Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: The rise of complex macroscopic life occurred during the Ediacaran Period, an interval that witnessed large-scale disturbances to biogeochemical systems. The current Ediacaran chronostratigraphic framework is of insufficient resolution to provide robust global correlation schemes or test hypotheses for the role of biogeochemical cycling in the evolution of complex life. Here, we present new radio-isotopic dates from Ediacaran strata that directly constrain key fossil assemblages and large-magnitude carbon cycle perturbations. These new dates and integrated global correlations demonstrate that late Ediacaran strata of South China are time transgressive and that the 575- to 550-Ma interval is marked by two large negative carbon isotope excursions: the Shuram and a younger one that ended ca. 550 Ma ago. These data calibrate the tempo of Ediacaran evolution characterized by intervals of tens of millions of years of increasing ecosystem complexity, interrupted by biological turnovers that coincide with large perturbations to the carbon cycle.
Source: Science Advances
Institutions: British Geological Survey, Yale University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Novosibirsk State University, Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, University of Leeds, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, University of California, Santa Barbara
Language: English
Subfield: Paleontology
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,500
Awards: BGS Decarbonisation and Resource Management, G1748430082, G1979945208, G2032834896, G2072380723, Collaborative Research: Co-evolution of Earth and Life across the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transition: Integrated perspectives from outcrop and drill core, G7130597844, Perturbation of the Earth System at the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transition and the resilience of the biosphere, G8849394843, G8873406335
OpenAlex ID: W3208430661