Redox history of the Three Gorges region during the Ediacaran and Early Cambrian as indicated by the Fe isotope

作     者：Yusuke Sawaki Miyuki Tahata Tsuyoshi Komiya Takafumi Hirata Jian Han Degan Shu 

作者机构：Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Tokyo Institute of Technology Department of Earth Science and Astronomy Graduate School of Arts and Sciences The University of Tokyo Geochemistry Research Center The University of Tokyo Department of Geology and Key Laboratory for Continental Dynamics Northwest University 

出 版 物：《Geoscience Frontiers》 (地学前缘（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2018年第9卷第1期

页      面：155-172页

核心收录：

学科分类：07[理学] 0708[理学-地球物理学] 0704[理学-天文学] 

基　　金：supported by JSPS grants(Nos.24840021 18740318 23340152 25610148) from the Ministry of Education  Culture  Sports  Science and Technology  Japan 

主　　题：δ56/54Fe Pyrite Ediacaran Cambrian Three Gorges 

摘      要：The Ediacaran-Cambrian transition is characterized by numerous events such as the emergence of large multi-cellular metazoans and surface environmental disturbances.Based on geological evidence,it has been proposed that this transition coincided with the increase in the atmospheric oxygen level that was key to the evolution of life.Even though ancient redox conditions can be inferred from the composition of sedimentary iron mineral species,this method is not necessarily applicable to all rocks.In the Earth system,the cycling of iron is of considerable interest owing to its sensitivity to redox conditions.Information regarding the paleo-oceanic iron cycle is revealed in the iron isotopic composition of ironbearing minerals.Unfortunately,only limited iron isotopic data exists for Ediacaran-to Cambrianperiod oceans.To circumvent this deficiency,we drilled a fossiliferous Ediacaran to Early Cambrian sedimentary succession in the Three Gorges region,South China.We analyzed the iron isotope ratios(δ^(56/54)Fe)of pyrite grains in the drill cores using laser ablation multi collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.The results demonstrate large variations inδ^(56/54)Fe,from-1.6 to 1.6‰,and positive iron isotope ratios are observed in many successions.The presence of positiveδ^(56/54)Fe in pyrite indicates that the ferrous iron in the seawater was partially oxidized,suggesting that seawater at Three Gorges was ferruginous during the Ediacaran and Early Cambrian periods.However,aggregated pyrite grains in organic carbon-rich black shales at Member 4 of the Doushantuo Formation and the base of the Shuijingtuo Formation yield near-zeroδ^(56/54)Fe values;this suggests that the ocean was transiently dominated by sulfidic conditions during these periods.Notably negativeδ^(56/54)Fe values,lower than-1‰,can be interpreted as a signature of DIR.The DIR also might contribute in part to the re-mineralization of organic matter during the largest negative carbon isotope anomaly in the Ediacaran.