华北中元古代陆表海氧化还原条件

文石海底沉淀是地球早期大气高CO2浓度、海洋贫氧条件下,CaCO3过饱和而直接沉淀于海底所形成的自生碳酸盐,可反映古海洋贫氧状态.对华北中元古界雾迷山组(ca 1.50～1.45 Ga)碳酸盐岩的研究发现:潮下带下部黑色纹层石由针状文石假晶等厚层与微生物席层交互堆叠而成;潮下带中部凝块石白云岩(A单元)主要由针状文石假...     

鄂尔多斯盆地马家沟组准层状岩溶角砾岩特征及其成因*

鄂尔多斯盆地奥陶系马家沟组广泛发育岩溶角砾岩,结构特征复杂。近期研究发现,这些角砾岩的组构和分布特征难以能单纯地用经典的风化壳岩溶模式解释,各类角砾岩的成因机理值得进一步探究。文中基于大量岩心及薄片观察,对苏里格气田东区奥陶系马家沟组上组合不同层位角砾岩进行归纳和判识,明确其空间展布和序列结构特征,分析形成机理。研究发现: (1)根据成因与发育环境,苏格里气田东区奥陶系马家沟组上组合角砾岩可划分为5类,分别是近原地解离角砾岩(B1)、近地表堆积角砾岩(B2)、洞穴堆积角砾岩(B3)、洞顶(壁)碎裂角砾岩(B4)和坍塌角砾岩(B5),它们具有纵向多层叠置、横向可对比的“准层状”特征; (2)不同类型角砾岩的纵向配置和演化与周期性的向上变浅沉积序列和暴露溶蚀有关,共归纳为3种类型,即B1主发育型、B2-B3-B4组合发育型、B5主发育型; (3)准层状角砾岩形成于早成岩期,受控于古地貌起伏背景下的高频海平面变化,由暴露溶蚀透镜体横向迁移连片和纵向多旋回叠置而成。研究结果不仅有助于了解鄂尔多斯盆地马家沟组多样化的岩溶角砾岩特征与成因,也为白云岩早成岩期岩溶研究提供了新的素材。     

塔里木盆地苏盖特布拉克剖面寒武系第二统第三阶微生物岩结构类型*

塔里木盆地阿克苏地区寒武系第二统第三阶肖尔布拉克组主要由微生物白云岩组成,代表性的剖面在阿克苏市西南90 km处的苏盖特布拉克。由于成岩作用改造严重,对这套微生物碳酸盐岩的特征和形成环境的认识还存在很多分歧,制约了勘探工作。通过详细野外勘察和室内研究,将肖尔布拉克组微生物岩分为4种结构类型: 凝块结构、纹层结构、砂屑结构和骨架结构。首次对凝块结构和纹层结构进行了亚类型的划分,其中凝块结构可划分为蠕虫状、网状和斑点状3种亚类型,纹层结构可划分为致密纹层、短薄纹层、颗粒纹层以及单纹层、纹层组、复合纹层。肖Ⅰ段—肖Ⅲ段发育凝块石白云岩、凝块—层纹石白云岩和层纹石白云岩,肖Ⅳ段发育凝块石微生物丘,肖V段下部发育网状结构凝块石白云岩,肖V段上部发育砂屑白云岩和肾形菌骨架岩。白云石化作用、溶蚀作用、重结晶作用是改变肖尔布拉克组微生物岩结构最重要的成岩作用,且该组下部比上部遭受了更强的成岩作用改造;微生物岩结构对成岩作用改造的抵抗能力为: 砂屑结构>纹层结构>凝块结构。根据微生物岩结构,推测肖Ⅰ段—肖Ⅲ段形成于潮坪环境,肖Ⅳ段和肖V段下部形成于深水潮下环境,肖V段上部形成于浅水潮下环境。以上成果为认识塔里木盆地肖尔布拉克组微生物岩的平面分布规律和今后开展被成岩作用强烈改造的白云岩型微生物岩的研究提供了一个重要参考。     

Microbialites of the Neoproterozoic Beck Spring Dolomite,Southern California

Ancient microbialites reflect interactions between microbial communities and environmental conditions. However, evaluating the relative roles of microbial community processes and environmental influences on microbialite morphology and internal fabric in the rock record can be challenging. The Neoproterozoic Beck Spring Dolomite preserves diverse microbialites, and thus provides an opportunity to explore the factors that influenced microbialite development locally. Stromatolitic, thrombolitic and composite microbialites are abundant in subtidal to upper intertidal carbonates in the Beck Spring Dolomite. Thrombolitic and composite microbialites have not been recognized previously in this unit, but compose much of the newly defined thrombolitic member. Stratigraphic relationships demonstrate that these three types of microbialites formed in close spatial and temporal association in subtidal to intertidal environments. The relative proportions and distributions of stromatolitic and thrombolitic microbialites vary with depositional environment; stromatolitic microbialites dominate in deeper intertidal to subtidal facies, whereas thrombolitic textures are more abundant in upper intertidal facies. Composite microbialites, composed of intermingled clotted and laminated textures, formed in all environments but are most abundant in intertidal facies. The broad environmental distribution of stromatolitic, thrombolitic and composite microbialites and the intermingling of textures suggest that laminated and clotted textures reflect diverse microbial community morphologies rather than environmental variations. Furthermore, the ca 750 Ma age of thrombolitic microbialites in the Beck Spring Dolomite requires that they formed without the influence of calcimicrobes or metazoans colonizing and grazing the microbial mat surface. Thus, these thrombolites provide further evidence that the biostratigraphic distribution of thrombolites cannot be uniquely attributed to evolution of calcifying and grazing organisms in the earliest Cambrian, and that older microbial communities were capable of producing clotted textures.     

Shallow‐water microbialite‐volcaniclastic facies association in the Cambro‐Ordovician Mt Windsor Subprovince,Australia

The Trooper Creek Formation is a mineralised submarine volcano‐sedimentary sequence in the Cambro‐Ordovician Seventy Mile Range Group, Queensland. Most of the Trooper Creek Formation accumulated in a below‐storm‐wave‐base setting. However, microbialites and fossiliferous quartz‐hematite ± magnetite lenses provide evidence for local shoaling to above fairweather wave‐base (typically 5–15 m). The microbialites comprise biogenic (oncolites, stromatolites) and volcanogenic (pumice, shards, crystal fragments) components. Microstructural elements of the bioherms and biostromes include upwardly branching stromatolites, which suggest that photosynthetic microorganisms were important in constructing the microbialites. Because the microbialites are restricted to a thin stratigraphic interval in the Trooper Creek area, shallow‐water environments are interpreted to have been spatially and temporarily restricted. The circumstances that led to local shoaling are recorded by the enclosing volcanic and sedimentary lithofacies. The microbialites are hosted by felsic syneruptive pumiceous turbidites and water‐settled fall deposits generated by explosive eruptions. The microbialite host rocks overlie a thick association (≤?300 m) of andesitic lithofacies that includes four main facies: coherent andesite and associated autoclastic breccia and peperite; graded andesitic scoria breccia (scoriaceous sediment gravity‐flow deposits); fluidal clast‐rich andesitic breccia (water‐settled fall and sediment gravity‐flow deposits); and cross‐stratified andesitic sandstone and breccia (traction‐current deposits). The latter three facies consist of poorly vesicular blocky fragments, scoriaceous clasts (10–90%), and up to 10% fluidally shaped clasts. The fluidal clasts are interpreted as volcanic bombs. Clast shapes and textures in the andesitic volcaniclastic facies association imply that fragmentation occurred through a combination of fire fountaining and Strombolian activity, and a large proportion of the pyroclasts disintegrated due to quenching and impacts. Rapid syneruptive, near‐vent aggradation of bombs, scoria, and quench‐fragmented clasts probably led to temporary shoaling, so that subsequent felsic volcaniclastic facies and microbialites were deposited in shallow water. When subsidence outpaced aggradation, the depositional setting at Trooper Creek returned to being relatively deep marine.     

Microbenthic distribution of Proterozoic tidal flats: environmental and taphonomic considerations

Silicified carbonates of the late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic Society Cliffs Formation, Baffin Island, contain distinctive microfabrics and microbenthic assemblages whose paleo-environmental distribution within the formation parallels the distribution of these elements through Proterozoic time. In the Society Cliffs Formation, restricted carbonates--including microdigitate stromatolites, laminated tufa, and tufted microbial mats--consist predominantly of synsedimentary cements; these facies and the cyanobacterial fossils they contain are common in Paleoproterozoic successions but rare in Neoproterozoic and younger rocks. Less restricted tidal-flat facies in the formation are composed of laminated microbialites dominated by micritic carbonate lithified early, yet demonstrably after compaction; these strata contain cyanobacteria that are characteristic in Neoproterozoic rocks. Within the formation, the facies-dependent distribution of microbial populations reflects both the style and timing of carbonate deposition because of the strong substrate specificity of benthic cyanobacteria. A reasonable conclusion is that secular changes in microbenthic assemblages through Proterozoic time reflect a decrease in the overall representation of rapidly lithified carbonate substrates in younger peritidal environments, as well as concomitant changes in the taphonomic window of silicification through which early life is observed.     

天津蓟县中元古界雾迷山组微指状叠层石及其对1250 Ma±叠层石衰减事件的响应

天津蓟县中元古界雾迷山组是一套厚度超过3000,m的叠层石碳酸盐岩沉积序列,在该序列中潮下相叠层石生物层、凝块石生物丘与潮坪相泥晶白云岩、潟湖相白云质泥页岩一起构成若干个环潮坪型米级旋回——"雾迷山旋回层"。在雾迷山组下部发育微指状叠层石,并被古生物学家定义为"Pseudogymnosolen mo-panyuensis-Scuphus-Yangzhuang columnaris"组合,即假裸枝叠层石科叠层石,沉积学家将其解释为元古代文石(灰华)海底沉淀物所构成的叠层石,代表从太古代海底结壳状文石沉淀物组成的叠层石到新元古代碎屑结构相的泥晶碳酸盐岩叠层石过渡时期的特殊产物。因此,雾迷山组巨厚的叠层石碳酸盐岩沉积序列,记录了元古代文石(灰华)海底沉淀物所构成的特殊的叠层石大规模消亡的层位,为研究前寒武纪以叠层石为代表的微生物碳酸盐岩所经历的漫长而复杂的地质历史演变提供了宝贵的材料。     

Development of microbial carbonates in the Lower Cretaceous Codó Formation (north‐east Brazil): Implications for interpretation of microbialite facies associations and palaeoenvironmental conditions

The study of microbial carbonates has acquired new significance with the recognition that they retain valuable information related to biomineralization processes associated with microbial activity throughout geological time. Additionally, microbialites have a demonstrated economic potential to serve as excellent hydrocarbon reservoirs. The Lower Cretaceous Codó Formation, located in the Parnaiba Basin of north‐east Brazil, comprises a unique stratigraphic sequence of up to 20 m thick, well‐preserved carbonate microbialites. Deposited in a continental basin during the initial break up and separation of South America from Africa in the Early Cretaceous, this lacustrine carbonate sequence provides an excellent example to investigate the palaeoenvironmental conditions controlling microbialite facies development. Based on macroscopic and microscopic observations of outcrop and drill core samples, four microbialite facies (stromatolite, lamina, massive and spherulite) were defined and distinguished by textures and microbial fossil content. Changes in facies type are related to alternating palaeo‐water depths, as reflected by ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr cycles resulting from fluctuations in the sources of meteoric water. Clumped isotope measurements of stromatolitic fabrics yield precipitation palaeo‐temperatures with an average value of 35°C. The δ¹⁸O values of bulk carbonate (?6·8 to ?1·5‰ Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite) imply precipitation from water with calculated δ¹⁸O values between ?1·6‰ and 1·8‰ Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water, reflecting precipitation from variably modified meteoric waters. The δ¹³C values of bulk carbonate (?15·5 to ?7·2‰ Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite) indicate a significant input of carbon derived from aerobic or anaerobic respiration of organic matter. Combined, the data indicate that the evolution of the Codó Formation occurred in a closed lacustrine palaeoenvironment with alternating episodes of contracting and expanding lake levels, which led to the development of specific microbialite facies associations. The results provide new insights into palaeoenvironmental settings, biogenicity and early diagenetic processes involved in the formation of ancient carbonate microbialites and, by extension, improve the knowledge of the reservoir geology of correlative units in deep waters offshore Brazil.     

肥城邓家庄剖面寒武系微生物碳酸盐岩沉积序列

山东肥城邓家庄剖面寒武系出露连续,构成了7个三级层序。微生物碳酸盐岩主要发育在高位体系域和强迫型海退体系域单元中,以徐庄组凝块石、张夏组核形石、长山组叠层石、凤山组均一石为代表,是研究早古生代微生物碳酸盐岩复苏期的良好实例。多样化的微生物碳酸盐岩中可见大量保存精美的附枝菌（Epiphyton）、葛万菌（Girvanella）以及肾形菌（Renalcis）等钙化微生物残余物,指示了微生物碳酸盐岩形成与蓝细菌为主导的微生物新陈代谢活动密切相关。此外,微生物碳酸盐岩沉积特征反映了生长环境的分异性:均一石、凝块石分别生长在潮下带下部、上部;柱状叠层石主要发育在能量较高的潮间带环境;核形石指示了沉积环境浅且能量高的鲕粒滩相沉积环境。邓家庄寒武系剖面微生物碳酸盐岩为了解寒武纪地球微生物、古环境、古气候提供了重要的岩石记录。     

埃迪卡拉纪—寒武纪之交微生物岩特征对比及古海洋学意义: 以汉南—米仓山地区为例*

寒武纪初期不仅发生了宏体生物大爆发,而且也出现了地质历史时期少见的蓝细菌鞘体大规模钙化事件。埃迪卡拉纪—寒武纪之交海水化学性质的转变对真核生物的演化起到了重要作用,但是这种转变对微生物岩发育特征以及蓝细菌钙化事件的产生有无影响,目前尚不明确。鉴于此,对华南上扬子北缘汉南—米仓山地区上埃迪卡拉统—寒武系第二统多个典型微生物岩发育剖面进行了系统野外调查和室内岩石学分析,结果表明:上埃迪卡拉统灯影组叠层石广泛发育,以平铺状、缓波状特征为主,而凝块石既可以呈补丁状分布于叠层石纹层间,又可以呈细小的凝絮状、粘结状特征构成厚层岩层;寒武系第二统仙女洞组叠层石丰度显著降低,以高大、坚硬的丘状隆起为特点,包括单独的凝块石丘,以及微生物与古杯的联合建丘。虽然寒武系第二统微生物岩的层状结构和凝块结构与埃迪卡拉系相比并无太大差异,但是寒武系微生物岩内部保存有大量的钙化微生物化石,已识别出附枝菌(Epiphyton)、肾形菌(Renalcis)和葛万菌(Girvanella)等多种类型。在收集、整理前人有关微生物岩特征和发育资料的基础上,本次研究初步整理出华南寒武系第二统微生物岩的时空分布特点,发现寒武纪第二世第三期是钙化微生物大量发育的一个时期,在随后的第四期达到一个小的高峰。对于此次蓝细菌钙化作用幕的启动机制,除前人提出的海水高钙离子浓度和蓝细菌体内二氧化碳浓缩机制等认识外,寒武纪早期海水性质的转变(方解石质原生矿物受成岩改造程度较低)、适度的陆源碎屑输入(黏土组分保护作用)也有利于钙化微生物结构的保存,应引起重视。     

华北地台马沟剖面寒武系苗岭统微生物岩的组构特征、沉积环境和地质意义

华北地台大约从寒武纪第二世的晚期开始接受沉积,超覆在前寒武-寒武纪“巨型不整合面”之上,形成了一套二级海侵背景下的厚层陆表海硅质碎屑岩-碳酸盐岩混积序列,这套特别的地层序列在苗岭统和芙蓉统中包含了多种多样的微生物岩。研究区苗岭统出露较为完整,包括毛庄组、徐庄组、张夏组和崮山组,分别构成4个三级层序即SQ1至SQ4。在SQ2的高位体系域和强迫型海退体系域中,以及SQ3的高位体系域中发育了较为特别的由微生物岩构成的生物层、生物丘或生物丘复合体。微生物岩的种类和沉积环境包括形成于正常浪基面以下、潮下带低能环境的类型I迷宫状微生物岩,潮下带上部至潮间带中-高能环境的类型II和类型III迷宫状微生物岩,风暴浪基面之上浅水环境中的均一石,潮间带短柱状叠层石和潮上带近水平缓波状叠层石,以及高能鲕粒滩中的小型叠层石生物丘。通常认为寒武系苗岭统的微生物岩（礁）以凝块石和树形石为特征,而本次研究在苗岭统中发现了迷宫状微生物岩和均一石,补充丰富了对寒武系微生物岩（礁）多样化和复杂化构成的认识。无论是在迷宫状微生物岩、均一石中,还是叠层石中,都见到了一种或多种钙化蓝细菌（鞘）化石,如葛万菌（Girvanella）、附枝菌（Epithyton）和基座菌（Hedstroemia）等,以及大量的钙化微生物席残余物,表明这些微生物岩是由蓝细菌所主导的微生物席的复杂的钙化作用产物,而大量呈弥散状分布的黄铁矿晶体或颗粒则表明硫酸盐还原菌等非光合作用细菌和异养细菌可能在促进碳酸盐沉淀过程中扮演了重要角色。     

Platform and off-platform carbonates of the Upper Cambrian of western Maryland, U.S.A.

Upper Cambrian carbonates in western Maryland are comprised of platform facies (Conococheague Limestone) west of South Mountain and basin facies (Frederick Limestone) east of South Mountain. Conocheague platform carbonates contain interbedded non-cyclic and cyclic facies. Non-cyclic facies consist of cross-stratified grainstones, thrombolitic bioherms, and graded, thin-bedded dolostones. These were deposited in shallow, subtidal shelf lagoons. Cyclic facies are composed of repeated sequences of cross-stratified grainstone; ribbon-rock; wavy, prism-cracked laminite; and planar laminated dolostone. The cyclic facies are shallowing-upward cycles produced by lateral progradation of tidal flats over shallow, nearshore subtidal environments. Cyclic and non-cyclic facies are interbedded in the Conococheague in a layer cake fashion, but no higher-order cyclicity can be found. The Frederick Limestone is dominated by monotonously thick sequences of graded, thin-bedded limestones, interbedded with massive peloidal grainstones and beds of breccia up to 10 m thick in the lower Frederick. The breccias contain transported megaclasts of Epiphyton-Girvanella boundstones. The basal Frederick was deposited in a slope-to-basinal setting east of a rimmed shelf. An Epiphyton-Girvanella marginal reef along the shelf edge was the source of the blocks in the breccias. The upper Frederick Limestone formed on a carbonate ramp.     

In the aftermath of the end‐Permian extinction: the microbialite refuge?

We present the first study of micro‐crustaceans (ostracods) associated with microbial crusts in the aftermath of the most devastating extinction, the end‐Permian extinction (EPE). These post‐extinction microbialites dominated shallow shelf marine environments and were traditionally considered as devoid of any associated fauna. We present a micro‐palaeontological analysis of a large record from microbial and non‐microbial settings following the EPE. This dataset documents the proliferation of ostracods strictly associated with microbialites. Based on the diet of extant ostracods and uniformitarianism, we propose that the abundant microbes in the mats served as an unlimited food supply. Photosynthetic cyanobacteria may also have locally provided oxygen under low oxygen conditions interpreted by others for the microbialites. Microbialites provided a specialised environment that may have acted as refuge for ostracods in the immediate aftermath of the EPE. The surviving faunas may have been progenitors for the starting of the latter radiation.     

Implications for Neoarchaean ocean chemistry from primary carbonate mineralogy of the Campbellrand-Malmani Platform, South Africa

The precipitation of calcite and aragonite as encrustations directly on the seafloor was an important platform‐building process during deposition of the 2560–2520 Ma Campbellrand‐Malmani carbonate platform, South Africa. Aragonite fans and fibrous coatings are common in unrestricted, shallow subtidal to intertidal facies. They are also present in restricted facies, but are absent from deep subtidal facies. Decimetre‐thick fibrous calcite encrustations are present to abundant in all depositional environments except the deepest slope and basinal facies. The proportion of the rock composed of carbonate that precipitated as encrustations or in primary voids ranges from 0% to > 65% depending on the facies. Subtidal facies commonly contain 20–35%in situ precipitated carbonate, demonstrating that Neoarchaean sea water was supersaturated with respect to aragonite, carbonate crystal growth rates were rapid compared with sediment influx rates, and the dynamics of carbonate precipitation were different from those in younger carbonate platforms. The abundance of aragonite pseudomorphs suggests that sea‐water pH was neutral to alkaline, whereas the paucity of micrite suggests the presence of inhibitors to calcite and aragonite nucleation in the mixed zone of the oceans.     

Carbonate platform dominated by peloidal sands: Lower Ordovician La Silla Formation of the eastern Precordillera,San Juan,Argentina

The Lower Ordovician La Silla Formation of the Precordillera of west‐central Argentina is part of the west‐facing early Palaeozoic, tropical carbonate platform succession that comprises the core of the Cuyania terrane. Up to 360 m thick, it is exposed in several thrust sheets over a distance of some 250 km along and across depositional strike over a palinspastically unrestored distance of about 35 km. La Silla Formation is a strikingly pure limestone with subordinate finely crystalline dolomite and rare chert. It accumulated on a more or less uniformly subsiding passive margin. Copious precipitation of microcrystalline calcite, probably influenced by microbial activity to varying degrees, led to the generation of peloids, ooids and aggregates of these grains, as well as small amounts of lime mud, intraclasts, stromatolites and thrombolites. Rare bioclasts are limited mostly to scattered gastropods and trilobite sclerites; bioturbation is present locally. The array of carbonate rock types is grouped into eight recurring lithofacies, in order of decreasing abundance: (i) peloidal grainstone; (ii) laminated dolostone; (iii) intraclastic rudstone; (iv) microbial laminite; (v) peloidal packstone; (vi) ooidal grainstone; (vii) thrombolite boundstone; and (viii) mudstone. These facies represent sediments that formed solely in a shallow subtidal marine environment, with no evidence of restricted conditions, hypersalinity or subaerial exposure. No events of eustatic sea‐level change are recorded. By far the dominant facies is grainstone composed of well‐sorted, fine sand‐sized peloids and peloidal aggregates in homogeneous, tabular to gently undulating, medium to thick beds; cross‐lamination is scarce. Clusters of sub‐metre‐sized microbial patch reefs developed sporadically. The shallow platform is envisaged to have been covered by extensive peloidal sand flats and low‐relief banks, and little lime mud was generated. The setting was probably microtidal and may not have been affected by strong trade winds. It was washed by frequent, relatively gentle wave action but without experiencing powerful storms. In the middle member, anomalous lenses of intraclastic rudstone and laminated dolostone occur as graded beds overlying sharply downcut scoured surfaces up to 20 cm deep; these are interpreted to indicate a phase when accretion was punctuated occasionally by tsunamis generated from rift‐faulting seaward of the platform margin. The remarkably uniform peloidal grainstone composition over a broad area shows that, given the appropriate combination of climate, environmental and ecological factors, large portions of some early Palaeozoic platforms were dominated by grainy sediment and remained under well‐agitated conditions within fair‐weather wave‐base, without distinct lateral facies differentiation or tidal‐flat aggradation.     

Microbial deposits in the aftermath of the end‐Permian mass extinction: A diverging case from the Mineral Mountains (Utah,USA)

The Lower Triassic Mineral Mountains area (Utah, USA) preserves diversified Smithian and Spathian reefs and bioaccumulations that contain fenestral‐microbialites and various benthic and pelagic organisms. Ecological and environmental changes during the Early Triassic are commonly assumed to be associated with numerous perturbations (productivity changes, acidifica‐tion, redox changes, hypercapnia, eustatism and temperature changes) post‐dating the Permian–Triassic mass extinction. New data acquired in the Mineral Mountains sediments provide evidence to decipher the relationships between depositional environments and the growth and distribution of microbial structures. These data also help to understand better the controlling factors acting upon sedimentation and community turnovers through the Smithian–early Spathian. The studied section records a large‐scale depositional sequence during the Dienerian(?)–Spathian interval. During the transgression, depositional environments evolved from a coastal bay with continental deposits to intertidal fenestral–microbial limestones, shallow subtidal marine sponge–microbial reefs to deep subtidal mud‐dominated limestones. Storm‐induced deposits, microbialite–sponge reefs and shallow subtidal deposits indicate the regression. Three microbialite associations occur in ascending order: (i) a red beds microbialite association deposited in low‐energy hypersaline supratidal conditions where microbialites consist of microbial mats and poorly preserved microbially induced sedimentary structure; (ii) a Smithian microbialite association formed in moderate to high‐energy, tidal conditions where microbialites include stromatolites and associated carbonate grains (oncoids, ooids and peloids); and (iii) a Spathian microbialite association developed in low‐energy offshore conditions that is preserved as multiple decimetre thick isolated domes and coalescent domes. Data indicate that the morphologies of the three microbialite associations are controlled primarily by accommodation, hydrodynamics, bathymetry and grain supply. This study suggests that microbial constructions are controlled by changes between trapping and binding versus precipitation processes in variable hydrodynamic conditions. Due to the presence of numerous metazoans associated with microbialites throughout the Smithian increase in accommodation and Spathian decrease in accommodation, the commonly assumed anachronistic character of the Early Triassic microbialites and the traditional view of prolonged deleterious conditions during the Early Triassic time interval is questioned.     

The possible role of benthic microbial mats during the formation of carbonaceous shales in shallow Mid-Proterozoic basins

A considerable portion of the upper member of the Mid-Proterozoic Newland Formation, Meagher County, Montana, consists of carbonaceous silty shales (striped shale facies). This type of shale facies is common in Proterozoic basins and is host to several major base metal deposits. The striped shales were deposited in a subtidal setting, basinward of carbonates characterized by cryptalgal laminites, mudcracks and flat pebble conglomerates. The carbonaceous silty shales are considered remnants of benthic microbial mats. Irregular internal laminae, patterns of particle trapping, mechanical deformation during penecontemporaneous soft-sediment deformation and filamentous microbiota provide evidence for this interpretation. The dolomitic clayey shale contains graded silt-clay couplets, and these are interpreted as storm layers. Modern subtidal microbial mats can only survive under special conditions, but in the Proterozoic, it is suggested that benthic microbial mats colonized the shallow seafloor during periods of low sediment input, leading to the formation of carbonaceous shales.     

湖北崇阳二叠纪—三叠纪之交生物灭绝和沉积微相演化

二叠纪—三叠纪之交,湖北崇阳地区处于浅水碳酸盐岩台地环境.二叠纪末的全球事件在该剖面的沉积微相和生物演化上均留下了清楚的记录.二叠纪末生物大灭绝之前,崇阳地区为典型的正常浅海台地环境,生物种类多样,数量丰富,主要生物化石有钙藻、有孔虫、腕足、棘皮类和海绵等.生物大灭绝之后,钙藻、(筳)类、棘皮类、海绵、绝大部分有孔虫开始消失,取而代之的是个体微小的腹足、介形虫和大量的蓝细菌化石.大灭绝界线之上,首先出现的是25 cm厚的纹层状的微生物岩,含较丰富的种类单调的有孔虫化石.之后逐渐相变为花斑状微生物岩和穹隆状微生物岩,厚度分别为6.4,2.3m.不同类型微生物岩在结构构造和生物组成上存在差别.微生物岩沉积结束之后,则相变为浅滩相鲕粒灰岩.共划分出3种沉积相,即开阔台地相、潮坪相和浅滩相.崇阳剖面的生物灭绝和沉积微相变化是二叠纪—三叠纪之交浅水台地环境生物与环境过程的典型代表,为认识二叠纪末浅海沉积相演化和全球事件提供了新材料.     

塔里木盆地苏盖特布拉克地区下寒武统肖尔布拉克组碳酸盐岩微生物建造特征*

塔里木盆地苏盖特布拉克地区下寒武统肖尔布拉克组发育3种类型碳酸盐岩微生物（蓝细菌）建造,即下部微生物丘状和层状建造、中上部微生物礁和顶部叠层石建造。微生物丘状和层状建造的特点是似层状孔洞和纹层结构发育,形成于潮下高能带,与微生物席粘结有关,分布相对稳定。微生物礁是由枝状或丛状微生物骨架生长和微生物席粘结两种方式形成,分布较广,可分为两大期：第1大期发育在海退背景下,呈宏观块状建造特征;第2大期则发育在较大的海侵背景下,呈现两期点礁特征。叠层石建造发育在更大范围的海侵背景下,超覆于点状建造之上,要求的水动力条件相对较强,由微生物粘结作用形成,其中叠层石和核形石是其重要标志,仅分布在研究区北部的苏Ⅱ、苏Ⅲ和苏Ⅳ剖面近顶部。