中国西南部三叠纪海相生物群及其集群死亡事件

中国西南部三叠纪海相生物群主要有海生爬行类、鱼类、棘皮类、菊石类、双壳类、腹足类及节肢动物等,分布范围包括贵州关岭、兴义、盘县和云南罗平一带的中—上三叠统关岭组、竹竿坡组及小凹组灰黑色钙质泥岩及泥质灰岩地层。这些生物群高度分异,数量丰富,反映了地球生命在经历了二叠纪末大绝灭以及早三叠世的相对停滞期后,在中三叠世开始进入迅速辐射演化的新阶段。这样不同类型和不同生长阶段的大量海洋动物同时集群死亡,并被迅速封埋保存成化石,反映了当时多次发生突发灾变事件。这与该生物群所处的古地理位置恰好位于华南板块、江南造山带及印度支那板块交界区构造活动带的海湾盆地环境有密切关系。推测那里滞流深水区还原环境形成硫化氢水团,在印支造山运动期间多次发生的海底地震及火山活动时,其硫化氢水团及海底富含碳酸盐的软泥泛起,混合成高密度有毒浊水团,侵入海洋生物群生存的清澈浅水区,导致大量海洋生物中毒窒息,出现突发性集群死亡,随后又被有毒浊水团携带的泥沙迅速封埋,在以后的成岩作用中保存为灰黑色钙质泥岩及泥质灰岩中的精美化石。     

Neogene Paleoseismic Events and the Shanwang Biota’s Burial in the Linqu Area, Shandong Province, China

Several paleoseismic events are recorded in the Neogene Linqu Group, exposed in the Linqu area, Shandong Province, China. The events were interpreted on the basis of fieldwork and laboratory analysis, which showed the presence of seismites with plastically deformed soft-sediment deformation structures in the Shanwang Formation, and of seismic volcanic rocks in the Yaoshan Formation which show brittle deformation. The earthquake-triggered soft-sediment deformations in the seismites include load structures, ball-and-pillow structures, flame structures, pillow-like beds, boudinage structures, slump folds, syn-depositional faults, veins of liquefied sand, and dikes of liquefied sandy lime-mud. The seismic activity is also reflected in what might be called ‘brittle seismites'; these originated when, under the influence of seismic vibrations, semi-consolidated conglomerate was shattered. Moreover, volcanic activity is related to intense earthquakes that affected basalts intercalated with sand layers; these successions are known as ‘seismic volcanic rocks', which are characterized by veins of liquefied sand intruding the basalts. All above traces of paleoseismic activity were left from one single time span of 4 Ma with active seismicity that took place 14–10 Ma. This time span is known as ‘the Linqu Neogene Paleoseismic Active Period', which is divided into four paleoseismic episodes, which were responses to tectonic extension and basin rifting in this area. It even includes the activity of the Yishu Fault Zone during the Miocene and the Neogene. The ratios of trace elements in the seismites, w(La)/w(Sc) and w(La)/w(Th) are higher than the average value of the upper crust, but w(Th)/w(Sc) is lower; this is geochemical evidence for the basin rifting that resulted in a high sedimentation rate. The intense and frequent paleo-earthquakes are held responsible for the rapid burial of the Shanwang Biota. Secondary earthquake-induced processes(e.g. slumping of a lake shore and the strongly increased lacustrine sedimentation rate) contributed to the rapid burial of the biota.     

云南罗平大凹子与上石坎剖面牙形类动物群研究进展

从大凹子剖面118件样品和上石坎剖面78件样品的系统研究中获得了丰富的牙形石标本,特征分子为Nicoraella kockeli Ni.germanicus,同时还获得了众多未能鉴定到种的片形分子Nicoraella sp.,Neospathodus sp.,以及大量的枝形分子,Cornudina? latidentata,Cornudina tortilis,Xaniognathus sp.,Hibbardellasp.,Cypridodella of.delicatula,Cypridodella cf.conflexa,Enantiognathus ziegler,Enantiognathus incurvus,Enantiognathus latus,Neohindeodella triassica,Hindeodella bogschi.对这些可识别到种级别的分子进行了鉴定描述,大凹子与上石坎剖面中获得的牙形石分子Nicoraella kockeli指示出罗平生物群的时代为Anisian期的Pelsonian亚期.     

八臂仙母虫(Eoandromeda octobrachiata)新材料及其意义

在中国贵州江口地区陡山沱组新发现的化石材料表明,伊迪卡拉/震旦纪(Ediacaran/Sinian)的宏体化石——八臂仙母虫Eoandromeda octobrachiata的原始生活状态可能为一个较高的圆锥形生命体,具有沿着侧面锥状螺旋排列的八条旋臂.旋臂表面保存有与栉水母动物的栉板可能同源的横向有机质条带,规则排列...     

Evolution of the Ediacaran Doushantuoian Meta-Paleo-Community in Northeast Guizhou, South China

Macroscopic organisms lived in the Yangtze Sea of South China during the Late Doushantuo period of the Ediacaran. The results of the specimen collections and statistics within each meter show that the macroscopic biota from the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in northeast Guizhou, South China, can be subdivided into Globusphyton, Cucullus, Sectoralga–Longifuniculum, Beltanelliformis, and Baculiphyca–Gesinella paleo-communities. The paleo-community evolution indicates the relationship not only between biota and environment, but also between metaphytes and metazoans. From the Globusphyton paleo-community, through to the Sectoralga–Longifuniculum paleo-community, to the Cucullus paleo-community, the increase in the abundance and diversity of metaphytes (especially the branching macroalgae) and metazoans implies that the oxygen content in the seawater increased gradually. Both the Beltanelliformis and Baculiphyca–Gesinella paleo-communities could be related to a deteriorated environment and fragile ecosystem. The emergence, abundance, and diversity of macroscopic metaphytes, which were closely connected with the environmental microchanges, accelerated the process, improving the environment and increasing oxygen, and established an important platform for the development of macroscopic metazoans.     

There is no such thing as the ‘Ediacara Biota'

The term‘Ediacara Biota’(or many variants thereof)is commonly used to refer to certain megascopic fossils of Precambrian and early Palaeozoic age e but what does the term actually mean?What differentiates a non-Ediacaran‘Ediacaran’and an Ediacaran‘Ediacaran’from an Ediacaran non-‘Ediacaran’?Historically,the term has been used in either a geographic,stratigraphic,taphonomic,or biologic sense.More recent research and new discoveries,however,mean that the term cannot actually be defned on any of these bases,or any combination thereof.Indeed,the term is now used and understood in a manner which is internally inconsistent,and unintentionally implies that these fossils are somehow distinct from other fossil assemblages,which is simply not the case.Continued use of the term is a historical relic,which has led in part to incorrect assumptions that the‘Ediacara Biota’can be treated as a single coherent group,has obscured our understanding of the biological change over the PrecambrianeCambrian boundary,and has confused research on the early evolution of the Metazoa.In the future,the term‘Ediacaran’should be restricted to purely stratigraphic usage,regardless of affnity,geography,or taphonomy;suffcient terminology also exists where reference to specimens on a geographic,taphonomic,or biologic basis is required.It is therefore time to abandon the term‘Ediacara Biota’and to instead treat equally all of the fossils of the Ediacaran System.     

中国东南部新元古代冰碛岩地层

中国东南部新元古代冰碛岩地层分布于扬子板块的皖南、浙北、浙西和赣东地区,其中皖南休宁、歙县、浙北富阳、浙西建德及开化等地保存有两套冰碛岩和含锰碳酸盐岩地层,自下而上四分,而非以往认为的三分,分别记录了冰期-解冻期-冰期-解冻期四个阶段的沉积,这两个冰期分别为古城冰期和南沱冰期,相当于国外的司图特冰期(Sturtian glaciation)和马林诺冰期(Marinoan glaciation)。浙西江山和赣东广丰等地则只保存了一套冰碛岩和含锰碳酸盐岩地层,记录了冰期-解冻期两个阶段的沉积,地质年代为南沱冰期。由上可见,南沱冰期比古城冰期规模更大,冰碛沉积的范围更广泛,对铁、锰、硅及磷的富集成矿有更加重要的意义。     

黔东南凯里生物群研究现状综述

产于黔东南剑河八郎的凯里生物群是一个含有10个大门类120多属动物化石的布尔吉斯页岩型的生物群,是全球寒武纪第3世生物多样化、生态复杂化的窗口,对早期后生生物研究具有十分重要的科学意义。丹寨南皋和镇远竹坪等新产地的发现,将凯里生物群产地扩大至整个黔东南地区,其研究取得了突破性的进展,也为凯里生物群进一步研究提供了新材料。     

Carbon Isotopic Evolution of the Late Ediacaran Gaojiashan Biota on the Northern Yangtze Platform,South China

Metazoan fossils in the Gaojiashan Biota are famous for being well preserved and may provide new insights into the early evolution and skeletonization of Metazoans. We are studying the isotopic compositions of organic and carbonate carbon from a sequence of sedimentary rocks at the Gaojiashan section, northern Yangtze Platform, Shaanxi Province of China. Organic carbon isotope values display a range between –30.8‰ and –24.7‰ with clear stratigraphic variations. Carbonate carbon isotope data vary between 0.1‰ and +6‰. Positive δ13C values from sediments with Gaojiashan biota reflect temporal variations in carbon turnover, i.e. an increasing in photosynthetic carbon fixation followed by an increasing subsequent fractional organic carbon burial, and that related to bio-radiation such as increasing algae, bacteria, and original creatures productivity in biomass. These secular variations are interpreted to reflect perturbations of the regional carbon cycle, specifically changes in the fractional burial of organic carbon, and discuss the relationship between Gaojiashan biota and paleoenvrionmental variation.     

Quantitative Analysis of Flabellophyton from the Ediacaran Lantian Biota,South China: Application of Geometric Morphometrics in Precambrian Fossil Research

As a more efficient quantitative method for morphological analysis, geometric morphometrics is applied to the flabellate fossils Flabellophyton including Flabellophyton lantianensis and Flabellophyton strigata from Neoproterozoic Ediacaran Lantian biota, South China. Both traditional morphometric analysis (including diverging angle, length, and width distribution) and geometric morphometric analysis [including superposition of normalized area analysis, non-metric multidimensional scaling (n-MDS), Bray-Curtis similarity cluster analysis (CLUSTER) and analysis of similarities (ANOSIM)] were performed. The results indicate there are great interspecific morphological differences between F. lantianensis and F. strigata, in addition to some intraspecific variations within each species. Here we preliminarily suggest that the previously defined Flabellophyton should be subdivided into 2 genera at least: one marked by the dark transverse striated structure, and the other without. This recharacterization and reclassification work still needs further careful observation and comprehensive analysis with large number of flabellate fossils combining morphology, structure, population, and community-ecology study.