, F., Cameron, R.A., Hadfield, M.G., Xian, D., Tafforeau, P., Jia, Q., Sugiyama, H. & Tang, R. 2009. Phase contrast synchrotron X-ray microtomography of Ediacaran (Doushantuo) metazoan microfossils: Phylogenetic diversity and evolutionary implications. Precambrian Research 173(1-4), 191-200. View article

Chen, X., Li, H., Chen, L.,Wang, C.&Wang, X.F. 2003. Carbon and oxygen isotope features of the Sinian carbonate strata in the Three Gorges region. Geological Review 49(1), 66-73.

Chu, X.L., Zhang, Q., Zhang, T. & Feng, L. 2003. Sulfur and carbon isotopic variations in Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks from southern China. Progress in Natural Science 13(11), 875-880. View article

Condon, D., Zhu, M.Y., Bowring, S., Wang, W., Yang, A.H. & Jin, Y.G. 2005. U-Pb ages from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation, China. Science 308(5718), 95-98. View article

Derry, L.A., Kaufman, A.J. & Jacobsen, S.B. 1992. Sedimentary cycling and environmental change in the Late Proterozoic - Evidence from stable and radiogenic isotopes. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 56(3), 1317-1329.View article

Fike, D.A., Grotzinger, J.P., Pratt, L.M. & Summons, R.E. 2006. Oxidation of the Ediacaran Ocean. Nature 444(7120), 744-747. View article

Gaidos, E.J., Dubuc, T., Dunford, M., McAndrew, P., Padilla Gamino, J., Studer, B., Weersingand, K. & Stanley, S.M. 2007. The Precambrian emergence of animal life: a geobiological perspective. Geobiology 5(4), 351-373. View article

Grey, K. 2005. Ediacaran Palynology of Australia. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 31, 1-439.

Halverson, G.P., Hoffman, P.F., Schrag, D.P.,Maloof, A.C.& Rice, A.H.N. 2005. Toward a Neoproterozoic composite carbon-isotope record. Geological Society of America Bulletin 117(9-10), 1181-1207. View article

Halverson, G.P., Wade, B.P., Hurtgen, M.T. & Barovich, K.M. 2010. Neoproterozoic chemostratigraphy. Precambrian Research 182(4), 337-350. View article

Jiang, G.Q., Kennedy, M.J. & Christie-Blick, N. 2003a. Stable isotopic evidence for methane seeps in Neoproterozoic postglacial cap carbonates. Nature 426(6968), 822-826. View article

Jiang, G.Q., Sohl, L.E. & Christie-Blick, N. 2003b. Neoproterozoic stratigraphic comparison of the Lesser Himalaya (India) and Yangtze Block (South China): Paleogeographic implications. Geology 31(10), 917-920. View article

Jiang, G.Q., Kaufman, A.J., Christie-Blick, N., Zhang, S.H. & Wu, H. 2007. Carbon isotope variability across the Ediacaran Yangtze platform in South China: Implications for a large surface-to-deep ocean ?13C gradient. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 261(1-2), 303-320. View article

Jiang, G.Q., Kennedy, M.J., Christie-Blick, N., Wu, H. & Zhang, S.H. 2006. Stratigraphy, sedimentary structures, and textures of the late Neoproterozoic Doushantuo cap carbonate in south China. Journal of Sedimentary Research 76(7-8), 978-995. View article

Jiang, G.Q., Shi, X.Y., Zhang, S.H., Wang, Y. & Xiao, S.H. 2011. Stratigraphy and paleogeography of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation (ca. 635-551 Ma) in South China. Gondwana Research 19(4), 831-849. View article

Kaufman, A.J., Jiang, G.Q., Christie-Blick, N., Banerjee, D.M. & Rai, V. 2006. Stable isotope record of the terminal Neoproterozoic Krol platform in the Lesser Himalayas of northern India. Precambrian Research 147(1-2), 156-185. View article

Kaufman, A.J. & Knoll, A.H. 1995. Neoproterozoic variations in the C-isotopic composition of seawater: stratigraphic and biogeochemical implications. Precambrian Research 73(1-4), 27-49. View article

Knoll, A.H., Walter, M.R., Narbonne, G.M. & Christie Blick, N. 2004. A new period for the Geologic Time Scale.Science 305(5684), 621-622. View article

Lambert, I.B.,Walter, M.R., Zang, W.L., Lu, S.N. & Ma, G.G. 1987. Palaeoenvironment and carbon isotope stratigraphy of Upper Proterozoic carbonates of the Yangtze Platform. Nature 325(6100), 140-142. View article

Le Guerroué, E., Allen, P.A. & Cozzi, A. 2006a. Chemostratigraphic and sedimentological framework of the largest negative carbon isotopic excursion in Earth history: the Neoproterozoic Shuram Formation (Nafun Group, Oman). Precambrian Research 146(1-2), 68-92. View article

Le Guerroué, E., Allen, P.A., Cozzi, A., Etienne, J.L. & Fanning, C.M. 2006b. 50 Myr recovery from the largest negative ?13C excursion in the Ediacaran ocean. Terra Nova 18(2), 147-153. View article

Le Guerroué, E. & Cozzi, A. 2010. Veracity of Neoproterozoic negative C-isotope values: The termination of the Shuram negative excursion. Gondwana Research 17(4), 653-661. View article

Li, C.W., Love, G.D., Lyons, T.W., Fike, D.A., Sessions, A.L. & Chu, X.L. 2010. A Stratified Redox Model for the Ediacaran Ocean. Science 328(5974), 80-83. View article

Lu, M., Zhu, M.Y. & Zhao, M. 2009. Litho- and carbon isotope stratigraphy of the Ediacaran system in the Sixi section (Yangtze Gorges), Yichang, Hubei. Journal of Stratigraphy 33(4), 359-372.

McFadden, K.A., Huang, J., Chu, X.L., Jiang, G.Q., Kaufman, A.J., Zhou, C.M., Yuan, X.L. & Xiao, S.H. 2008. Pulsed oxidation and bioloical evolution in the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105(9), 3197-3202. View article

McFadden, K.A., Xiao, S.H., Zhou, C.M. & Kowalewski, M. 2009. Quantitative evaluation of the biostratigraphic distribution of acanthomorphic acritarchs in the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China. Precambrian Research 173(1-4), 170-190. View article

Melezhik, V.A., Pokrovsky, B.G., Fallick, A.E., Kuznetsov, A.B. & Bujakaite, M.I. 2009. Constraints on 87Sr/86Sr of Late Ediacaran seawater: insight from Siberian high-Sr limestones. Journal of the Geological Society, London 166(1), 183-191. View article

Sawaki, Y., Ohno, T., Tahata, M., Komiya, T., Hirata, T., Maruyama, S.,Windley, B.F., Han, J., Shu, D. & Li,Y. 2010. The Ediacaran radiogenic Sr isotope excursion in the Doushantuo Formation in the Three Gorges area, South China. Precambrian Research 176(1-4), 46-64. View article

Squire, R.J., Campbell, I.H., Allen, C.M.&Wilson, C.J.L. 2006. Did the Transgondwanan Supermountain trigger the explosive radiation of animals on Earth? Earth and Planetary Science Letters 250(1-2), 116-133. View article

Swanson-Hysell, N.L., Rose, C.V., Calmet, C.C., Halverson, G.P., Hurtgen, M.T. & Maloof, A.C. 2010. Cryogenian glaciation and the onset of carbon-isotope decoupling. Science 328(5978), 608-611. View article

Van Wagoner, J.C., Mitchum, R.M., Campion, K.M. & Rahmanian, V.D. 1990. Siliciclastic sequence stratigraphy in well logs, cores, and outcrops. 55 pp. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa, OK (USA).View article

Wang, J.S., Jiang, G.Q., Xiao, S.H., Li, Q. & Wei, Q. 2008. Carbon isotope evidence for widespread methane seeps in the ca. 635 Ma Doushantuo cap carbonate in south China. Geology 36(5), 347-350. View article

Wang, W., Matsumoto, R., Wang, H., Ohde, S., Kano, A. & Mu, X. 2002a. Isotopic chemostratigraphy of the upper Sinian in Three Gorges area. Acta Micropalaeontologica Sinica 19(4), 382-388.

Wang, X.F.,Chen, X.,Wang, C.&Chen, L. 2001a. Basal boundary and its inner chronostratigraphic subdivision of the Sinian System in China. Journal of Stratigraphy 25 (Supplement), 370-376.

Wang, X.F., Erdtmann, B.-D., Chen, X. & Mao, X. 1998. Integrated sequence-, bio- and chemostratigraphy of the terminal Proterozoic to Lowermost Cambrian “black rock series” from central South China. Episodes 21(3), 178-189.View article

Wang, Z.H., Gao, L. & Yin, C. 2001b. Ascertainment and stratigraphic division of the Sinian stratotype section. Geological Review 47, 449-456. View article

Wang, Z.H., Yang, J.D. & Sun, W.G. 1996. Carbon isotope record of Sinian seawater in Yangtze Platform. Geological Journal of Universities 2(1), 112-120.

Wang, Z.H., Yin, C., Gao, L. & Liu, Y. 2002b. Chemostratigraphic characteristics and correlation of the Sinian stratotype in the eastern Yangtze Gorges area, Yichang, Hubei Province. Geological Review 48(4), 408-415.

Xiao, S.H., Knoll, A.H., Yuan, X.L. & Pueschel, C.M. 2004. Phosphatized multicellular algae in the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation, China, and the early evolution of florideophyte red algae. American Journal of Botany 91(2), 214-227. View article

Xiao, S.H., Zhang, Y. & Knoll, A.H. 1998. Three-dimensional preservation of algae and animal embryos in a Neoproterozoic phosphorite. Nature 391(6667), 553-558. View article

Yang, J.D., Sun, W.G., Wang, Z.Z., Xue, Y.S. & Tao, X.C. 1999. Variations in Sr and C isotopes and Ce anomalies in successions from China: evidence for the oxygenation of Neoproterozoic seawater? Precambrian Research 93(2-3), 215-233. View article

Yin, L.M., Zhu, M.Y., Knoll, A.H., Yuan, X.L., Zhang, J.M. & Hu, J. 2007. Doushantuo embryos preserved inside diapause egg cysts. Nature 446(7136), 661-663. View article

Zhao, Z.Q., Xing, Y.,Ma, G. & Chen, Y. 1985. Biostratigraphy of the Yangtze Gorges area: (1) Sinian. 143 pp. Geological Publishing House, Beijing. [in Chinese with English summary]

Zhou, C.M. & Xiao, S.H. 2007. Ediacaran ?13C chemostratigraphy of South China. Chemical Geology 237(1-2), 89-108. View article

Zhou, C.M., Bao, H.M., Peng, Y.B. & Yuan, X.L. 2010. Timing the deposition of 17O-depleted barite at the aftermath of Nantuo glacial meltdown in South China. Geology 38(10), 903-906. View article

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 Nature Science 13(12), 951-960. View article

Zhu, M.Y., Strauss, H. & Shields, G.A. 2007a. From snowball earth to the Cambrian bioradiation: Calibration of Ediacaran-Cambrian earth history in South China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 254(1-2), 1-6. View article

Zhu, M.Y., Zhang, J.M. & Yang, A.H. 2007b. Integrated Ediacaran (Sinian) chronostratigraphy of South China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 254(1-2), 7-61. View article

Zhu, M.Y., Gehling, J., Xiao, S.H., Zhao, Y.L. & Droser, M.L. 2008. Eight-armed Ediacara fossil preserved in contrasting taphonomic windows from China and Australia. Geology 36(11), 867-870. View article