Assembly, configuration, and break-up history of Rodinia: A synthesis

U-Pb zircon dates from volcanic ash beds within the Doushantuo Formation (China) indicate that its deposition occurred between 635 and 551 million years ago. The base records termination of the global-scale Marinoan glaciation and is coeval with similar dated rocks from Namibia, indicating synchronous deglaciation. Carbon isotopic and sequence-stratigraphic data imply that the spectacular animal fossils of the Doushantuo Formation are for the most part younger than 580 million years old. The uppermost Doushantuo Formation contains a pronounced negative carbonate carbon isotopic excursion, which we interpret as a global event at circa 551 million years ago.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/308/5718/95.full.pdf

U-Pb ages from the neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation, China

The oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere is thought to have occurred in two steps near the beginning and the end of the Proterozoic eon, around 2,500 to 550 million years ago. The oxidation state of the ocean between these two steps and the timing of deep ocean oxygenation, however, remain poorly known. Scott et al. now use molybdenum and total organic carbon data from black shales to track the redox state of the ocean at this time. Molybdenum is an essential participant in nutrient cycling, and its availability is highly sensitive to Earth's redox state. The results provide a new narrative for the historical texture of Earth's oxygenation, and will be of relevance for the study of the events that presaged the appearance of animals on Earth. Molybdenum and total organic carbon data from black shales is used to gain insights into the redox state of the ocean. The data suggests mild oxidative weathering of the continents before ∼2,200 Myr ago, but weathering becomes more persistent and vigorous at ∼2,150 Myr ago, 200 million years after the initial rise in atmospheric oxygen. Limited availability of molybdenum after 1,800 Myr ago may have acted as a negative nutrient feedback limiting the spatial and temporal extent of sulphidic conditions. Biogeochemical signatures preserved in ancient sedimentary rocks provide clues to the nature and timing of the oxygenation of the Earth’s atmosphere. Geochemical data1,2,3,4,5,6 suggest that oxygenation proceeded in two broad steps near the beginning and end of the Proterozoic eon (2,500 to 542 million years ago). The oxidation state of the Proterozoic ocean between these two steps and the timing of deep-ocean oxygenation have important implications for the evolutionary course of life on Earth but remain poorly known. Here we present a new perspective on ocean oxygenation based on the authigenic accumulation of the redox-sensitive transition element molybdenum in sulphidic black shales. Accumulation of authigenic molybdenum from sea water is already seen in shales by 2,650 Myr ago; however, the small magnitudes of these enrichments reflect weak or transient7 sources of dissolved molybdenum before about 2,200 Myr ago, consistent with minimal oxidative weathering of the continents. Enrichments indicative of persistent and vigorous oxidative weathering appear in shales deposited at roughly 2,150 Myr ago, more than 200 million years after the initial rise in atmospheric oxygen1,2. Subsequent expansion of sulphidic conditions after about 1,800 Myr ago (refs 8, 9) maintained a mid-Proterozoic molybdenum reservoir below 20 per cent of the modern inventory, which in turn may have acted as a nutrient feedback limiting the spatiotemporal distribution of euxinic (sulphidic) bottom waters and perhaps the evolutionary and ecological expansion of eukaryotic organisms10. By 551 Myr ago, molybdenum contents reflect a greatly expanded oceanic reservoir due to oxygenation of the deep ocean and corresponding decrease in sulphidic conditions in the sediments and water column.

Tracing the stepwise oxygenation of the Proterozoic ocean

Glacial deposits of Sturtian and Marinoan age occur in the well-studied Neoproterozoic successions of northern Namibia, South Australia, and northwestern Canada. In all three regions, the Marinoan glaciation is presaged by a large negative δ 13 C anomaly, and the cap carbonates to both glacial units share a suite of unique sedimentological, stratigraphic, and geochemical features. These global chronostratigraphic markers are the bases of a new correlation scheme for the Neoproterozoic that corroborates radiometric data that indicate that there were three glacial epochs between ca. 750 and 580 Ma. Intraregional correlation of Neoproterozoic successions in the present-day North Atlantic region suggests that glacial diamictite pairs in the Polarisbreen Group in northeastern Svalbard and the Tillite Group in eastern Greenland were deposited during the Marinoan glaciation, whereas the younger of a pair of glacials (Mortensnes Formation) in the Vestertana Group of northern Norway was deposited during the third (Gaskiers) Neoproterozoic glaciation. Gaskiers-aged glacial deposits are neither globally distributed nor overlain by a widespread cap carbonate but are associated with an extremely negative δ 13 C anomaly. framework for a new, high-resolution model carbon-isotope record for the Neoproterozoic comprising new δ 13 C (carbonate) data from Svalbard (Akademikerbreen Group) and Namibia (Otavi Group) and data in the literature from Svalbard, Namibia, and Oman. A new U-Pb zircon age of 760 ± 1 Ma from an ash bed in the Ombombo Subgroup in Namibia provides the oldest direct time-calibration point in the compilation, but the time scale of this preliminary δ 13 C record remains

/pdf/toward-a-neoproterozoic-composite-carbon-isotope-record-4n6ste2vda.pdf

Toward a Neoproterozoic composite carbon-isotope record

Although macroscopic plants, animals, and fungi are the most familiar eukaryotes, the bulk of eukaryotic diversity is microbial. Elucidating the timing of diversification among the more than 70 lineages is key to understanding the evolution of eukaryotes. Here, we use taxon-rich multigene data combined with diverse fossils and a relaxed molecular clock framework to estimate the timing of the last common ancestor of extant eukaryotes and the divergence of major clades. Overall, these analyses suggest that the last common ancestor lived between 1866 and 1679 Ma, consistent with the earliest microfossils interpreted with confidence as eukaryotic. During this interval, the Earth's surface differed markedly from today; for example, the oceans were incompletely ventilated, with ferruginous and, after about 1800 Ma, sulfidic water masses commonly lying beneath moderately oxygenated surface waters. Our time estimates also indicate that the major clades of eukaryotes diverged before 1000 Ma, with most or all probably diverging before 1200 Ma. Fossils, however, suggest that diversity within major extant clades expanded later, beginning about 800 Ma, when the oceans began their transition to a more modern chemical state. In combination, paleontological and molecular approaches indicate that long stems preceded diversification in the major eukaryotic lineages.

/pdf/estimating-the-timing-of-early-eukaryotic-diversification-10j7axrrzp.pdf

Estimating the timing of early eukaryotic diversification with multigene molecular clocks

The most complete Neoproterozoic successions in south China contain three diamictite intervals in the Changan, Tiesiao, and Nantuo Formations. The youngest and most widespread Nantuo glacial deposit overlies the Datangpo Formation and underlies the fossil- rich Doushantuo Formation. Previous authors have correlated the Nantuo diamictite to either Sturtian or Marinoan glacial deposits elsewhere. Here we report sedimentary and δ13C chemostratigraphic data of the Doushantuo cap dolostone, which overlies the Nantuo Formation. Facies-dependent variation in δ13C is interpreted as evidence for spatial heterogeneity in δ13C and/or temporal diachroneity in the initiation of cap carbonate sedimentation. Sedimentary and chemostratigraphic data are indicative of a Marinoan age for the Nantuo glaciation. This inference is supported by a new U-Pb zircon age of 663 ± 4 Ma from a tuffaceous bed in the Datangpo Formation. The new date and other isotopic ages from south China constrain the age of the Changan and Tiesiao glaciation(s) as between 761 ± 8 Ma and 663 ± 4 Ma, and the Nantuo glaciation as between 663 ± 4 Ma and 599 ± 4 Ma.

New constraints on the ages of Neoproterozoic glaciations in south China

When did macroscopic, complex life forms first appear in the fossil record? Rather earlier than was thought, it seems. For several years the deep-water Avalon assemblage at Mistaken Point, Newfoundland, has been widely recognized as the earliest known, at around 579 million to 565 million years old. But now a series of spectacular fossils of seaweed-like forms from the Lantian Formation in China has been dated to around 600 million years old. The taxonomic diversity and morphological complexity of the Lantian biota is comparable to that of the Avalon biota, suggesting that morphological diversification of macroscopic eukaryotes may have occurred earlier than previously thought. When did macroscopic, complex life forms first appear in the fossil record? This study presents spectacular fossils of seaweed-like forms from the approximately 600-million-year-old early Ediacaran of China, a time when the Earth had only just recovered from the worldwide Marinoan glaciation. The deep-water Avalon biota (about 579 to 565 million years old) is often regarded as the earliest-known fossil assemblage with macroscopic and morphologically complex life forms1. It has been proposed that the rise of the Avalon biota was triggered by the oxygenation of mid-Ediacaran deep oceans2. Here we report a diverse assemblage of morphologically differentiated benthic macrofossils that were preserved largely in situ as carbonaceous compressions in black shales of the Ediacaran Lantian Formation (southern Anhui Province, South China). The Lantian biota, probably older than and taxonomically distinct from the Avalon biota, suggests that morphological diversification of macroscopic eukaryotes may have occurred in the early Ediacaran Period, perhaps shortly after the Marinoan glaciation, and that the redox history of Ediacaran oceans was more complex than previously thought.

An early Ediacaran assemblage of macroscopic and morphologically differentiated eukaryotes

The tubular fossil Cloudina is emerging as an important Ediacaran index fossil. How- ever, its morphology, skeletogenesis, reproduction, and phylogenetic affinity have not been fully resolved. New material from the Dengying Formation of south China confirms that Cloudina tubes consist of eccentrically and sometimes deeply nested funnels and that the tubes lack transverse cross-walls, inconsistent with the traditional cone-in-cone morpho- logical reconstruction. Tube walls are composed of micrometer-sized, more or less equant crystals. A number of Cloudina tubes branch dichotomously, in which daughter funnels split within parent ones. The Cloudina animal is interpreted to have been able to initiate biomineralization of new funnels within old ones. Its skeleton was probably secreted as calcite crystals suspended in organic matrix; the crystals do not appear to have nucleated and grown on a sheeted substrate. It was clearly capable of asexual reproduction, through budding within parent funnels rather than at the apertural end. The morphology, skele- togenesis, and asexual reproduction of Cloudina are broadly similar to modern serpulid annelids, indicating possible phylogenetic relationships or morphological convergence.

Skeletogenesis and asexual reproduction in the earliest biomineralizing animal Cloudina

Trace fossil evidence for Ediacaran bilaterian animals with complex behaviors

Ediacara fossils are central to our understanding of animal evolution on the eve of the Cambrian explosion, because some of them likely represent stem-group marine animals. However, some of the iconic Ediacara fossils have also been interpreted as terrestrial lichens or microbial colonies. Our ability to test these hypotheses is limited by a taphonomic bias that most Ediacara fossils are preserved in sandstones and siltstones. Here we report several iconic Ediacara fossils and an annulated tubular fossil (reconstructed as an erect epibenthic organism with uniserial arranged modular units), from marine limestone of the 551–541 Ma Dengying Formation in South China. These fossils significantly expand the ecological ranges of several key Ediacara taxa and support that they are marine organisms rather than terrestrial lichens or microbial colonies. Their close association with abundant bilaterian burrows also indicates that they could tolerate and may have survived moderate levels of bioturbation.

/pdf/new-ediacara-fossils-preserved-in-marine-limestone-and-their-4kn14dxc4y.pdf

Zhe Chen

Papers

New constraints on the ages of Neoproterozoic glaciations in south China

An early Ediacaran assemblage of macroscopic and morphologically differentiated eukaryotes

Skeletogenesis and asexual reproduction in the earliest biomineralizing animal Cloudina

Trace fossil evidence for Ediacaran bilaterian animals with complex behaviors

New Ediacara fossils preserved in marine limestone and their ecological implications