Variations of sulfur and carbon isotopes in seawater during the Doushantuo stage in late Neoproterozoic

The Doushantuo Formation of the Sinian System in the Yangtze area is the first sedimentary stratigraphic unit after the Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth event[1], named the Nantuo Glaciation in south China. There are not only phosphorite and manganese mineralized beds[2], but also a series of biome which represents the biological radiation in Neoproterozoic[3] found in this formation. It is important to study the palaeoenvironment and the early biological evolution implied in the Doushantuo …

Variations of sulfur and carbon isotopes in seawater during the Doushantuo stage in late Neoproterozoic

Successive analyses of sulfur and carbon isotopic compositions of carbonates strata in the Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze area were accomplished through a method of extracting trace sulfate from carbonates. Sulfur and carbon isotopic compositions of coeval seawater were estimated from the samples that show the least diagenetic alteration. A high-resolution age curve of sulfur isotopes in seawater sulfates was obtained in the Doushantuo stage, which reflects the trend of variation in seawater sulfur isotopes after the Neoproterozoic snowball Earth event. Similar characteristics of variation in carbon isotopes were observed in the coeval carbonates. A large positive d 34S excursion over +20?occurs in ancient seawater sulfates in the early Doushantuo stage. Simultaneously, the d 13C values in ancient seawater carbonates exhibit a positive excursion up to 10. The maximum d 34S and d 13C values are +46.4 and +6.9? respectively. In the middle Doushantuo stage, the range of variation in d 34S values of seawater is relatively narrow, but d 13C values are quite high. Then, d 34S values of seawater become oscillating, and the same occurs in d 13C values. Negative excursions in d 34S and d 13C values occur simultaneously at the end of the Doushantuo stage, and the minimum d 34S and d 13C values dropped down to -10.1 and -5.7? respectively. The characteristics of variations in the sulfur and carbon isotopes of ancient seawater imply strong changes in oceanic environment that became beneficial to inhabitation and propagation of organism. The organic productivity and burial rate of organic carbon once reached a quite high level during the Doushantuo stage. However, the state of environment became unstable after the global glaciation. The global climate and environment possibly were fluctuating and reiterating. The negative excursions in d 34S and d 13C values occurring at the end of the Doushantuo stage may represent a global event, which might be related to oxidation of deep seawater.