A positive C-isotope excursion induced by sea-level fall in the middle Capitanian of South China
Name
Cao et al_P-cubed_2018.pdf
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Accepted version
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28.78 MB
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Author(s)
Cao, Changqun
Cui, Can
Chen, Jun
Summons, Roger E
Shen, Shuzhong
Zhang, Hua
Date Issued
September 2018
Journal
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Citation
Cao, Changqun et al. "A positive C-isotope excursion induced by sea-level fall in the middle Capitanian of South China." Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 505 (September 2018): 305-316 © 2018 Elsevier B.V.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
A new carbon isotope excursion was recovered from the Capitanian marine carbonates at the Rencunping (RCP) section of South China. Significantly, a pronounced excursion with elevated δ13Ccarb values over +5‰ was coeval with the conodont Jinogondolella prexuanhanensis Zone and resembles the Kamura event recorded in Tethys. The excursions in δ13Ccarb, constrained by conodont biostratigraphy, however, present inconsistent carbon cycle behaviors, especially between the separated basins in South China, and evidently reflect regional litho-facies controls. In addition, a transitional environment in association with a fall in sea level, was recovered from deposits of anoxic cherty carbonates subsequent to shallow-water carbonates around the positive excursion in δ13Ccarb. Accordingly, instead of this being a signal of global-scale climatic cooling, we suggest that the positive excursion in δ13Ccarb can be attributed to eutrophication effects regionally along a continental shelf. In this scenario, the increasing dissolved O2 level in the mixing zone that induced by the initial sea-level fall will efficiently impede denitrification and increase the bio-available N in N:P ratio to satisfy the demands of primary producers in surface waters. Subsequently, deposits of shallow-water carbonates comprising calcareous algae and massively-bedded lime muds accumulated widely around South China. These deposits appear to represent an unusual environment and ecosystem fertilized, perhaps, by the weathering products from the earliest stages of volcanism prior to the main Emeishan flood basalt eruptions at the Guadalupian-Lopingian boundary (GLB).
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.06.010
