Environmental Controls on the Genesis of Marine Microbialites and Dissolution Surface Associated With the End-Permian Mass Extinction: New sections and Observations From the Nanpanjiang Basin, South China

Lehrmann, Daniel J.; Bentz, John Michael; Wood, Tanner; Goers, Alexa; Dhillon, Rashpal S.; Akin, Sara; Li, Xiaowei; Payne, Jonathan L.; Kelley, Brian M.; Meyer, Katja; Schaal, Ellen K.; Suarez, Marina B.; Yu, Meiyi; Qin, Yanjiao; Li, Rongxi; Minzoni, Marcello; Henderson, Charles M.

doi:10.2110/palo.2014.088

Cited by 53 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 83 publications

(190 reference statements)

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“…Stratigraphic sections for the investigated sections on the Great Bank of Guizhou, showing lithology and sampled horizons. The sections are correlated using three lithological markers, the first marker bed (blue dashed line) is indicated by the cessation of chert nodules which reflects global changes in silica factory (Racki, ), the second marker (red dashed line) is a truncation surface between the Wujiaping and Daye formations (Lehrmann et al., ), and the third marker bed (green dashed line) is a volcanogenic horizon that overlies the microbialite unit (Baresel, d'Abzac, Bucher, & Schaltegger, ). The Permian/Triassic boundary represents the first occurrence of Hindeodus parvus from the Dawen section after Chen, Beatty, Henderson, and Rowe () [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facies selectivity of benthic invertebrates in a Permian/Triassic boundary microbialite succession: Implications for the “microbialite refuge” hypothesis

Foster

Lehrmann

et al. 2019

Geobiology

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Thrombolite and stromatolite habitats are becoming increasingly recognized as important refuges for invertebrates during Phanerozoic Oceanic Anoxic Events (OAEs); it is posited that oxygenic photosynthesis by cyanobacteria in these microbialites provided a refuge from anoxic conditions (i.e., the “microbialite refuge” hypothesis). Here, we test this hypothesis by investigating the distribution of ~34, 500 benthic invertebrate fossils found in ~100 samples from a microbialite succession that developed following the latest Permian mass extinction event on the Great Bank of Guizhou (South China), representing microbial (stromatolites and thrombolites) and non‐microbial facies. The stromatolites were the least taxonomically diverse facies, and the thrombolites also recorded significantly lower diversities when compared to the non‐microbial facies. Based on the distribution and ornamentation of the bioclasts within the thrombolites and stromatolites, the bioclasts are inferred to have been transported and concentrated in the non‐microbial fabrics, that is, cavities around the microbial framework. Therefore, many of the identified metazoans from the post‐extinction microbialites are not observed to have been living within a microbial mat. Furthermore, the lifestyle of many of the taxa identified from the microbialites was not suited for, or even amenable to, life within a benthic microbial mat. The high diversity of oxygen‐dependent metazoans in the non‐microbial facies on the Great Bank of Guizhou, and inferences from geochemical records, suggests that the microbialites and benthic communities developed in oxygenated environments, which disproves that the microbes were the source of the oxygenation. Instead, we posit that microbialite successions represent a taphonomic window for exceptional preservation of the biota, similar to a Konzentrat‐Lagerstätte, which has allowed for diverse fossil assemblages to be preserved during intervals of poor preservation.

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Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facies selectivity of benthic invertebrates in a Permian/Triassic boundary microbialite succession: Implications for the “microbialite refuge” hypothesis

Foster

Lehrmann

et al. 2019

Geobiology

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“…This idea has not yet been explored in further detail and will be tested as the database on PTBMs grows. Recently, Lehrmann et al (2015) also questioned the upwelling model due to relatively uniform thickness of PTBMs on isolated carbonate platforms of Nanpanjiang basin.…”

Section: Paleoenvironmental Significance Of the Ptbmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Analysis of conodont biostratigraphy, mega-to microscopic microbialite structures, stratigraphic variations in abundance and size of metazoan fossils, and total organic carbon (TOC) and total sulfur (TS) contents within the PTBM reveals the following results: (1) the microbialites occur mainly in the Hindeodus parvus Zone but may cross the Permian-Triassic boundary, and are comprised of, from bottom to top: lamellar thrombolites, dendritic thrombolites and lamellarreticular thrombolites; (2) most metazoan fossils of the microbialite succession increase in abundance upsection, so does the sizes of bivalve and brachiopod fossils; (3) TOC and TS values of microbialites account respectively for 0.07 and 0.31 wt% on average, both of which are very low. The Kershaw et al 2007Kershaw et al , 2009Kershaw et al , 2011Yang et al 2011;Forel et al 2013;Kershaw et al 2012;Loope et al 2013;Jiang et al 2014;Wu et al 2014;Lehrmann et al 2015;Wu et al 2016). Microbialites also occur later in the Early Triassic (Schubert and Bottjer 1992;Lehrmann 1999;Pruss and Bottjer 2004;Pruss et al 2006;Mary and Woods 2008;Mata and Bottjer 2011;Marenco et al 2012;Chen et al 2014;Vennin et al 2015), where they are commonly described as having formed in anoxic, harsh environments (e.g., Pruss and Bottjer 2004;Pruss et al 2006;Mary and Woods 2008;Mata and Bottjer 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are abundant in low-latitude Tethyan locations including South China, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, and Hungary, and formed mostly in shallow subtidal environments but also occurred in the deeper shelf, seamounts, and rift basins (Kershaw et al 2012 and references therein). The models for their generation consist of a series of viewpoints, including: (1) reduced benthic grazing pressure; (2) upwelling of anoxic alkaline waters; (3) elimination of skeletal CaCO 3 sinks; (4) increased nutrient levels from erupted volcanic ash; and (5) a rebound in carbonate saturation following a transient ocean acidification event (Lehrmann et al 2015 and references therein). The upwelling model, in particular, has been applied by numerous workers in the Early Triassic (Kershaw et al 1999;Ezaki et al 2003;Lehrmann et al 2003;Pruss and Bottjer 2004;Pruss et al 2005;Kershaw et al 2007Kershaw et al , 2009Kershaw et al , 2011Ezaki et al 2008;Mary and Woods 2008;Mata and Bottjer 2011;He et al 2013;Woods 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, some recent studies show that the formation of PTBMs might occur in oxygenated environments, suggested by Lehrmann et al (2015). Liu et al (2010) discovered that filter-feeding ostracods accounted for only 9% of ostracods of PTBMs in Chongyang (South China), suggesting a marine environment with normal oxygen level; filter feeders have a greater tolerance to low oxygen than deposit feeders, so a low ratio of filter feeders to deposit feeders suggests higher oxygen levels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Permian–Triassic boundary microbialites (PTBMs) in southwest China: implications for paleoenvironment reconstruction

Tang

Kershaw

Liu

et al. 2016

Facies

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combination of increase in abundance and size of metazoan fossils upsection, together with the low TOC and TS contents, is evidence that the Yudongzi PTBMs developed in oxic seawater. We thus dispute the previous view, at least for the Chinese sequences, of low-oxygen seawater for microbialite growth, and question whether it is now appropriate to associate PTBMs with anoxic, harsh environments associated with the end-Permian extinction. Instead, we interpret those conditions as fully oxygenated.

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Persistent Environmental Stress Delayed the Recovery of Marine Communities in the Aftermath of the Latest Permian Mass Extinction

Foster

Lehrmann

et al. 2018

Paleoceanog and Paleoclimatol

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The aftermath of the latest Permian mass extinction is a key interval for the evolution of modern marine ecosystems. It has been hypothesized that the magnitude of the mass extinction delayed the subsequent recovery, and so to test this, we undertook the highest resolution study to date of the post‐extinction (Griesbachian) microbialite unit on the Great Bank of Guizhou, south China. The benthic community from the microbialite unit is taxonomically diverse when compared to other coeval deposits, recording both inarticulate and articulate brachiopods, crinoids, echinoids, bivalves, gastropods, microconchids, and ostracods. Here we recognize 49 taxa from 4,557 individuals, which raise the known diversity of the Great Bank of Guizhou basal microbialite unit to 84 invertebrate species, making it the most diverse Early Triassic community currently reported. About 89% of the genera are Permian holdovers, whilst only 13% of the species are Permian holdovers. These new data record no temporal trends in the species richness, Simpson diversity, Simpson effective diversity, taxonomic distinctness, functional diversity, or body size of the benthos during the post‐extinction microbialite unit. Nevertheless, the small body sizes of the benthic community, prevalence of opportunistic taxa (e.g., Claraia), and the large lophophoral cavity in the lingulid brachiopod, Sinolingularia huananensis, suggests that these animals lived in a highly stressed environment. We propose that the microbialite unit contains a survival fauna in an interval that represents persistent environmental stress from the latest Permian mass extinction event, associated with deoxygenation, high temperatures, elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (pCO2), and elevated primary productivity.

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Environmental Controls on the Genesis of Marine Microbialites and Dissolution Surface Associated With the End-Permian Mass Extinction: New sections and Observations From the Nanpanjiang Basin, South China

Cited by 53 publications

References 83 publications

Facies selectivity of benthic invertebrates in a Permian/Triassic boundary microbialite succession: Implications for the “microbialite refuge” hypothesis

Facies selectivity of benthic invertebrates in a Permian/Triassic boundary microbialite succession: Implications for the “microbialite refuge” hypothesis

Permian–Triassic boundary microbialites (PTBMs) in southwest China: implications for paleoenvironment reconstruction

Persistent Environmental Stress Delayed the Recovery of Marine Communities in the Aftermath of the Latest Permian Mass Extinction

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