Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology

U-Pb zircon dates from volcanic ash beds within the Doushantuo Formation (China) indicate that its deposition occurred between 635 and 551 million years ago. The base records termination of the global-scale Marinoan glaciation and is coeval with similar dated rocks from Namibia, indicating synchronous deglaciation. Carbon isotopic and sequence-stratigraphic data imply that the spectacular animal fossils of the Doushantuo Formation are for the most part younger than 580 million years old. The uppermost Doushantuo Formation contains a pronounced negative carbonate carbon isotopic excursion, which we interpret as a global event at circa 551 million years ago.

Carbon and sulfur isotopic data, together with biomarker and iron speciation analyses of the Hovea-3 core that was drilled in the Perth Basin, Western Australia, indicate that euxinic conditions prevailed in the paleowater column during the Permian-Triassic superanoxic event. Biomarkers diagnostic for anoxygenic photosynthesis by Chlorobiaceae are particularly abundant at the boundary and into the Early Triassic. Similar conditions prevailed in the contemporaneous seas off South China. Our evidence for widespread photiczone euxinic conditions suggests that sulfide toxicity was a driver of the extinction and a factor in the protracted recovery.

The end-Permian mass extinction was the most severe biodiversity crisis in Earth history. To better constrain the timing, and ultimately the causes of this event, we collected a suite of geochronologic, isotopic, and biostratigraphic data on several well-preserved sedimentary sections in South China. High-precision U-Pb dating reveals that the extinction peak occurred just before 252.28 ± 0.08 million years ago, after a decline of 2 per mil (‰) in δ(13)C over 90,000 years, and coincided with a δ(13)C excursion of -5‰ that is estimated to have lasted ≤20,000 years. The extinction interval was less than 200,000 years and synchronous in marine and terrestrial realms; associated charcoal-rich and soot-bearing layers indicate widespread wildfires on land. A massive release of thermogenic carbon dioxide and/or methane may have caused the catastrophic extinction.

The end-Permian mass extinction was the most severe loss of marine and terrestrial biota in the last 542 My. Understanding its cause and the controls on extinction/recovery dynamics depends on an accurate and precise age model. U-Pb zircon dates for five volcanic ash beds from the Global Stratotype Section and Point for the Permian-Triassic boundary at Meishan, China, define an age model for the extinction and allow exploration of the links between global environmental perturbation, carbon cycle disruption, mass extinction, and recovery at millennial timescales. The extinction occurred between 251.941 ± 0.037 and 251.880 ± 0.031 Mya, an interval of 60 ± 48 ka. Onset of a major reorganization of the carbon cycle immediately precedes the initiation of extinction and is punctuated by a sharp (3‰), short-lived negative spike in the isotopic composition of carbonate carbon. Carbon cycle volatility persists for ∼500 ka before a return to near preextinction values. Decamillenial to millennial level resolution of the mass extinction and its aftermath will permit a refined evaluation of the relative roles of rate-dependent processes contributing to the extinction, allowing insight into postextinction ecosystem expansion, and establish an accurate time point for evaluating the plausibility of trigger and kill mechanisms.

The Meishan section across the Permian-Triassic boundary in South China is the most thoroughly investigated in the world. A statistical analysis of the occurrences of 162 genera and 333 species confirms a sudden extinction event at 251.4 million years ago, coincident with a dramatic depletion of delta13C(carbonate) and an increase in microspherules.

The mass extinction at the end of the Permian was the most profound in the history of life. Fundamental to understanding its cause is determining the tempo and duration of the extinction. Uranium/lead zircon data from Late Permian and Early Triassic rocks from south China place the Permian-Triassic boundary at 251.4 +/- 0.3 million years ago. Biostratigraphic controls from strata intercalated with ash beds below the boundary indicate that the Changhsingian pulse of the end-Permian extinction, corresponding to the disappearance of about 85 percent of marine species, lasted less than 1 million years. At Meishan, a negative excursion in delta13C at the boundary had a duration of 165,000 years or less, suggesting a catastrophic addition of light carbon.

Research Article| March 01, 2012 Climate warming in the latest Permian and the Permian–Triassic mass extinction Michael M. Joachimski; Michael M. Joachimski 1GeoZentrum Nordbayern, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schlossgarten 5, 91054 Erlangen, Germany Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Xulong Lai; Xulong Lai 2Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China3State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Shuzhong Shen; Shuzhong Shen 4State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Haishui Jiang; Haishui Jiang 2Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Genming Luo; Genming Luo 2Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Bo Chen; Bo Chen 1GeoZentrum Nordbayern, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schlossgarten 5, 91054 Erlangen, Germany Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Jun Chen; Jun Chen 4State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Yadong Sun Yadong Sun 2Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Michael M. Joachimski 1GeoZentrum Nordbayern, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schlossgarten 5, 91054 Erlangen, Germany Xulong Lai 2Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China3State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China Shuzhong Shen 4State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China Haishui Jiang 2Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China Genming Luo 2Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China Bo Chen 1GeoZentrum Nordbayern, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schlossgarten 5, 91054 Erlangen, Germany Jun Chen 4State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China Yadong Sun 2Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 02 Aug 2011 Revision Received: 23 Sep 2011 Accepted: 27 Sep 2011 First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2682 Print ISSN: 0091-7613 © 2012 Geological Society of America Geology (2012) 40 (3): 195–198. https://doi.org/10.1130/G32707.1 Article history Received: 02 Aug 2011 Revision Received: 23 Sep 2011 Accepted: 27 Sep 2011 First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Michael M. Joachimski, Xulong Lai, Shuzhong Shen, Haishui Jiang, Genming Luo, Bo Chen, Jun Chen, Yadong Sun; Climate warming in the latest Permian and the Permian–Triassic mass extinction. Geology 2012;; 40 (3): 195–198. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G32707.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract High-resolution oxygen isotope records document the timing and magnitude of global warming across the Permian-Triassic (P-Tr) boundary. Oxygen isotope ratios measured on phosphate-bound oxygen in conodont apatite from the Meishan and Shangsi sections (South China) decrease by 2‰ in the latest Permian, translating into low-latitude surface water warming of 8 °C. The oxygen isotope shift coincides with the negative shift in carbon isotope ratios of carbonates, suggesting that the addition of isotopically light carbon to the ocean-atmosphere system by Siberian Traps volcanism and related processes resulted in higher greenhouse gas levels and global warming. The major temperature rise started immediately before the main extinction phase, with maximum and harmful temperatures documented in the latest Permian (Meishan: bed 27). The coincidence of climate warming and the main pulse of extinction suggest that global warming was one of the causes of the collapse of the marine and terrestrial ecosystems. In addition, very warm climate conditions in the Early Triassic may have played a major role in the delayed recovery in the aftermath of the Permian-Triassic crisis. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

Recent geochemical data from Oman, Newfoundland, and the western United States suggest that long-term oxidation of Ediacaran oceans resulted in progressive depletion of a large dissolved organic carbon (DOC) reservoir and potentially triggered the radiation of acanthomorphic acritarchs, algae, macroscopic Ediacara organisms, and, subsequently, motile bilaterian animals. However, the hypothesized coupling between ocean oxidation and evolution is contingent on the reliability of continuous geochemical and paleontological data in individual sections and of intercontinental correlations. Here we report high-resolution geochemical data from the fossil-rich Doushantuo Formation (635-551 Ma) in South China that confirm trends from other broadly equivalent sections and highlight key features that have not been observed in most sections or have received little attention. First, samples from the lower Doushantuo Formation are characterized by remarkably stable delta(13)C(org) (carbon isotope composition of organic carbon) values but variable delta(34)S(CAS) (sulfur isotope composition of carbonate-associated sulfate) values, which are consistent with a large isotopically buffered DOC reservoir and relatively low sulfate concentrations. Second, there are three profound negative delta(13)C(carb) (carbon isotope composition of carbonate) excursions in the Ediacaran Period. The negative delta(13)C(carb) excursions in the middle and upper Doushantuo Formation record pulsed oxidation of the deep oceanic DOC reservoir. The oxidation events appear to be coupled with eukaryote diversity in the Doushantuo basin. Comparison with other early Ediacaran basins suggests spatial heterogeneity of eukaryote distribution and redox conditions. We hypothesize that the distribution of early Ediacaran eukaryotes likely tracked redox conditions and that only after approximately 551 Ma (when Ediacaran oceans were pervasively oxidized) did evolution of oxygen-requiring taxa reach global distribution.

The extensive work carried out during more than a decade by the International Subcommission on Ordovician Stratigraphy has resulted in a new global classification of the Ordovician System into three series and seven stages. Formal Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Points (GSSPs) for all stages have been selected and these and the new stage names have been ratified by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Based on a variety of biostratigraphic data, these new units are correlated with chronostratigraphic series and stages in the standard regional classifications used in the UK, North America, Baltoscandia, Australia, China, Siberia and the Mediterranean-North Gondwana region. Furthermore, based mainly on graptolite and conodont zones, the Ordovician is subdivided into 20 stage slices (SS) that have potential for precise correlations in both carbonate and shale facies. The new chronostratigraphic scheme is also tied to a new composite δ13C curve through the entire Ordovician.

A finer record of biodiversity We have pressing, human-generated reasons to explore the influence of environmental change on biodiversity. Looking into the past can not only inform our understanding of this relationship but also help us to understand current change. Paleontological records depend on fossil availability and predictive modeling, however, and thus tend to give us a picture with large temporal jumps, millions of years wide. Such a scale makes it difficult to truly understand the action of environmental forces on ecological processes. Enabled by a supercomputer, Fan et al. used machine learning to analyze a large marine Paleozoic dataset, creating a record with time intervals of only ∼26,000 years (see the Perspective by Wagner). This fine-scale resolution revealed new events and important details of previously described patterns. Science , this issue p. 272 ; see also p. 249

Sponge remains have been identified in the Early Vendian Doushantuo phosphate deposit in central Guizhou (South China), which has an age of approximately 580 million years ago. Their skeletons consist of siliceous, monaxonal spicules. All are referred to as the Porifera, class Demospongiae. Preserved soft tissues include the epidermis, porocytes, amoebocytes, sclerocytes, and spongocoel. Among thousands of metazoan embryos is a parenchymella-type of sponge larvae having a shoe-shaped morphology and dense peripheral flagella. The presence of possible amphiblastula larva suggests that the calcareous sponges may have an extended history in the Late Precambrian. The fauna indicates that animals lived 40 to 50 million years before the Cambrian Explosion.

Archaefructaceae is proposed as a new basal angiosperm family of herbaceous aquatic plants. This family consists of the fossils Archaefructus liaoningensis and A. sinensis sp. nov. Complete plants from roots to fertile shoots are known. Their age is a minimum of 124.6 million years from the Yixian Formation, Liaoning, China. They are a sister clade to all angiosperms when their characters are included in a combined three-gene molecular and morphological analysis. Their reproductive axes lack petals and sepals and bear stamens in pairs below conduplicate carpels.

Abstract Pollen data from China for 6000 and 18,000 14 C yr bp were compiled and used to reconstruct palaeovegetation patterns, using complete taxon lists where possible and a biomization procedure that entailed the assignment of 645 pollen taxa to plant functional types. A set of 658 modern pollen samples spanning all biomes and regions provided a comprehensive test for this procedure and showed convincing agreement between reconstructed biomes and present natural vegetation types, both geographically and in terms of the elevation gradients in mountain regions of north‐eastern and south‐western China. The 6000 14 C yr bp map confirms earlier studies in showing that the forest biomes in eastern China were systematically shifted northwards and extended westwards during the mid‐Holocene. Tropical rain forest occurred on mainland China at sites characterized today by either tropical seasonal or broadleaved evergreen/warm mixed forest. Broadleaved evergreen/warm mixed forest occurred further north than today, and at higher elevation sites within the modern latitudinal range of this biome. The northern limit of temperate deciduous forest was shifted c. 800 km north relative to today. The 18,000 14 C yr bp map shows that steppe and even desert vegetation extended to the modern coast of eastern China at the last glacial maximum, replacing today’s temperate deciduous forest. Tropical forests were excluded from China and broadleaved evergreen/warm mixed forest had retreated to tropical latitudes, while taiga extended southwards to c . 43°N.

Research Article| May 01, 2004 New constraints on the ages of Neoproterozoic glaciations in south China Chuanming Zhou; Chuanming Zhou 1Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Nanjing 210008, China, and Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Robert Tucker; Robert Tucker 2Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Shuhai Xiao; Shuhai Xiao 3Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Zhanxiong Peng; Zhanxiong Peng 4Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Xunlai Yuan; Xunlai Yuan 5Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Nanjing 210008, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Zhe Chen Zhe Chen 5Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Nanjing 210008, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Chuanming Zhou 1Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Nanjing 210008, China, and Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA Robert Tucker 2Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA Shuhai Xiao 3Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA Zhanxiong Peng 4Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA Xunlai Yuan 5Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Nanjing 210008, China Zhe Chen 5Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Nanjing 210008, China Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 22 Oct 2003 Revision Received: 12 Jan 2004 Accepted: 14 Jan 2004 First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2682 Print ISSN: 0091-7613 Geological Society of America Geology (2004) 32 (5): 437–440. https://doi.org/10.1130/G20286.1 Article history Received: 22 Oct 2003 Revision Received: 12 Jan 2004 Accepted: 14 Jan 2004 First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Permissions Search Site Citation Chuanming Zhou, Robert Tucker, Shuhai Xiao, Zhanxiong Peng, Xunlai Yuan, Zhe Chen; New constraints on the ages of Neoproterozoic glaciations in south China. Geology 2004;; 32 (5): 437–440. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G20286.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract The most complete Neoproterozoic successions in south China contain three diamictite intervals in the Changan, Tiesiao, and Nantuo Formations. The youngest and most widespread Nantuo glacial deposit overlies the Datangpo Formation and underlies the fossil- rich Doushantuo Formation. Previous authors have correlated the Nantuo diamictite to either Sturtian or Marinoan glacial deposits elsewhere. Here we report sedimentary and δ13C chemostratigraphic data of the Doushantuo cap dolostone, which overlies the Nantuo Formation. Facies-dependent variation in δ13C is interpreted as evidence for spatial heterogeneity in δ13C and/or temporal diachroneity in the initiation of cap carbonate sedimentation. Sedimentary and chemostratigraphic data are indicative of a Marinoan age for the Nantuo glaciation. This inference is supported by a new U-Pb zircon age of 663 ± 4 Ma from a tuffaceous bed in the Datangpo Formation. The new date and other isotopic ages from south China constrain the age of the Changan and Tiesiao glaciation(s) as between 761 ± 8 Ma and 663 ± 4 Ma, and the Nantuo glaciation as between 663 ± 4 Ma and 599 ± 4 Ma. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

The early diversification of animals (∼ 630 Ma), and their development into both motile and macroscopic forms (∼ 575-565 Ma), has been linked to stepwise increases in the oxygenation of Earth's surface environment. However, establishing such a linkage between oxygen and evolution for the later Cambrian 'explosion' (540-520 Ma) of new, energy-sapping body plans and behaviours has proved more elusive. Here we present new molybdenum isotope data, which demonstrate that the areal extent of oxygenated bottom waters increased in step with the early Cambrian bioradiation of animals and eukaryotic phytoplankton. Modern-like oxygen levels characterized the ocean at ∼ 521 Ma for the first time in Earth history. This marks the first establishment of a key environmental factor in modern-like ecosystems, where animals benefit from, and also contribute to, the 'homeostasis' of marine redox conditions.

) and provides supporting evidence for a Late Albian-Early Cenomanian age of the amber. There is a diverse assemblage (at least 40 individuals) of arthropods in this amber sample from both terrestrial and marine habitats, including Isopoda, Acari (mites), Araneae (spiders), Diplopoda (millipedes), and representatives of the insect orders Blattodea (cockroaches), Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (true flies), and Hymenoptera (wasps). The incomplete preservation and lack of soft body of the ammonite and marine gastropods suggest that they were dead and underwent abrasion on the seashore before entombment. It is most likely that the resin fell to the beach from coastal trees, picking up terrestrial arthropods and beach shells and, exceptionally, surviving the high-energy beach environment to be preserved as amber. Our findings not only represent a record of an ammonite in amber but also provide insights into the taphonomy of amber and the paleoecology of Cretaceous amber forests.

Carbonaceous compression fossils in shales of the uppermost Doushantuo Formation (ca. 555-590 Ma) at Miaohe in the Yangtze Gorges area provide a rare Burgess-Shale-type taphonomic window on terminal Proterozoic biology. More than 100 macrofossil species have been described from Miaohe shales, but in an examination of published and new materials, we recognize only about twenty distinct taxa, including Aggregatosphaera miaoheensis new gen. and sp. Most of these fossils can be interpreted unambiguously as colonial prokaryotes or multicellular algae. Phylogenetically derived coenocytic green algae appear to be present, as do regularly bifurcating thalli comparable to red and brown algae. At least five species have been interpreted as metazoans by previous workers. Of these, Protoconites minor and Calyptrina striata most closely resemble animal remains; either or both could be the organic sheaths of cnidarian scyphopolyps, although an algal origin cannot be ruled out for P. minor. Despite exceptional preservation, the Miaohe assemblage contains no macroscopic fossils that can be interpreted with confidence as bilaterian animals. In combination with other late Neoproterozoic and Early Cambrian body fossils and trace fossils, the Doushantuo assemblage supports the view that body-plan diversification within bilaterian phyla was largely a Cambrian event.

The often-used phrase 'the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau' implies a flat-surfaced Tibet rose as a coherent entity, and that uplift was driven entirely by the collision and northward movement of India. Here, we argue that these are misconceptions derived in large part from simplistic geodynamic and climate modeling, as well as proxy misinterpretation. The growth of Tibet was a complex process involving mostly Mesozoic collisions of several Gondwanan terranes with Asia, thickening the crust and generating complex relief before the arrival of India. In this review, Earth system modeling, paleoaltimetry proxies and fossil finds contribute to a new synthetic view of the topographic evolution of Tibet. A notable feature overlooked in previous models of plateau formation was the persistence through much of the Cenozoic of a wide east-west orientated deep central valley, and the formation of a plateau occurred only in the late Neogene through compression and internal sedimentation.

Abstract The Sinian (Terminal Proterozoic) and Early Cambrian shallow- to deep-water sequences of the Yangtze Platform were investigated. Based on integrated lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic, and other approaches, the shallow-water sequence from the base of the Sinian (base of the Doushantuo Formation) to the top of the Qiongzhusian (top of the Yu'anshan Formation) was subdivided into 12 stratigraphic intervals. These 12 intervals were applied in turn to the subdivision and correlation of the sequences present in various facies of the Yangtze Platform. The high-resolution stratigraphic framework here developed can serve as a time frame for ongoing multidisciplinary analyses of the “Cambrian explosion”.

100093) 2 (, 510650) 3 (, 100049) 4 (, 100875) 5 (, 100081) 6 (, , 201602) 7 (, 650224) 8 (, 650201) 9 (, 100083) 10 (, 610064) 11 (, 830011) 12 (, 100193) 13 (, 273165) 14 (, 541006) 15 (, 210014) 16 (, 110016) 17 (, 430074) 18 (, 810008) 19 (, 650091) 20 (, 100093) 21 (, 310036) 22 (, 712100) 23 (, 650204) 24 (, 100035) 25 (, 100012) 26 (, 210042) 27 (, 100093) 28 (, 210008)