黔东北伊迪卡拉纪陡山沱组的宏体藻类

宏体生物广泛地生活于扬子地区伊迪卡拉纪陡山沱期的海洋中,它们为后生动物的快速发展和演化奠定了一个崭新的环境和一个新生态链的基础.产自于黔东北伊迪卡拉系陡山沱组的瓮会生物群生活环境应在贫氧的、透光性良好的浅海低能环境,以宏体藻类为主,共描述15属18种(其中包括3个新属、5个新种、2个修定属和4个修定种)和1个未命名藻以及不明藻类固着器,另包含有宏体后生动物,可能的后生动物以及遗迹化石.瓮会生物群不但含有鄂西庙河生物群和皖南蓝田植物群的分子,也有南澳大利亚Ediacara生物群和俄罗斯WhiteSea生物群的分子,而且具有自已的特征而有别于其他伊迪卡拉期的生物群.其宏体藻类形态变化较大,组织器官和功能已出现明显的分化,并与高等植物之间存在一定的演化关系.宏体藻类多为直立固着于海底,提高了光合作用的效率,增加了水体中的含氧量.同时,宏体藻类作为生态系统中的初级生产者成为一种新的食物,改变了后生动物的食谱.因此,陡山沱期的宏体植物不仅改善了环境,为依赖一定氧而生活、生长和繁殖的后生动物给予了必要的支持,而且作为生态系统中的必要基础,为宏体后生动物的快速发展和演化提供了一个新的食物源.另外,宏体生物群的繁盛不仅提高了有机质的生产率,而且促进了富有机碳的沉积和保存.     

湘东南新元古界大江边组和埃岐岭组的形成时代和物源—来自碎屑锆石U-Pb年代学的证据

运用LA-ICP-MS方法对湘东南泗洲山地区南华系大江边组上部泥质岩和震旦系(埃迪卡拉系)埃岐岭组底部变泥铁质砂岩碎屑锆石进行U-Pb测年,分别获得了28组和92组U-Pb有效年龄.前者锆石年龄主要集中分布于693 ～ 897 Ma(占67.9％),1810 ～1916Ma(占17.9％),1974～2177Ma(占14.2％)三个区间,最年轻的谐和错石年龄为734 ±4Ma(MSWD=1.07,n=4);后者锆石年龄主要集中分布于570～699Ma(占9.8％),715～ 774Ma(占7.6％),882～1272Ma(占67.4％),1300～ 1681Ma(占7.6％),1899 ～2490Ma(占7.6％)五个区间,最年轻的谐和锆石年龄为634±7Ma(MSWD=1.09,n=4).研究认为,大江边组上部地层的形成时代＜734±4Ma,与澄江组顶部、牛牯坪组、岩门寨组、拱洞组及隆里组等地层形成时代相近,揭示“板溪期”地层的顶界年龄及江口冰期开启年龄＜ 734±4Ma;埃岐岭组形成时代＜634 ±7Ma,与陡山沱组及蓝田组等地层形成时代相近,支持南沱冰期结束于635Ma左右的认识.综合研究认为,大江边组和埃岐岭组的物源可能分别主要来源于武夷地块南东部和南岭—云开地块南部的一个Grenville期造山带.推测物源的转换可能与南岭—云开地块、武夷地块在两组沉积时期之间聚合或紧邻有关,其时限约为734～634Ma.     

藏北羌塘南部埃迪卡拉系达布热组的建立及其地质意义

羌塘位于青藏高原腹地,构造上处于冈瓦纳大陆北缘。因其特殊的构造位置,羌塘地体的起源及构造演化对于探讨青藏高原的早期形成演化、冈瓦纳大陆裂解,以及特提斯洋演化等关键科学问题至关重要。最近,在羌塘南部达布热地区发现一套碎屑岩夹玄武岩的岩石组合,碎屑岩具有低成分成熟度的特点,虽然岩石发生了低绿片岩相变质,但仍然保留了原岩类复理石沉积的特点。根据碎屑锆石定年结果,该套地层中碎屑锆石的最年轻年龄为550Ma左右。此外,该套地层中玄武岩夹层的测年结果表明,该套地层形成于埃迪卡拉纪(约550Ma)。结合地层剖面及区域地层对比,建立了埃迪卡拉纪达布热组。达布热组是羌塘地区首次发现的埃迪卡拉纪地层,该组地层的建立为探讨冈瓦纳大陆北缘构造演化提供了重要线索。     

Quantitative evaluation of the biostratigraphic distribution of acanthomorphic acritarchs in the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China

Doushantuo acanthomorphic acritarchs are large morphologically complex organic-walled microfossils broadly constrained between the 635 Ma Nantuo glaciation and the 551 Ma Miaohe Biota. They are potential biostratigraphic tools for subdivision and correlation of the Ediacaran System in South China. However, major variations in sedimentary facies and stratigraphic thickness present challenges in understanding the spatial and temporal distribution of these acritarchs. Further, the distribution of acritarchs in the Doushantuo Formation is associated with the presence of early diagenetic chert and phosphate, implying a certain degree of preservational bias and/or environmental control. The purpose of this paper is to document the stratigraphic distribution of Doushantuo acritarchs and to quantitatively evaluate their biostratigraphic significance and possible taphonomic–environmental biases, based on high-resolution paleontological data from six sections over 100 km in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China.A total of 1082 acritarch fossils were recorded from 84 chert horizons in the six sections of the study area. These chert horizons are not uniformly distributed throughout the Doushantuo Formation, thus the presence/absence of early diagenetic chert does play a role in controlling the distribution of acritarchs. The sampled chert horizons can be grouped into two stratigraphic intervals in the lower and upper Doushantuo Formation, respectively, based on regional stratigraphic correlation. Quantitative analysis shows that the two intervals are distinct taxonomically and largely independent of taphonomic or facies controls. Thus, the two intervals can be regarded as assemblage biozones. The lower biozone (biozone 1) is numerically dominated by Tianzhushania spinosa (n = 587; 68.3%) and Meghystrichosphaeridium magnificum (n = 74; 8.6%), whereas the upper biozone (biozone 2) is dominated by Ericiasphaera rigida (n = 104; 47.1%) and Tianzhushania spinosa (n = 34; 14.1%). The three most common genera, Meghystrichosphaeridium, Tianzhushania, and Ericiasphaera, have been identified in all sections. Correspondence analysis (CA), detrended correspondence analysis (DCA), discriminant analysis (DA), and pairwise comparisons of samples (Spearman rank coefficient and Jaccard–Chao index), all consistently support biostratigraphic zonations. Thus, the distribution of the Doushantuo acanthomorphs is primarily controlled by biostratigraphic position of samples, with facies and taphonomic differences playing a secondary role. Our case study suggests that acanthomorphic acritarchs can offer a viable tool for regional correlation of the Ediacaran System.     

Textured organic surfaces associated with the Ediacara biota in South Australia

The Ediacaran Period takes its name from the fossils of the Ediacara biota, which represent the first appearance of large and diverse assemblages of organisms in the fossil record. Although the global record of these distinctive body fossils is now well known, a previously unrecognized megascopic organic record of textured organic surfaces (TOS) occurs in the Ediacara biota. However, TOS is also a feature over a wider range of paleoenvironmental settings, where body fossils are unknown, in Ediacaran siliciclastic successions that have been studied in Australia, Namibia and western North America.Paleoecological analysis of successive bedding planes of strata from the late Ediacaran Rawnsley Quartzite in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, reveals that TOS represent the most common organic features in bedding-surface assemblages of the Ediacara biota. The TOS consist of preserved, patterned assemblages of textured organic mats, fibers and simple tubular body fossils. Complex Ediacara body fossils while striking for their distinctive body plans, and dominating some of the beds, are relatively minor components of combined overall surface area. Many elements of TOS have previously been miss-diagnosed as trace fossils, which are in practice limited to two or at most three morphotypes that indicate the presence of Bilateria. Although TOS represent a simpler grade of organismic construction than discrete and more complex Ediacara body fossils, they were preserved in a similar manner. Marked variability in all components of the biota between successive surfaces suggests that Ediacara ecologies fluctuated at short intervals despite an apparently consistent sedimentary regime.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987114000917

Important ecological changes of the Earth(oxidization of the atmosphere and the ocean) increase in nutrient supply due to the break-up of the super continent(Rodinia) and the appearance of multi-cellular organisms(macroscopic algae and metazoan) took place in the Ediacaran period,priming the Cambrian explosion.The strong perturbations in carbon cycles in the ocean are recorded as excursions in carbonate and organic carbon isotope ratio(δ~(13)C_(carb) and δ~(13)C_(org)) from the Ediacaran through early Cambrian periods.The Ediacaran-early Cambrian sediment records of δ~(13)C_(carb) and δ~(13)C_(org),obtained from the drill-core samples in Three Gorges in South China,are compared with the results of numerical simulation of a simple one-zone model of the carbon cycle of the ocean,which has two reservoirs(i.e.,dissolved organic carbon(DOC) and dissolved inorganic carbon(DIC).The fluxes from the reservoirs are assumed to be proportional to the mass of the carbon reservoirs.We constructed a model,referred to here as the Best Fit Model(BFM),which reproduce δ~(13)C_(carb) and δ~(13)C_(org) records in the Ediacaran-early Cambrian period noted above.BFM reveals that the Shuram excursion is related to three major changes in the carbon cycle or the global ecological system of the Earth:(1) an increase in the coefficient of remineralization by a factor of ca.100,possibly corresponding to a change in the dominant metabolism from anaerobic respiration to aerobic respiration,(2) an increase of carbon fractionation index from 25‰ to 33‰,possibly corresponding to the change in the primary producer from rock-living cyanobacteria to free-living macro algae,and(3) an increase in the coefficient of the organic carbon burial by a factor of ca.100,possibly corresponding to the onset of a biological pump driven by the flourishing metazoan and zooplankton.The former two changes took place at the start of the Shuram excursion,while the third occurred at the end of the Shuram excursion.The other two excursions are explained by the tentative decrease in primary production due to cold periods,which correspond to the Gaskiers(ca.580 Ma) and Bikonor(ca.542 Ma) glaciations.     

Glaciation and ~ 770 Ma Ediacara (?) Fossils from the Lesser Karatau Microcontinent,Kazakhstan

The Cambrian explosion, c. 530–515 Ma heralded the arrival of a diverse assembly of multicellular life including the first hard-shelled organisms. Fossils found in Cambrian strata represent the ancestors of most modern animal phyla. In contrast to the apparent explosiveness seen in the Cambrian fossil record, studies of molecular biology hint that the diversification observed in Cambrian strata was rooted in ancestry extending back into the Ediacaran (635–542 Ma). Fossil evidence for this mostly cryptic phase of evolution is derived from the soft-bodied fossils of the Ediacaran biota found throughout the world and bilaterian embryos found in the Doushantuo lagerstätte in South China. The first appearance of Ediacara fauna is thought to have followed the last of the ~ 750–635 Ma Neoproterozoic glacial episodes by 20–30 million years. In this paper, we present evidence for the oldest discovery of the ‘Ediacara’ discoidal fossils Nimbia occlusa and Aspidella terranovica (?) that predate the early Cryogenian glaciations by more than fifty million years. There is considerable disagreement over the significance of discoidal Ediacaran fossils, but our findings may support earlier suggestions that metazoan life has roots extending deeper into the Proterozoic Eon. We also confirm the presence of a Late Cryogenian (e.g. “Marinoan”) glaciation on the Lesser Karatau microcontinent including dropstones and striated clasts within the glacial strata.     

湖北宜昌樟村坪埃迪卡拉系陡山沱组硅磷质结核中的微体化石

本文报道的微体化石产于湖北宜昌樟村坪万家沟剖面埃迪卡拉纪陡山沱组第10层的硅磷质结核中,化石组合包括疑源类Appendisphaera grandis、Ericiasphaera spjeldnaesii、Knollisphaeridium maxi mum、Leiosphaeridia tenuissi ma、Meghystrichosphaeridium perfectum、Tianzhushania polysiphonia、T.spinosa、T.ornata;丝状蓝藻Oscillatoriopsis obtusa、Polytrichoides induviatus、P.lineatus、Salome hubeiensis、Siphonophycustypicum;多细胞藻类Sarcinophycus palilloformis、Wengania minuta。该微体化石组合面貌与黄陵背斜东、南翼陡山沱组二段硅质结核中以大型具刺疑源类Tianzhushania为特征的组合相同,与贵州瓮安地区陡山沱组上磷块岩下部保存的微体化石组合面貌基本一致。     

国际埃迪卡拉系年代地层学研究进展与发展趋势

埃迪卡拉系为国际地层表新增的新元古界最上部的系级年代地层单位,层型剖面被确定为南澳大利亚弗林德斯山脉依诺拉马河剖面,其底界点位（GSSP）选定为埃拉逖那冰成杂砾岩（Elatina diamictite）之上盖帽碳酸盐岩努卡利那组（Nuccaleena Formation）的下界（Gradstein et al．,2004;Knoll et al．,2004）。我国修定后的震旦系与埃迪卡拉系完全相当,底界以南沱冰碛岩之上盖帽碳酸盐岩的下界为界。本文综合国际地层委员会新元古代地层分会以及相关国家和地区近年来在埃迪卡拉系年代地层学领域研究的新进展、存在问题以及未来发展趋势作一概要介绍,以期引起国内晚前寒武纪地层古生物学者的广泛关注。