Late Devonian red tide and mass extinction

Molecular stratigraphical, carbonate carbon isotopic, stratigraphical and paleontological data show that algal booming, eutrophication, anoxia, hypersalinity, positive δ¹³C excursion and biomass decreasing occurred in the offshore carbonate environments of the Frasnian-Famennian (F-F) transition, which hints that red tide might frequently take place in the F-F transition of Guangxi, South China. We suggest that the mass extinction of the reef ecosystems and the shallow-water marine organisms in the F-F transition of the lower-middle latitudes may be related to the frequent occurrence of red tide in that time.     

四川华蓥二叠-三叠系界线剖面稳定碳同位素变化特征及其生物地球化学循环成因

对四川华蓥楼房湾剖面稳定碳同位素进行的研究表明,该地区二叠-三叠系界线附近碳同位素变化趋势与全球变化基本一致。早三叠世早期Δ_B平均值高于晚二叠世晚期,指示海水中磷酸盐浓度的增大和初级生产力的繁盛。从晚二叠世末期开始δ¹³C_carb的缓慢降低是由大规模火山作用以及陆地风化作用加强造成的;早三叠世最早期δ¹³C_carb和δ¹³C_org的快速同步降低所代表的全球碳循环变化主要受控于生物集群绝灭的主幕及海平面上升引起的底部缺氧水上涌。总之,二叠-三叠纪之交碳同位素变化是火山作用、海平面变化、海洋和陆地生物集群绝灭以及缺氧水上涌等因素综合作用的结果。     

中新世礁相碳酸盐岩沉积构成及成礁模式——以西沙海域为例

 结合最新钻井、地震资料,剖析了中新世生物礁体沉积构成以及成礁演化模式。揭示了研究区造礁生物主要为钙藻,其次为六射珊瑚,附礁生物以有孔虫和介形虫为主。根据是否发育造礁生物将岩石分为礁格架-骨架岩和非礁格架-骨架岩2类,前者包括珊瑚藻格架和珊瑚骨架焦白云岩及红藻-仙掌藻白云岩2种,非礁骨架岩分为生物碎屑灰岩、粒泥灰岩和泥粒灰岩3种。沉积相包括礁格架相、礁坪相、礁后滩相、泻湖相和生物碎屑滩相5种。中新世生物礁是在相对海平面不断上升的背景下沉积演化的,属于加积-退积型生物礁沉积旋回,礁体发育期可分为奠基、初始繁盛、顶峰、暴露衰退4个阶段,暴露衰退末期发生强烈的白云化作用,淡水淋滤溶蚀作用形成较好的储集层。     

Microbialite resurgence after the Late Ordovician extinction

Microbialites, including biogenic stromatolites, thrombolites and dendrolites, were formed by various microbial mats that trapped and bound sediments or formed the locus of mineral precipitation. Microbialites were common and diverse during the Proterozoic, but declined in abundance and morphological diversity when multicellular life diversified during the Cambrian Radiation. A second decline occurred during the Ordovician Radiation of marine animals, and from then until the present microbialites have been confined largely to high-stress environments where multicellular organisms are rare. The microbialite declines in the Phanerozoic are attributed to disruption of the mats by animals. A resurgence of stromatolite abundance and size during reduced animal diversity after the Permian extinction has been documented anecdotally. Here we show, with statistical support, that a microbialite resurgence also occurred after the Late Ordovician extinction event in western North America. The resurgences were associated with loss of mat-inhibiting animals, providing insights into shallow-water community structures after extinction events.     

Calcimicrobialite after end-Permian mass extinction in South China and its palaeoenvironmental significance

Calcimicrobialites, which could be correlated to the layer 27 in Meishan section according to the Hindeodus parvus, occur abruptly on the end-Permian mass extinction boundary in South China. Microbialites mainly distribute on the top of reef facies or shallow carbonate platforms, thinning into deep facies. All the microbialites discovered are composed of micrite and coarse crystal digitate carbonate or patch carbonate. Microfossils usually dominate in the microbialites, and small gastropods, bivalves and ostracodes can also be found. This fossil assemblage represents a simple but particular remanent biota after the end-Permian mass extinction on the top of reefs or shallow carbonate platforms.Abrupt occurrence of microbialites above the mass extinction boundary is the ecological response to the end-Permian global event in reef or shallow carbonate facies. Many studies have been done on the Permian-Triassic boundary and event in deep water facies sections or middle to lower shelf facies sections. However, the calcimicrobialites in South China are mainly located above reef facies or shallow carbonate platform facies. It will surely be helpful for people to know more about the different responses in different depths of ancient marine environment during the transition between Permian and Triassic by the study of petrology,palaeontology and palaeoecology of the calcimicrobialites.     

生物的辐射演化和绝灭事件

任何生物在其绝灭之前都会程度不同地发生辐射演化,这种辐射演化是由多种因素引起的。辐射演化的结果不仅使生物增强了对环境的适应能力,也增加了对环境的专属性和依赖性,进而也增大了其绝灭的可能性。地质历史时期生物发展的历史,充分体现了生物辐射演化和绝灭事件之间的密切联系。     

Types and biotic successions of Ordovician reefs in China

Ordovician reefs are located in the South China,Tarim,and North China blocks,in low-latitude epicontinental marine regions and mostly consist of large-scale carbonate platforms.During the Paleozoic,faunal radiation reef biota diverged and thrived in diverse paleogeographic settings.Algal reefs of the Early Ordovician,Calathium-lithistid sponge-algal reefs of the late Early Ordovician to early Middle Ordovician,and coral-stromatoporoid-algal reefs of the early Late Ordovician,indicate change from Cambrian to Paleozoic biota.Coral-stromatoporoid-algal reefs were the basic communities after 100 Ma.The macroevolution of biotic struc-tures generally shows increased complexity;the evolution of China’s reef biota parallels that worldwide.Important aspects are:(1) The Calathium-algal reefs from the early Tremadocian Nantzinkuan Formation,Zhangjiajie,western Hunan are the pioneer reefs,and the Darriwillian Yijianfang Formation,Bachu are the relic reefs.(2) The bryozoan-dominated reefs of the late Tremadocian Fenhsiang Formation,Middle Yangtze Platform are unique.(3) The early coral-stromatoporoid-algal reefs are highly restricted in China.(4) The algal reefs from the latest Katian on the western margin of the Yangtze Platform,represent an abnormal reef-building environment during the initial stages of Gondwanan glaciations.     

The Lantian biota: A new window onto the origin and early evolution of multicellular organisms

The Lantian biota at the Lantian Town of Xiuning County,Anhui Province,is preserved in black shales of the Ediacaran Lantian Formation.It yields some of the oldest known complex macroorganisms,including fan-shaped seaweeds and possible animal fossils with tentacles and intestinal-like structures reminiscent of modern coelenterates and bilaterians.The Lantian Lagerst tte sheds new light on the origin and early evolution of multicellular organisms in relatively quiet and deep environments soon after the Neoproterozoic Marinoan glaciation.The morphological complexity and diversity of early multicellular organisms may be closely related to sexual reproduction and alternation of generations.The fluctuation of oceanic redox conditions during this period may have played a role in the ecology and preservation of the Lantian biota.     

论"三叠纪初"的一次海侵

论述二叠纪末生物大灭绝事件后的一次全球性快速海侵。以往认为该海侵发生在三叠系底部,但新的材料表明属二叠纪末期。在国际标准层型剖面浙江长兴煤山地区海侵高潮(海平面快速上升)见于26层黑色页岩,层内含菊石Hypophiceras组合,双壳类Claraia? baoqingensis和二叠纪牙形刺;在浙江黄芝山剖面海侵见于大灭绝层之上的Claraia cf.bioni层,此层也可与克什米尔Guryul Ravine剖面E_1层(Claraia bioni带)对比;在北极区,海侵层相当于Otoceras Concavum 层。还讨论了康滇古陆东缘和华北古陆南缘此次海侵的影响,这些古陆边缘地区陆相沉积(“卡以头段”和石千峰群)中夹的海相层不是三叠纪,而是二叠纪。     

The Siberian Traps and the End-Permian mass extinction: a critical review

The association between the Siberian Traps, the largest continental flood basalt province, and the largest-known mass extinction event at the end of the Permian period, has been strengthened by recently-published high-precision ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates from widespread localities across the Siberian province^[1]. We argue that the impact of the volcanism was amplified by the prevailing late Permian environmental conditions―in particular, the hothouse climate, with sluggish oceanic circulation, that was leading to widespread oceanic anoxia. Volcanism released large masses of sulphate aerosols and carbon dioxide, the former triggering short-duration volcanic winters, the latter leading to long-term warming. Whilst the mass of CO₂ released from individual eruptions was small compared with the total mass of carbon in the atmosphere-ocean system, the long ‘mean lifetime’ of atmospheric CO₂, compared with the eruption flux and duration, meant that significant accumulation could occur over periods of 105 years. Compromise of the carbon sequestration systems (by curtailment of photosynthesis, destruction of biomass, and warming and acidification of the oceans) probably led to rapid atmospheric CO₂ build-up, warming, and shallow-water anoxia, leading ultimately to mass extinction.     

Filamentous cyanobacteria fossils and their significance in the Permian-Triassic boundary section at Laolongdong, Chongqing

The microbial communities blooming immediately after the end-Permian mass extinction represent abnormally extreme environments, and vary in different areas. In this study, filamentous cyanobacterial biota was found in the strata after the extinction in the famous Permian-Triassic boundary section at Laolongdong, Chongqing, southwest China. In thin sections, the filamentous cyanobacterial fossils are below 1 mm in length, and generally taper to one end, with the widest diameter up to 0.08 mm. Some of them are curved, indicating that they are soft in life. Their walls are composed of cryptocrystalline to microcrystalline calcites. The filaments have round cross section, and are internally filled with micrites and fine sparry calcites, which indicate that the filaments are originally empty. They are randomly distributed in the rocks, but in some places, they tend to be distributed in radial pattern. The filamentous organisms are morphologically similar to Rivularia of Rivulariaceae, Cyanobacteria Phylum, but with calcified sheaths, and are tentatively regarded as an indeterminate new species in Rivularia： Rivularia sp. Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic autotrophic, and can survive in dysoxic condition. The blooming of this organism and the absence of other organisms may indicate that the environment was oxygendeficient and shallow, since this photosynthetic autotrophic organism needed to live within photic.     

Origin, evolution and extinction of Cathaysia flora

Recent research results showed that the Cathaysia flora originated and developed from the global uniformLepidodendropsis flora of the Early Carboniferous, which had already become an independent flora in the early Late Carboniferous (Namurian B to C). The center of origin of the Cathaysia flora is restricted to the North China Plate. On the basis of the successional characteristics of the Cathaysia flora in different geological ages, it may be divided into seven evolutionary stages. The evolutionary trend of the Cathaysia flora, as a whole, was characterized by the gradual increase of the typical Cathaysian elements in the sequence from the early Late Carboniferous to the early Late Permian, which began to decline during the late Late Permian. The climatic differentiation, tectonic movement, oceanic circulation, palaeogeographical environment, extraterrestrial event and plant evolution caused the mass extinction of the Cathaysia flora on a large scale by the end of the Permian.     

贵州独山泥盆纪晚期生物绝灭的影响因素

独山地区晚泥盆世弗拉期一法门期(F-F)和泥盆纪-石炭纪(D-C)的生物集群绝灭事件可能与海平面的快速大幅度下降有关,与藻类迅速而大量繁殖和生物生态链破坏的关系更为密切.     

Environmental determinants of extinction selectivity in the fossil record

The causes of mass extinctions and the nature of biological selectivity during extinction events remain central questions in palaeobiology. Although many different environmental perturbations have been invoked as extinction mechanisms, it has long been recognized that fluctuations in sea level coincide with many episodes of biotic turnover. Recent work supports the hypothesis that changes in the areas of epicontinental seas have influenced the macroevolution of marine animals, but the extent to which differential environmental turnover has contributed to extinction selectivity remains unknown. Here I use a new compilation of the temporal durations of sedimentary rock packages to show that carbonate and terrigenous clastic marine shelf environments have different spatio-temporal dynamics and that these dynamics predict patterns of genus-level extinction, extinction selectivity and diversity among Sepkoski's Palaeozoic and modern evolutionary faunae. These results do not preclude a role for biological interactions or unusual physical events as drivers of macroevolution, but they do suggest that the turnover of marine shelf habitats and correlated environmental changes have been consistent determinants of extinction, extinction selectivity and the shifting composition of the marine biota during the Phanerozoic eon.     

湖北利川见天坝上二叠统海绵礁成岩历史及孔隙演变

本文通过对见天坝海绵礁成岩作用,成岩作用发生的环境以及它们对油气聚集空间的控制作用的探讨,建立了成岩历史及孔隙演变的模式,试图为评价以见天坝海绵礁为代表的川东鄂西地区二叠系生物礁的储集性能,提供一点岩石学方面的理论依据。     

Massive dissociation of gas hydrate during a Jurassic oceanic anoxic event

In the Jurassic period, the Early Toarcian oceanic anoxic event (about 183 million years ago) is associated with exceptionally high rates of organic-carbon burial, high palaeotemperatures and significant mass extinction. Heavy carbon-isotope compositions in rocks and fossils of this age have been linked to the global burial of organic carbon, which is isotopically light. In contrast, examples of light carbon-isotope values from marine organic matter of Early Toarcian age have been explained principally in terms of localized upwelling of bottom water enriched in 12C versus 13C (refs 1,2,5,6). Here, however, we report carbon-isotope analyses of fossil wood which demonstrate that isotopically light carbon dominated all the upper oceanic, biospheric and atmospheric carbon reservoirs, and that this occurred despite the enhanced burial of organic carbon. We propose that--as has been suggested for the Late Palaeocene thermal maximum, some 55 million years ago--the observed patterns were produced by voluminous and extremely rapid release of methane from gas hydrate contained in marine continental-margin sediments.     

四川重庆北碚地区上二叠统文星场礁的岩石学及微相特征

重点讨论了四川重庆北碚天府地区上二叠统生物礁的岩石类型,生物礁组合的微相特征和发育演化史。微相组合和生物学特征证明文星场生物礁是发育在开放性泻湖中的点礁,它的生长、发育受沉积速率控制,消亡的原因是由于海平面的上升速度超过礁的生长速度。     

Geochemical significance of the relative enrichment of pristane and the negative excursion of δ^13CPr across the Permian-Triassic Boundary at Meishan, China

Changes in the distribution of isoprenoid hydrocarbons and in δ^13Ckero or δ^13Cpr across the section from the Changxing Formation to the lower Yinkeng Formation at Meishan （the GSSP of PTB） are studied, in which a relative enrichment of pristane and a sharp shift in both δ^13Ckero and δ^13Cmole near the boundary are revealed. A possible mechanism for the abnormal accumulation of pristane near PTB is suggested： Lipids in some marine animals and their metabolites, rich in pristane, can be preserved and accumulate in some suitable depositing facies under certain special conditions, such as the catastrophic death of animals and/or developing of an anoxic water column, and thus the pristane enrichment occurs in the sediment. The occurrences of isoprenoid enrichment and high Pr/Ph ratios have been found in other typical marine anoxic sediments accompanied by mass extinction in various extent during the most important geological periods, such as Late Ordovician, end of Devonian, Early Jurassic and Late Cretaceous. These occurrences support to a certain extent the above mechanism that interprets the genesis of a high Pr/Ph ratio in some typical marine anoxic sediments. The synchronous sharp negative shifts in δ^13Cmole, δ^13Ckero and δ^13Ccarb from Beds 24 to 26 of the Meishan profile indicate that a sudden and strong variation of carbon source in the atmosphere-ocean system occurred during the quick but equable evolution from the end-Permian to Early Triassic, and the coupling between the pristane enrichment and negative shift in δ^13Ckero and δ^13CPr may well indicate the importance of the release of methane hydrates and marine anoxia in the end-Permian mass extinction.     

A conspicuous nickel protein in microbial mats that oxidize methane anaerobically

Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) in marine sediments is an important microbial process in the global carbon cycle and in control of greenhouse gas emission. The responsible organisms supposedly reverse the reactions of methanogenesis, but cultures providing biochemical proof of this have not been isolated. Here we searched for AOM-associated cell components in microbial mats from anoxic methane seeps in the Black Sea. These mats catalyse AOM rather than carry out methanogenesis. We extracted a prominent nickel compound displaying the same absorption spectrum as the nickel cofactor F430 of methyl-coenzyme M reductase, the terminal enzyme of methanogenesis; however, the nickel compound exhibited a higher molecular mass than F430. The apparent variant of F(430) was part of an abundant protein that was purified from the mat and that consists of three different subunits. Determined amino-terminal amino acid sequences matched a gene locus cloned from the mat. Sequence analyses revealed similarities to methyl-coenzyme M reductase from methanogenic archaea. The abundance of the nickel protein (7% of extracted proteins) in the mat suggests an important role in AOM.     

A mesoscale phytoplankton bloom in the polar Southern Ocean stimulated by iron fertilization

Changes in iron supply to oceanic plankton are thought to have a significant effect on concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide by altering rates of carbon sequestration, a theory known as the 'iron hypothesis'. For this reason, it is important to understand the response of pelagic biota to increased iron supply. Here we report the results of a mesoscale iron fertilization experiment in the polar Southern Ocean, where the potential to sequester iron-elevated algal carbon is probably greatest. Increased iron supply led to elevated phytoplankton biomass and rates of photosynthesis in surface waters, causing a large drawdown of carbon dioxide and macronutrients, and elevated dimethyl sulphide levels after 13 days. This drawdown was mostly due to the proliferation of diatom stocks. But downward export of biogenic carbon was not increased. Moreover, satellite observations of this massive bloom 30 days later, suggest that a sufficient proportion of the added iron was retained in surface waters. Our findings demonstrate that iron supply controls phytoplankton growth and community composition during summer in these polar Southern Ocean waters, but the fate of algal carbon remains unknown and depends on the interplay between the processes controlling export, remineralisation and timescales of water mass subduction.