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.     

非生物灾变事件的生物圈效应群集消失与群集出现

通过分析地球历史上的非生物灾变事件和生物事件发现,群集出现常伴随着群集消失,这可见于显生宙许多纪间界线附近,那里往往存在着地球灾变的标志。如同群集消失多由地球灾变引起一样,地球灾变亦是群集出现的一个重要动因。在灾变期,地球表层一般可分为非灾变区、边缘灾变区和中心灾变区。非灾变区生物以背景消失和背景出现为主,中心灾变区一般以群集消失尤其是群集绝灭为主,而边缘灾变区则既有群集消失又有群集出现尤其是群集起源,是进化的活跃地区,且其进化可称为巨进化。     

Carbon isotope excursions across the Permian-Triassic boundary in the Meishan section, Zhejiang Province, China

Both gradual and sharp decrease in organic and carbonate carbon isotope values were detected across the Permian-Triassic boundary in the Meishan section, Changxing, Zhejiang Province, China. The gradual decrease in organic carbon isotope values started at the bottom of Bed 23, coinciding with the strong oscillations of total organic carbon (TOC) contents, indicates increasing fluxes from carbonate to organic carbon reservoir during this interval. A 2.3‰ sharp drop of inorganic carbon isotope values occurred at the uppermost part of Bed 24e. A 3.7‰ sharp drop of organic carbon isotope values occurred in Bed 26. The dramatic drop of inorganic carbon isotope value of 8‰ reported previously is not confirmed from the unweathered carbonate samples in Bed 27. The large-scale fluctuation of organic carbon isotope values in the Yinkeng Formation reflects different extent of mixing of marine and terrestrial organic matters. The gradual depletion and subsequent sharp drop of carbon isotopes near the Permian-Triassic boundary might indicate complex causes of the end-Permian mass extinction.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Sensitivity of coccolithophores to carbonate chemistry and ocean acidification

About one-third of the carbon dioxide (CO(2)) released into the atmosphere as a result of human activity has been absorbed by the oceans, where it partitions into the constituent ions of carbonic acid. This leads to ocean acidification, one of the major threats to marine ecosystems and particularly to calcifying organisms such as corals, foraminifera and coccolithophores. Coccolithophores are abundant phytoplankton that are responsible for a large part of modern oceanic carbonate production. Culture experiments investigating the physiological response of coccolithophore calcification to increased CO(2) have yielded contradictory results between and even within species. Here we quantified the calcite mass of dominant coccolithophores in the present ocean and over the past forty thousand years, and found a marked pattern of decreasing calcification with increasing partial pressure of CO(2) and concomitant decreasing concentrations of CO(3)(2-). Our analyses revealed that differentially calcified species and morphotypes are distributed in the ocean according to carbonate chemistry. A substantial impact on the marine carbon cycle might be expected upon extrapolation of this correlation to predicted ocean acidification in the future. However, our discovery of a heavily calcified Emiliania huxleyi morphotype in modern waters with low pH highlights the complexity of assemblage-level responses to environmental forcing factors.     

Methane seeps, methane hydrate destabilization, and the late Neoproterozoic postglacial cap carbonates

Natural gas (methane) hydrates, the crystalline solids composed mainly of methane and water, are present in marine sediments of the continental margins and polar permafrost under a delicate balance of temperature (< 7℃) and hydrostatic pressure (> 50×10…     

Determinants of extinction in the fossil record

The causes of mass extinctions and the nature of biological selectivity at extinction events are central questions in palaeobiology. It has long been recognized, however, that the amount of sedimentary rock available for sampling may bias perceptions of biodiversity and estimates of taxonomic rates of evolution. This problem has been particularly noted with respect to the principal mass extinctions. Here we use a new compilation of the amount of exposed marine sedimentary rock to predict how the observed fossil record of extinction would appear if the time series of true extinction rates were in fact smooth. Many features of the highly variable record of apparent extinction rates within marine animals can be predicted on the basis of temporal variation in the amount of exposed rock. Although this result is consistent with the possibility that a common geological cause determines both true extinction rates and the amount of exposed rock, it also supports the hypothesis that much of the observed short-term volatility in extinction rates is an artefact of variability in the stratigraphic record.     

Glycerol ether biomarkers and their carbon isotopic compositions in a cold seep carbonate chimney from the Shenhu area,northern South China Sea

At modern cold seeps,the anaerobic oxidation of methane(AOM)is the dominant pathway for methane consumption in marine sediments.AOM,which is mediated by a consortium of methane oxidizing archaea and sulfate reducing bacteria,is proposed to be responsible for authigenic carbonate formation.A methane-derived carbonate chimney was collected from the Shenhu area, northern South China Sea.The membrane lipids and their very low carbon isotopic compositions(?115‰to?104‰)in the Shenhu chimney suggest the presence of an AOM process.Three specific archaeal and bacterial biomarkers were detected,including Ar,DAGE 1f,and monocyclic MDGD.Their strongly depleted??13C values(?115‰to?104‰),which are lower than those of the normal marine lipids in sediments,reveal biogenic methane as their origin.The carbonate deposits exhibiting a chimney structure indicate that a vigorous methane-rich fluid expulsion may have occurred at the seafloor.We propose that the decomposition of gas hydrates at depth is the likely cause of seepage and cold seep carbonate formation in the Shenhu area.     

An asteroid breakup 160 Myr ago as the probable source of the K/T impactor

The terrestrial and lunar cratering rate is often assumed to have been nearly constant over the past 3 Gyr. Different lines of evidence, however, suggest that the impact flux from kilometre-sized bodies increased by at least a factor of two over the long-term average during the past approximately 100 Myr. Here we argue that this apparent surge was triggered by the catastrophic disruption of the parent body of the asteroid Baptistina, which we infer was a approximately 170-km-diameter body (carbonaceous-chondrite-like) that broke up 160(-20)+30Myr ago in the inner main asteroid belt. Fragments produced by the collision were slowly delivered by dynamical processes to orbits where they could strike the terrestrial planets. We find that this asteroid shower is the most likely source (>90 per cent probability) of the Chicxulub impactor that produced the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) mass extinction event 65 Myr ago.     

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.     

重庆中梁山和广元上寺P-T界线粘土层中粘土矿物的类型及成因

四川重庆中梁山和广元上寺P-T界线处二叠系顶部的粘土岩主要由规则混层伊利石-蒙脱石组成,而三叠系底部的粘土岩主要由伊利石和混层绿泥石-蒙脱石组成。形成二叠系顶部规则混层伊利石-蒙脱石并使之得以保存的相对酸性成岩介质可能与晚二叠世生物相对繁盛和绝灭造成的有机质埋藏有关,而三叠系底部的粘土矿物则与相对富镁、钾的成岩介质有关。此外,两地混层伊利石-蒙脱石中混层比例的差别还反映了这一等时面上所经历的最大古地温的差别,这与它们所经历的埋藏史的不同有关。     

Stability of atmospheric CO2 levels across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary

The Triassic/Jurassic boundary, 208 million years ago, is associated with widespread extinctions in both the marine and terrestrial biota. The cause of these extinctions has been widely attributed to the eruption of flood basalts of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province. This volcanic event is thought to have released significant amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, which could have led to catastrophic greenhouse warming, but the evidence for CO2-induced extinction remains equivocal. Here we present the carbon isotope compositions of pedogenic calcite from palaeosol formations, spanning a 20-Myr period across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. Using a standard diffusion model, we interpret these isotopic data to represent a rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations of about 250 p.p.m. across the boundary, as compared with previous estimates of a 2,000-4,000 p.p.m. increase. The relative stability of atmospheric CO2 across this boundary suggests that environmental degradation and extinctions during the Early Jurassic were not caused by volcanic outgassing of CO2. Other volcanic effects-such as the release of atmospheric aerosols or tectonically driven sea-level change-may have been responsible for this event.     

Two episodes of microbial change coupled with Permo/Triassic faunal mass extinction

Microbial expansion following faunal mass extinctions in Earth history can be studied by petrographic examination of microbialites (microbial crusts) or well-preserved organic-walled microbes. However, where preservation is poor, quantification of microbial communities can be problematic. We have circumvented this problem by adopting a lipid biomarker-based approach to evaluate microbial community changes across the Permo/Triassic (P/Tr) boundary at Meishan in South China. We present here a biomarker stratigraphic record showing episodic microbial changes coupled with a high-resolution record of invertebrate mass extinction. Variation in the microbial community structure is characterized by the 2-methylhopane (2-MHP) index (a ratio of the abundance of cyanobacterial biomarkers to more general bacterial biomarkers). Two episodes of faunal mass extinction were each preceded by minima in the 2-MHP index, followed by strong maxima, likely reflecting microbial responses to the catastrophic events that caused the extinction and initiated ecosystem changes. Hence, both cyanobacterial biomarker and invertebrate fossil records provide evidence for two episodes of biotic crisis across the P/Tr boundary.     

Extraterrestrial amino acids in Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary sediments at Stevns Klint, Denmark

Since the discovery nearly a decade ago that Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary layers are greatly enriched in iridium, a rare element in the Earth's crust, there has been intense controversy on the relationship between this Ir anomaly and the massive extinction of organisms ranging from dinosaurs to marine plankton that characterizes the K/T boundary. Convincing evidence suggests that both the Ir spike and the extinction event were caused by the collision of a large bolide (greater than 10 km in diameter) with the Earth. Alternative explanations claim that extensive, violent volcanism can account for the Ir, and that other independent causes were responsible for the mass extinctions. We surmise that the collision of a massive extraterrestrial object with the Earth may have produced a unique organic chemical signature because certain meteorites, and probably comets, contain organic compounds which are either rare or non-existent on the Earth. In contrast, no organic compounds would be expected to be associated with volcanic processes. Here we find that K/T boundary sediments at Stevns Klint, Denmark, contain both alpha-amino-isobutyric acid [AIB,(CH3)2CNH2COOH] and racemic isovaline [ISOVAL, CH3CH2(CH3)CNH2COOH], two amino acids that are exceedingly rare on the Earth but which are major amino acids in carbonaceous chondrites. An extraterrestrial source is the most reasonable explanation for the presence of these amino acids.     

Discovery of seep carbonate nodules as new evidence for gas venting on the northern continental slope of South China Sea

The geotectonic evolution of the northern South China Sea (SCS) is controlled by the Eurasian, the Pa-cific and the Indian-Australian Plates. With regard to its tectonic evolution, the northern margin composed of faulted terraces and basins and deposited …     

Volcanic carbon dioxide vents show ecosystem effects of ocean acidification

The atmospheric partial pressure of carbon dioxide (p(CO(2))) will almost certainly be double that of pre-industrial levels by 2100 and will be considerably higher than at any time during the past few million years. The oceans are a principal sink for anthropogenic CO(2) where it is estimated to have caused a 30% increase in the concentration of H(+) in ocean surface waters since the early 1900s and may lead to a drop in seawater pH of up to 0.5 units by 2100 (refs 2, 3). Our understanding of how increased ocean acidity may affect marine ecosystems is at present very limited as almost all studies have been in vitro, short-term, rapid perturbation experiments on isolated elements of the ecosystem. Here we show the effects of acidification on benthic ecosystems at shallow coastal sites where volcanic CO(2) vents lower the pH of the water column. Along gradients of normal pH (8.1-8.2) to lowered pH (mean 7.8-7.9, minimum 7.4-7.5), typical rocky shore communities with abundant calcareous organisms shifted to communities lacking scleractinian corals with significant reductions in sea urchin and coralline algal abundance. To our knowledge, this is the first ecosystem-scale validation of predictions that these important groups of organisms are susceptible to elevated amounts of p(CO(2)). Sea-grass production was highest in an area at mean pH 7.6 (1,827 (mu)atm p(CO(2))) where coralline algal biomass was significantly reduced and gastropod shells were dissolving due to periods of carbonate sub-saturation. The species populating the vent sites comprise a suite of organisms that are resilient to naturally high concentrations of p(CO(2)) and indicate that ocean acidification may benefit highly invasive non-native algal species. Our results provide the first in situ insights into how shallow water marine communities might change when susceptible organisms are removed owing to ocean acidification.     

Enrichment of heavy metal elements and their adsorption on iron oxides during carbonate rock weathering process

Analysis of trace elements in the Lower Palaeozoic carbonate rock strata of the Beijing area shows that the Cr, Zn, Cd and Pb contents increase from primary carbonate rocks to weathered carbonate rocks and from primary carbonate rocks to the soil coexisting with carbonate rock. Distributions of Cr, Zn, Cd and Pb have the same trends as that of Fe₂O₃. Iron oxides play different roles at different stages of weathering of carbonate rock. The adsorption of Cr, Zn, Cd and Pb on Fe₂O₃ is greater than on FeO in soil. However, FeO, as a main component of clay mineral, is a better adsorbent of Cr, Zn, Cd and Pb than Fe₂O₃ in weathered and primary carbonate rocks. According to R-type clustering analysis, the main components of carbonate rock are divided into marine and continental sediments. Correlation analysis shows that heavy metal elements mainly exist in continental substances.     

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。