Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Ediacaran integrative stratigraphy and timescale of China

  • Review
  • Published:
Science China Earth Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Ediacaran successions occur widely in various depositional facies in South China and yield a series of fossil Lagerstätten, providing a complete fossil record for the evolution of marine ecosystems after the terminal Cryogenian global glaciation. Carbonate-dominated Ediacaran successions in shallow water facies in South China record a nearly complete δ13C profile that may reflect variations of marine carbon isotopic composition during the Ediacaran Period. The Ediacaran fossils and δ13C profiles from South China permit stratigraphic correlation and subdivision of the Ediacaran strata. Based on biostratigraphic, chemostratigraphic, and geochronometric data from the Ediacaran successions in South China, we propose that the Ediacaran System in China can be subdivided into two series, with three stages in each series. The lower series is characterized by acanthomorphic acritarchs and the upper series by Ediacara-type macrofossils, and the two series are separated by the declining limb of a pronounced δ13C negative excursion (EN3) in the upper Doushantuo Formation. The basal boundary of Stage 1 is the same as the basal boundary of Ediacaran System, which has been defined at the base of the cap carbonate unit. Stage 2 represents the first radiation of Ediacaran microscopic organisms, with δ13C feature representing by positive values (EP1). The base of the Stage 2 is placed at the first appearance level of a spiny acritarch species. Stage 3 is characterized by the occurrence of more diverse acritarchs and δ13C feature EP2, with its basal boundary defined by a δ13C negative excursion (EN2) occurring in the middle Doushantuo Formation. The basal boundary of Stage 4 is the same as the upper series. Stage 5 is marked by the occurrence of macrfossils of Miaohe biota, and its lower boundary can be placed at the level where δ13C values transition from positive to negative in MNE, or the first appearance level of macrofossils of the Miaohe biota. Stage 6 is characterized by the occurrences of Ediacara-type Shibantan biota and Gaojiashan biota, with its lower boundary defined by the first appearance level of Conotubus hemiannulatus. The formal establishment of the aforementioned series and stages requires further and more detailed integrative stratigraphic study on the Ediacaran successions in China. Some of the Ediacaran successions in South China have great potential to become global standards in Ediacaran subdivision.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adam Z R, Skidmore M L, Mogk D W, Butterfield N J. 2017. A Laurentian record of the earliest fossil eukaryotes. Geology, 45: 387–390

    Google Scholar 

  • An Z, Jiang G, Tong J, Tian L, Ye Q, Song H, Song H. 2015. Stratigraphic position of the Ediacaran Miaohe biota and its constrains on the age of the upper Doushantuo δ 13C anomaly in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China. Precambrian Res, 271: 243–253

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson R P, Macdonald F A, Jones D S, McMahon S, Briggs D E G. 2017. Doushantuo-type microfossils from latest Ediacaran phosphorites of northern Mongolia. Geology, 45: 1079–1082

    Google Scholar 

  • Cai Y, Hua H, Zhuravlev A Y, Gámez Vintaned J A, Ivantsov A Y. 2011. Discussion of ‘First finds of problematic Ediacaran fossil Gaojiashania in Siberia and its origin’. Geol Mag, 148: 329–333

    Google Scholar 

  • Cai Y, Xiao S, Hua H, Yuan X. 2015. New material of the biomineralizing tubular fossil Sinotubulites from the late Ediacaran Dengying Formation, South China. Precambrian Res, 261: 12–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen M, Wang Y. 1977. Tubular animal fossils in the middle Dengying Formation, Upper Sinian, East Yangtze Gorge (in Chinese). Chin Sci Bull, 22: 219–221

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen Z, Zhou C, Meyer M, Xiang K, Schiffbauer J D, Yuan X, Xiao S. 2013. Trace fossil evidence for Ediacaran bilaterian animals with complex behaviors. Precambrian Res, 224: 690–701

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen Z, Zhou C, Xiao S, Wang W, Guan C, Hua H, Yuan X. 2014. New Ediacara fossils preserved in marine limestone and their ecological implications. Sci Rep, 4: 4180

    Google Scholar 

  • Cloud P, Glaessner M F. 1982. The Ediacarian Period and System: Metazoa inherit the Earth. Science, 217: 783–792

    Google Scholar 

  • Condon D, Zhu M, Bowring S, Wang W, Yang A, Jin Y. 2005. U-Pb ages from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation, China. Science, 308: 95–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Cortijo I, Martí Mus M, Jensen S, Palacios T. 2015. Late Ediacaran skeletal body fossil assemblage from the Navalpino anticline, central Spain. Precambrian Res, 267: 186–195

    Google Scholar 

  • Cui H, Kaufman A J, Xiao S, Zhou C, Liu X M. 2017. Was the Ediacaran Shuram Excursion a globally synchronized early diagenetic event? Insights from methane-derived authigenic carbonates in the uppermost Doushantuo Formation, South China. Chem Geol, 450: 59–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Darroch S A F, Boag T H, Racicot R A, Tweedt S, Mason S J, Erwin D H, Laflamme M. 2016. A mixed Ediacaran-metazoan assemblage from the Zaris Sub-basin, Namibia. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol, 459: 198–208

    Google Scholar 

  • Ding L, Li Y, Hu X, Xiao Y, Su C, Huang J. 1996. Sinian Miaohe Biota (in Chinese). Beijing: Geological Publishing House. 1–221

    Google Scholar 

  • Glaessner M F. 1966. Precambrian palaeontology. Earth-Sci Rev, 1: 29–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Grabau A W. 1922. The Sinian System. Bull Geol Soc China, 1: 44–88

    Google Scholar 

  • Gradstein F M, Ogg J G, Smith A G, Bleeker W, Lourens L J. 2004. A new Geologic Time Scale, with special reference to Precambrian and Neogene. Episodes, 27: 83–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Grey K. 2005. Ediacaran palynology of Australia. Mem Ass Australasian Palaeont, 31: 1–439

    Google Scholar 

  • Grotzinger J P, Fike D A, Fischer W W. 2011. Enigmatic origin of the largest-known carbon isotope excursion in Earth’s history. Nat Geosci, 4: 285–292

    Google Scholar 

  • Harland W B, Armstrong R L, Cox A V, Craig L E, Smith A G, Smith D G. 1990. A Geologic Time Scale 1989. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1–263

    Google Scholar 

  • Harland W B, Rudwick M S. 1964. The great Infra-Cambrian ice age. Sci Amer, 211: 28–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Harland W B. 1964. Critical evidence for a great infra-Cambrian glaciation. Geol Rundsch, 54: 45–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins A D, Xiao S, Jiang G, Wang X, Shi X. 2017. New biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic data from the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in intra-shelf and upper slope facies of the Yangtze platform: Implications for biozonation of acanthomorphic acritarchs in South China. Precambrian Res, 300: 28–39

    Google Scholar 

  • He X B, Xu B, Yuan Z Y. 2007. C-isotope composition and correlation of the Upper Neoproterozoic in Keping area, Xinjiang (in Chinese). Chin Sci Bull, 52: 504–511

    Google Scholar 

  • Hu G, Zhao T, Zhou Y. 2014. Depositional age, provenance and tectonic setting of the Proterozoic Ruyang Group, southern margin of the North China Craton. Precambrian Res, 246: 296–318

    Google Scholar 

  • Hua H, Chen Z, Yuan X. 2007. The advent of mineralized skeletons in Neoproterozoic Metazoa—New fossil evidence from the Gaojiashan Fauna. Geol J, 42: 263–279

    Google Scholar 

  • Hua H, Zhang L, Zhang Z, Wang J. 2001. Assemblage zones of Gaojiashan biota and their characteristic. J Stratigr, 25: 10–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Javaux E, Knoll A H, Walter M R. 2001. Morphological and ecological complexity in early eukaryotic Ecosystems. Nature, 412: 66–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins R J F. 1981. The concept of an ′Ediacaran Period′ and its stratigraphic significance in Australia. T Roy Soc South Aust, 105: 179–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiang G, Kaufman A J, Christie-Blick N, Zhang S, Wu H. 2007. Carbon isotope variability across the Ediacaran Yangtze platform in South China: Implications for a large surface-to-deep ocean δ 13C gradient. Earth Planet Sci Lett, 261: 303–320

    Google Scholar 

  • Joshi H, Tiwari M. 2016. Tianzhushania spinosa and other large acanthomorphic acritarchs of Ediacaran Period from the Infrakrol Formation, Lesser Himalaya, India. Precambrian Res, 286: 325–336

    Google Scholar 

  • Kao C S, Hsiung Y H, Kao P. 1934. Preliminary notes on Sinian stratigraphy of North China. Bull Geol Soc China, 13: 243–288

    Google Scholar 

  • Knoll A, Walter M, Narbonne G, Christie-Blick N. 2006. The Ediacaran Period: A new addition to the geologic time scale. Lethaia, 39: 13–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Knoll A H. 1992. Microfossils in metasedimentary cherts of the Scotia Group, Prins Karls Forland, western Svalbard. Palaeontology, 35: 751–774

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambert I B, Walter M R, Wenlong Z, Songnian L, Guogan M. 1987. Palaeoenvironment and carbon isotope stratigraphy of Upper Proterozoic carbonates of the Yangtze Platform. Nature, 325: 140–142

    Google Scholar 

  • Lan Z, Li X, Chen Z Q, Li Q, Hofmann A, Zhang Y, Zhong Y, Liu Y, Tang G, Ling X, Li J. 2014. Diagenetic xenotime age constraints on the Sanjiaotang Formation, Luoyu Group, southern margin of the North China Craton: Implications for regional stratigraphic correlation and early evolution of eukaryotes. Precambrian Res, 251: 21–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee J S, Chao. Y T. 1924. Geology of the Gorge district of the Yangtze from Ichang to Tzekuei with special reference to development of the Gorges. Bull Geol Soc China, 3: 351–392

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu H. 1991. The Sinian System in China (in Chinese). Beijing: Science Press. 1–388

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu P, Chen S, Zhu M, Li M, Yin C, Shang X. 2014a. High-resolution biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic data from the Chenjiayuanzi section of the Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China: Implication for subdivision and global correlation of the Ediacaran System. Precambrian Res, 249: 199–214

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu P, Xiao S, Yin C, Chen S, Zhou C, Li M. 2014b. Ediacaran acanthomorphic acritarchs and other microfossils from chert nodules of the upper Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China. J Paleontol, 88: 1–139

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu P, Yin C, Chen S, Li M, Gao L, Tang F. 2012. Discussion on the Chronostratigraphic Subdivision of the Ediacaran (Sinian) in the Yangtze Gorges Area, South China. Acta Geol Sin, 86: 849–866

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu P, Yin C, Chen S, Tang F, Gao L. 2013. The biostratigraphic succession of acanthomorphic acritarchs of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China and its biostratigraphic correlation with Australia. Precambrian Res, 225: 29–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu P, Yin C, Gao L, Tang F, Chen S. 2009. New material of microfossils from the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in the Zhangcunping area, Yichang, Hubei Province and its zircon SHRIMP U-Pb age. Chin Sci Bull, 54: 1058–1064

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu P, Yin C, Tang F. 2016. Research progress in the Ediacaran biostratigraphy of South China (in Chinese). In: Sun S, Wang T, eds. The Mesoand Neoproterozoic Geology and Oil Resources in Eastern China. Beijing: Science Press. 89–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Lu M, Zhu M, Zhang J, Shields-Zhou G, Li G, Zhao F, Zhao X, Zhao M. 2013. The DOUNCE event at the top of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation, South China: Broad stratigraphic occurrence and non-diagenetic origin. Precambrian Res, 225: 86–109

    Google Scholar 

  • McFadden K A, Xiao S, Zhou C, Kowalewski M. 2009. Quantitative evaluation of the biostratigraphic distribution of acanthomorphic acritarchs in the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China. Precambrian Res, 173: 170–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Moczydłowska M, Nagovitsin K E. 2012. Ediacaran radiation of organicwalled microbiota recorded in the Ura Formation, Patom Uplift, East Siberia. Precambrian Res, 198-199: 1–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Narbonne G M, Xiao S, Shields G A, Gehling J G. 2012. The Ediacaran Period. In: Gradstein F M, Ogg J G, Schmitz M D, Ogg G M, eds. The Geologic Time Scale. Boston: Elsevier. 413–435

    Google Scholar 

  • National Commission on Stratigraphy of China. 1983. Note of meeting on the late Precambrian classification and nomenclature (in Chinese). J Stratigr, 7: 28–29

    Google Scholar 

  • National Commission on Stratigraphy of China. 2001. China Regional Chronostratigraphic (Geochronologic) Scale (1) (in Chinese). J Stratigr, 25(Suppl): 359

    Google Scholar 

  • National Commission on Stratigraphy of China. 2014. The Stratigraphic Chart of China (in Chinese). Beijing: Geological Publishing House. 1

    Google Scholar 

  • Ouyang Q, Guan C, Zhou C, Xiao S. 2017. Acanthomorphic acritarchs of the Doushantuo Formation from an upper slope section in northwestern Hunan Province, South China, with implications for early-middle Ediacaran biostratigraphy. Precambrian Res, 298: 512–529

    Google Scholar 

  • Ouyang Q, Zhou C, Guan C, Wang W. 2015. New microfossils from the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China, and their biostratigraphic implications (in Chinese). Acta Palaeontol Sin, 54: 207–229

    Google Scholar 

  • Peng S, Wang X, Xiao S, Tong J, Hua H, Zhu M, Zhao Y. 2012. A call to replace the Chronostratigraphic unit Sinian System (Period) with the global Ediacaran System (Period) (in Chinese). J Stratigr, 36: 55–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Plumb K A. 1991. New Precambrian time scale. Episodes, 14: 139–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Pu J P, Bowring S A, Ramezani J, Myrow P, Raub T D, Landing E, Mills A, Hodgin E, Macdonald F A. 2016. Dodging snowballs: Geochronology of the Gaskiers glaciation and the first appearance of the Ediacaran biota. Geology, 44: 955–958

    Google Scholar 

  • Shen B, Xiao S, Dong L, Zhou C, Liu J. 2007. Problematic macrofossils from Ediacaran successions in the North China and Chaidam blocks: Implications for their evolutionary roots and biostratigraphic significance. J Paleontology, 81: 1396–1411

    Google Scholar 

  • Shen B, Xiao S, Zhou C, Kaufman A J, Yuan X. 2010. Carbon and sulfur isotope chemostratigraphy of the Neoproterozoic Quanji Group of the Chaidam Basin, NW China: Basin stratification in the aftermath of an Ediacaran glaciation postdating the Shuram event? Precambrian Res, 177: 241–252

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith E F, Nelson L L, Strange M A, Eyster A E, Rowland S M, Schrag D P, Macdonald F A. 2016. The end of the Ediacaran: Two new exceptionally preserved body fossil assemblages from Mount Dunfee, Nevada, USA. Geology, 44: 911–914

    Google Scholar 

  • Sokolov B S. 1952. On the age of the old sedimentary cover of the Russian Platform (in Russian). Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, 5: 21–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Su W, Li H, Xu L, Jia S, Geng J, Zhou H, Wang Z, Pu H. 2012. Luoyu and Ruyang Group at the south margin of the North China craton (NCC) should belong in the Mesoproterozoic Changchengian System: Direct constraints from the LA-MC-ICPMS U-Pb age of the tuffite in the Luoyukou Formation, Ruzhou, Henan, China (in Chinese). Geol Surv Res, 35: 96–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang F, Bengtson S, Wang Y, Wang X, Yin C. 2011. Eoandromeda and the origin of Ctenophora. Evol Dev, 13: 408–414

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang F, Yin C, Bengtson S, Liu P, Wang Z, Gao L. 2008. Octoradiate Spiral Organisms in the Ediacaran of South China. Acta Geol Sin, 82: 27–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang Q, Pang K, Xiao S, Yuan X, Ou Z, Wan B. 2013. Organic-walled microfossils from the early Neoproterozoic Liulaobei Formation in the Huainan region of North China and their biostratigraphic significance. Precambrian Res, 236: 157–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang Q, Pang K, Yuan X, Wan B, Xiao S. 2015. Organic-walled microfossils from the Tonian Gouhou Formation, Huaibei region, North China Craton, and their biostratigraphic implications. Precambrian Res, 266: 296–318

    Google Scholar 

  • Tarhan L G, Hughes N C, Myrow P M, Bhargava O N, Ahluwalia A D, Kudryavtsev A B. 2014. Precambrian-Cambrian boundary interval occurrence and form of the enigmatic tubular body fossil Shaanxilithes ningqiangensis from the Lesser Himalaya of India. Palaeontology, 57: 283–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Vidal G. 1990. Giant acanthomorph acritarchs from the upper Proterozoic in southern Norway. Palaeontology, 33: 287–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang W, Guan C, Zhou C, Peng Y, Pratt L M, Chen X, Chen L, Chen Z, Yuan X, Xiao S. 2017a. Integrated carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen isotope chemostratigraphy of the Ediacaran Lantian Formation in South China: Spatial gradient, ocean redox oscillation, and fossil distribution. Geobiology, 15: 552–571

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang W, Zhou C, Guan C, Yuan X, Chen Z, Wan B. 2014. An integrated carbon, oxygen, and strontium isotopic studies of the Lantian Formation in South China with implications for the Shuram anomaly. Chem Geol, 373: 10–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang X, Chen X, Wang C, Chen L. 2001. Basal boundary and its inner chronostratigraphic subdivision of the Sinian System in China (in Chinese). J Stratigr, 25(Suppl): 370–376

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang Z, Wang J, Suess E, Wang G, Chen C, Xiao S. 2017b. Silicified glendonites in the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation (South China) and their potential paleoclimatic implications. Geology, 45: 115–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Wen B, Evans D A D, Li Y X, Wang Z, Liu C. 2015. Newly discovered Neoproterozoic diamictite and cap carbonate (DCC) couplet in Tarim Craton, NW China: Stratigraphy, geochemistry, and paleoenvironment. Precambrian Res, 271: 278–294

    Google Scholar 

  • Willman S, Moczydłowska M. 2008. Ediacaran acritarch biota from the Giles 1 drillhole, Officer Basin, Australia, and its potential for biostratigraphic correlation. Precambrian Res, 162: 498–530

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood R A, Zhuravlev A Y, Sukhov S S, Zhu M, Zhao F. 2017. Demise of Ediacaran dolomitic seas marks widespread biomineralization on the Siberian Platform. Geology, 45: 27–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao S, Bao H, Wang H, Kaufman A J, Zhou C, Li G, Yuan X, Ling H. 2004. The Neoproterozoic Quruqtagh Group in eastern Chinese Tianshan: Evidence for a post-Marinoan glaciation. Precambrian Res, 130: 1–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao S, Bykova N, Kovalick A, Gill B C. 2017. Stable carbon isotopes of sedimentary kerogens and carbonaceous macrofossils from the Ediacaran Miaohe Member in South China: Implications for stratigraphic correlation and sources of sedimentary organic carbon. Precambrian Res, 302: 171–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao S, Droser M, Gehling J G, Hughes I V, Wan B, Chen Z, Yuan X. 2013. Affirming life aquatic for the Ediacara biota in China and Australia. Geology, 41: 1095–1098

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao S, Knoll A H, Kaufman A J, Yin L, Zhang Y. 1997. Neoproterozoic fossils in Mesoproterozoic rocks? Chemostratigraphic resolution of a biostratigraphic conundrum from the North China Platform. Precambrian Res, 84: 197–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao S, Laflamme M. 2009. On the eve of animal radiation: phylogeny, ecology and evolution of the Ediacara biota. Trends Ecol Evol, 24: 31–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao S, Muscente A D, Chen L, Zhou C, Schiffbauer J D, Wood A D, Polys N F, Yuan X. 2014a. The Weng’an biota and the Ediacaran radiation of multicellular eukaryotes. Nat Sci Rev, 1: 498–520

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao S, Narbonne G M, Zhou C, Laflamme M, Grazhdankin D V, Moczydlowska-Vidal M, Cui H. 2016. Towards an Ediacaran Time Scale: Problems, protocols, and prospects. Episodes, 39: 540–555

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao S, Yuan X, Steiner M, Knoll A H. 2002. Macroscopic carbonaceous compressions in a terminal Proterozoic shale: A systematic reassessment of the Miaohe biota, south China. J Paleont, 76: 347–376

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao S, Zhou C, Liu P, Wang D, Yuan X. 2014b. Phosphatized acanthomorphic acritarchs and related microfossils from the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation at Weng’an (South China) and their implications for biostratigraphic correlation. J Paleont, 88: 1–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Xing Y, Gao Z, Wang Z, Gao L, Yin C. 1996. Stratigraphical Lexicon of China: Neoproterozoic (in Chinese). Beijing: Geological Publishing House. 1–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Xing Y. 1988. Chronostratigraphic units (in Chinese). In: Zhao Z, Xing X, Ding Q, Liu G, Zhao Y, Zhang S, Meng X, Yin C, Ning B, Han P, eds. The Sinian System of Hubei. Wuhan: China University of Geosciences Press. 59–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu B, Xiao S, Zou H, Chen Y, Li Z, Song B, Liu D, Zhou C, Yuan X. 2009. SHRIMP zircon U-Pb age constraints on Neoproterozoic Quruqtagh diamictites in NW China. Precambrian Res, 168: 247–258

    Google Scholar 

  • Xue Y, Cao R, Tang T, Yin L, Yu C, Yang J. 2001. The Sinian stratigraphic sequence of the Yangtze region and correlation to the late Precambrian strata of North China. J Stratigr, 25: 207–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang C, Li X H, Zhu M, Condon D J. 2017. SIMS U-Pb zircon geochronological constraints on upper Ediacaran stratigraphic correlations, South China. Geol Mag, 154: 1202–1216

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang J, Sun W, Wang Z, Xue Y, Tao X. 1999. Variations in Sr and C isotopes and Ce anomalies in successions from China: Evidence for the oxygenation of Neoproterozoic seawater? Precambrian Res, 93: 215–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Ye Q, Tong J, An Z, Hu J, Tian L, Guan K, Xiao S. 2017. A systematic description of new macrofossil material from the upper Ediacaran Miaohe Member in South China. J Systatic Palaeont, doi: 10.1080/ 14772019.2017.1404499

    Google Scholar 

  • Yin C, Liu P, Awramik S M, Chen S, Tang F, Gao L, Wang Z, Riedman L A. 2011. Acanthomorph biostratigraphic succession of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in the east Yangtze Gorges, South China. Acta Geol Sin, 85: 283–295

    Google Scholar 

  • Yin C, Liu P, Chen S, Tang F, Gao L, Wang Z. 2009. Acritarch biostratigraphic succession of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges (in Chinese). Acta Palaeontol Sin, 48: 146–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Yin L, Li Z. 1978. Precambrian microfossils of Southwest China, with reference to their stratigraphic significance (in Chinese). Mem Nanjing Inst Geol Palaeont Aca Sin, 10: 41–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Yin L, Zhu M, Knoll A H, Yuan X, Zhang J, Hu J. 2007. Doushantuo embryos preserved inside diapause egg cysts. Nature, 446: 661–663

    Google Scholar 

  • Yuan X, Chen Z, Xiao S, Zhou C, Hua H. 2011. An early Ediacaran assemblage of macroscopic and morphologically differentiated eukaryotes. Nature, 470: 390–393

    Google Scholar 

  • Yuan X, Wan B, Guan C, Chen Z, Zhou C, Xiao S, Wang W, Pang K, Tang Q, Hua H. 2016. The Lantian Biota (in Chinese). Shanghai: Shanghai Scientific & Technical Publishers. 1–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Yuan X, Xiao S, Yin L, Knoll A, Zhou C, Mu X. 2002. Doushantuo Fossils: Life on the Eve of Animal Radiation (in Chinese). Hefei: China University of Science and Technology Press. 1–171

    Google Scholar 

  • Zang W, Walter M R. 1992. Late Proterozoic and Early Cambrian microfossils and biostratigraphy, northern Anhui and Jiangsu, central-eastern China. Precambrian Res, 57: 243–323

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y, Yin L, Xiao S, Knoll A H. 1998. Permineralized fossils from the terminal Proterozoic Doushantuo Formation, South China. Paleont Soc Mem, 50: 1–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Z, Hua H, Zhang Z. 2015. Problematic Ediacaran fossil Shaanxilithes from the Jiucheng Member of Wangjiawan section in Jinning, Yunnan Province (in Chinese). Acta Palaeont Sin, 54: 12–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Y, He M, Chen M, Peng J, Yu M, Wang Y, Yang R, Wang P, Zhang Z. 2004. Discovery of a Miaohe-type biota from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation in Jiangkou County, Guizhou Province, China. Chin Sci Bull, 49: 2224–2228

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou C, Guan C, Cui H, Ouyang Q, Wang W. 2016. Methane-derived authigenic carbonate from the lower Doushantuo Formation of South China: Implications for seawater sulfate concentration and global carbon cycle in the early Ediacaran ocean. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol, 461: 145–155

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou C, Li X H, Xiao S, Lan Z, Ouyang Q, Guan C, Chen Z. 2017. A new SIMS zircon U-Pb date from the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation: Age constraint on the Weng’an biota. Geol Mag, 154: 1193–1201

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou C, Xiao S, Wang W, Guan C, Ouyang Q, Chen Z. 2017. The stratigraphic complexity of the middle Ediacaran carbon isotopic record in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China, and its implications for the age and chemostratigraphic significance of the Shuram excursion. Precambrian Res, 288: 23–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou C, Xiao S. 2007. Ediacaran δ 13C chemostratigraphy of South China. Chem Geol, 237: 89–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou C, Xie G, McFadden K, Xiao S, Yuan X. 2007. The diversification and extinction of Doushantuo-Pertatataka acritarchs in South China: Causes and biostratigraphic significance. Geol J, 42: 229–262

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou C, Yuan X, Xiao S. 2002. Phosphatized biotas from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation on the Yangtze Platform. Chin Sci Bull, 47: 1918–1924

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu M, Gehling J G, Xiao S, Zhao Y, Droser M L. 2008. Eight-armed Ediacara fossil preserved in contrasting taphonomic windows from China and Australia. Geology, 36: 867–870

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu M, Lu M, Zhang J, Zhao F, Li G, Aihua Y, Zhao X, Zhao M. 2013. Carbon isotope chemostratigraphy and sedimentary facies evolution of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in western Hubei, South China. Precambrian Res, 225: 7–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu M, Zhang J, Yang A, Li G, Zhao F, Lv M, Yin Z. 2016. Neoproterozoic stratigraphy, distribution of source-reservoir-cap rocks, and sedimentary environment in South China (in Chinese). In: Sun S, Wang T, eds. The Meso- and Neoproterozoic Geology and Oil resources in Eastern China. Beijing: Science Press. 107–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu M, Zhang J, Yang A. 2007. Integrated Ediacaran (Sinian) chronostratigraphy of South China. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol, 254: 7–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhuravlev A Y, Vintaned J A G, Ivantsov A Y. 2009. First finds of problematic Ediacaran fossil Gaojiashania in Siberia and its origin. Geol Mag, 146: 775–780

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions. This work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program (B) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB18000000) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41672027).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Chuanming Zhou

  2. State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Xunlai Yuan & Zhe Chen

  3. Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Shuhai Xiao

  4. State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, China

    Hong Hua

Authors
  1. Chuanming Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xunlai Yuan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Shuhai Xiao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Zhe Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Hong Hua
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chuanming Zhou.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhou, C., Yuan, X., Xiao, S. et al. Ediacaran integrative stratigraphy and timescale of China. Sci. China Earth Sci. 62, 7–24 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-017-9216-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-017-9216-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation