We studied the clay rocks around the Permian-Triassic boundary at the Daxiakou （大峡口） Section in Xingshan （兴山）, Hubei （湖北） Province, China. All clay rocks are predominated by illitemontmorillonite （I/M） mixed-layer minerals, and high-temperature hexagonal bipyramid （HB） quartz and pyrite are contained in different abundances. Clay microspheres are even found in some beds. The results show that volcanic activity was very frequent in this area or in the neighboring areas during the Permian-Triassic transition though the intensity of eruption and the position of the eruption center might have varied during the period. The frequent volcanic activity should be at least one of the leading events to cause the momentous turnover of biota and the ecosystem during the great Permian-Triassic transition.
The settlement of the Erdaojingzi site excavated in Chifeng,southeastern Inner Mongolia,China is one of ten ma...
Xiaoyan Ruan1) Hong Yang2) Jianen Cao3) 1) Department of Petroleum Geology, Faculty of Earth Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, P.R. China, 2) Department of Science and Technology, College of Arts and Sciences, Bryant University, Smithfield, RI 02917, USA, 3) Archeological Institute of Inner Mongolia, #1 South Zhandong Road, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 010011, P.R. China
Rare-earth dements （REE） in limestones were measured by ICP-MS from the Yangdi section across the Frasnian-Famennian （F-F） transition in Guilin, Guangxi of South China. The average EREE contents of measured samples are 33.32 ppm. The average LREE/HREE ratio is 6.35. Data show LREE-enriched REE distribution pattern in the Yangdi section. Most of samples are characterized by positive Eu anomaly with average of 1.13, and there are two maxima of Eu anomaly just below the F-F boundary. Almost all analytical samples show obvious tetrad effects. Remarkable M-shaped tetrad effects are observed in these samples with positive Eu anomaly. The characters of REE and some relative elements （Fe, Mn, Al, etc.） indicate that hydro- thermal activities occurred and resulted in seawater acidification in Upper and Lower Kellwasser horizons of the Late Devonian. The changes of marine environment caused by hydrothermal activities, such as seawater acidification, heavy metal pollution, and eutrophication, would destroy the neritic ecosystem and finally result in the F-F mass extinction.
The stratigraphic sequence of calcimicrobialite facies at the Permian-Triassic (P/Tr) boundary has well recorded the biotic and environmental transition across the end-Permian catastrophic events. The biostratigraphy, microfacies, carbon isotopes, and fossil records across the P/Tr boundary have been studied at the Kangjiaping Section in Cili County, Hunan Province. Three biostratigraphic zones, Palaeofusulina-Colaniella Zone, Hindeodus parvus Zone, and Isarcicella staeschei Zone, are identified. The excursion of δ13Ccarb exhibits a sharp negative shift in the calcimicrobialite at the P/Tr boundary, which is roughly accordant with the abrupt bioclastic decline. In addition, five types of microfacies are recognized, including algal-foraminifer bioclastic limestone, algal-laminated calcimicrobial limestone, oolitic grainstone, vermiculate limestone, and intraclastic wackstone. The results indicate that the changeover of ecosystem from metazoan reef to calcimicrobialite in Cili is a classic case of marine ecological evolution during the Paleozoic-Mesozoic transition.
The abundance curves derived from area proportions of brachiopods and Girvanella in the thin sections from the Yangdi section, South China, exhibits complex relationships during the Late Devonian Frasnian-Famennian transition. The living activity of brachiopods such as grazing and borrowing did great damage to the growth of Girvanella. However, there was more to just a mere a survival competing relationship between them, Girvanella actually improved marine environments by oxygenating the dysoxic ambient sea-water through photosynthesis in the lower Kellwasser Horizon. Profited from this improvement brachiopods' abundance increased subsequently and suppressed Girvanella again. Nonetheless, without Girvanella's photosynthesis, brachiopods were wiped out by the farther anoxic environments in the upper Kellwasser Horizon. The complex relationships between Girvanella and brachiopods may be a key to unlocking the relationships between geomicrobes and metazoans in the geological overturn periods.
