Ediacaran macrofossils in Shunyang Valley, Sixi, Three Gorges district, Hubei Province, China

Mason, Roger; Li, Yuejie; Cao, Kenan; Yu, Long; She, Zhenbing

doi:10.1007/s12583-017-0773-1

Cited by 9 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The DYF@GJS has not yet yielded soft-bodied Ediacara-type macrofossils. However, Ediacara-type fossils such as Pteridinium, Rangea, Charniodiscus, Hiemalora and many others have been found in the equivalent Shibantan Member of the Dengying Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area (Sun, 1986;Xiao et al 2005;Shen et al 2009Shen et al , 2017Chen et al 2014;Mason et al 2017).…”

Section: C Ediacara-type Macrofossilsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, these lithologies offer limited opportunities for palaeoenvironmental analysis using geochemical tools. Two rare Ediacara-type macrofossil assemblages have thus far been found in well-preserved marine carbonate successions: the Khatyspyt Formation in Arctic Siberia (Fedonkin, 1990;Knoll et al 1995;Grazhdankin et al 2008;Rogov et al 2012Rogov et al , 2013aRogov et al ,b, 2015Cui et al 2016a) and the middle Dengying Formation (Gaojiashan or Shibantan members) in South China (Sun, 1986;Xiao et al 2005;Chen et al 2014Chen et al , 2018Cui et al 2016b;Mason et al 2017;Shen et al 2017). Insofar as both exhibit extraordinary fossils with exceptional preservation, these Lagerstätten provide unique windows into terminal Ediacaran ecosystems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sedimentology and chemostratigraphy of the terminal Ediacaran Dengying Formation at the Gaojiashan section, South China

et al. 2019

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The terminal Ediacaran Dengying Formation (c. 551.1–538.8 Ma) in South China is one of two successions where Ediacara-type macrofossils are preserved in carbonate facies along with skeletal fossils and bilaterian animal traces. Given the remarkable thickness of carbonate-bearing strata deposited in less than 12.3 million years, the Dengying Formation holds the potential for construction of a relatively continuous chemostratigraphic profile for the terminal Ediacaran Period. In this study, a detailed sedimentological and chemostratigraphic (δ13Ccarb, δ18Ocarb, δ13Corg, δ34Spyrite, and 87Sr/86Sr) investigation was conducted on the Dengying Formation at the Gaojiashan section, Ningqiang County of southern Shaanxi Province, South China. Sedimentological results reveal an overall shallow-marine depositional environment. Carbonate breccia, void-filling botryoidal precipitates and aragonite crystal fans are common in the Algal Dolomite Member of the Dengying Formation, suggesting that peritidal facies were repeatedly karstified. The timing of karstification was likely early, probably soon after the deposition of the dolomite sediments. The presence of authigenic aragonite cements suggests high alkalinity in the terminal Ediacaran ocean. Geochemical analysis of micro-drilled samples shows that distinct compositions are registered in different carbonate phases, which should be considered when constructing chemostratigraphic profiles representative of true temporal variations in seawater chemistry. Integrated chemostratigraphic data suggest enhanced burial of organic carbon and pyrite, and the occurrence of extensive marine anoxia (at least in the Gaojiashan Member). Rapid basinal subsidence and carbonate accumulation during a time of elevated seawater alkalinity and increased rates of pyrite burial may have facilitated the evolutionary innovation of early biomineralizing metazoans.

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