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The carbon- and oxygen-isotope record of the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary interval in China and Iran and their correlation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Martin D. Brasier ,
Mordeckai Magaritz ,
Richard Corfield ,
Luo Huilin ,
Wu Xiche ,
Ouyang Lin ,
Jiang Zhiwen ,
B. Hamdi ,
He Tinggui  and
A. G. Fraser
Martin D. Brasier
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PR, UK
Mordeckai Magaritz
Affiliation:
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76 100, Israel
Richard Corfield
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PR, UK
Luo Huilin
Affiliation:
Yunnan Institute of Geology, Kunming, China
Wu Xiche
Affiliation:
Yunnan Institute of Geology, Kunming, China
Ouyang Lin
Affiliation:
Yunnan Institute of Geology, Kunming, China
Jiang Zhiwen
Affiliation:
Yunnan Institute of Geology, Kunming, China
B. Hamdi
Affiliation:
Geological Survey, Tehran, Iran
He Tinggui
Affiliation:
Chengdu College of Geology, Sichuan, China
A. G. Fraser
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Hull University, Hull HU6 7RX, UK
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Abstract

The fossiliferous section at Meishucun of Yunnan, China, is a candidate stratotype section for the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary. Early diagenetic dolomites and phosphorites have been sampled across the boundary interval here, and in the correlated section at Maidiping in Sichuanand Valiabad in Iran, for comparison of their carbon and oxygen isotopes. This is the first such study that is calibrated by biostratigraphy in the interval from the earliest (pre-Tommotian) skeletal fossils to trilobites. Although negative oxygen isotopes indicate a diagenetic signal in the Zhongyicun Member and basal Badaowan Member phosphorites, two carbon-isotope cycles are clearly present and can be correlated in dolomitic rocks between the two sections. The first appearance datum (FAD) of the earliest skeletal assemblage (zone I, Marker A), FAD of diverse micromolluscs (zone II, Marker B) and FAD of Chinese trilobites (zones IV, V) and Marker C appear at similar points on the carbon-isotope curve in the two Chinese sections. Integrated carbon-isotope and early skeletal fossil biostratigraphy is shown to have the potential to correlate further afield, with sections in Iran, as well as with India, Siberia, Morocco and Australia. We suggest that a distinctive positive excursion provides a global marker for the interval between Marker B and C in China and just below the Tommotian Stage of Siberia.

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Geological Magazine , Volume 127 , Issue 4 , July 1990 , pp. 319 - 332
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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