Carbon isotopes and Precambrian—Cambrian boundary geology, South Australia: ocean basin formation, seawater chemistry and organic evolution

A carbon isotope stratigraphy from the lowest Cambrian strata in the Adelaide fold belt of South Australia is interpreted in terms of the geological context of the sequence: major transgression, developing circulation patterns and upwelling resulting from an adjacent opening ocean, and biomass increases stemming from the Cambrian radiation event. There is also evidence from the textures of ooids and cements in late Precambrian-Cambrian strata for subtle variations in seawater chemistry across the boundary and these may well have been instrumental in the development of calcareous skeletons in the early metazoans.