4:45 PM - 5:00 PM
[BPT27-13] Ancient ocean environment in the Ediacaran to Cambrian.
The Ediacaran to Cambrian period is one of the most important intervals for the evolution of life. However, the scarcity of well-preserved outcrops of Ediacaran and Cambrian rocks still leaves ambiguity in deciphering ambient surface environmental changes and biological evolution.Recent paleontologists, mainly Chinese scientists, revealed that life on the Earth have evolved through multiple stages. Some of the metazoan fossils were discovered from Ediacaran sedimentary rocks. This suggests that so-called Cambrian Explosion already started from the Ediacaran, not from the Cambrian. Therefore, unraveling surface environmental changes during the Ediacaran attract interests.The Ediacaran to Cambrian strata in South China are almost continuously exposed and contain many fossils, which is suitable for study of environmental and biological changes in the Ediacaran and Cambrian. We (Tokyo Institute of Technology and The University of Tokyo) conducted on-land drilling through the Nantuo, Doushantuo, Dengying, Yanjiahe, Shuijintuo, Shipai and Tianheban Fms at six sites in the Three Gorges area to obtain continuous samples. We systematically analyzed some kinds of isotope ratios (carbon isotope ratios of carbonate and organic carbon, oxygen isotope ratios, nitrogen isotope ratios of organic matter, radiogenic strontium isotope ratios, calcium isotope ratios, molybdenum isotope ratios and iron isotope ratios of pyrite) and elemental concentrations (cerium, phosphorus, manganese and iron concentration in carbonate), using these core samples. The combination of these detailed chemostratigraphies enables us to decipher the surface environmental changes in the Ediacaran and Cambrian. The most important discovery is that surface environment also had evolved through multiple stages during the Ediacaran and the Cambrian.I will talk about summary of our complehensive work in the speech.