疑源类Tianzhushania在贵州瓮安震旦纪陡山沱组磷块岩中的发现

首次报道贵州瓮安地区震旦系陡山沱组磷块岩中的大型具刺凝源类Tianzhushania spinosa及其新种Tianzhushania tuberifera sp.nov.前者形态特征及内部结构与湖北峡尔地区震旦系陡山沱组隧石结核中发现的典型Tianzhushania spinosa 标本（硅化）完全相同,但多数未遭受重力挤压呈球形保存。新种特征明显,也呈球形保存,但内层表面具有明显瘤突,瘤突顶端向外延伸出单一或多条管状制,另外还探讨大型具刺疑源类Tianzhushania属的特征,已定种的地理分布,地层意义和亲缘关系。     

扬子区晚震旦世动物化石新材料

扬子区晚震旦世地层中已有多种类型的动物及遗迹化石的报道。文中补充了不同地区和层位的骨骼及遗迹化石新材料,包括：江西上饶王家院陡山沱组顶部磷块岩中的磷酸盐化“十”字形骨针和云南晋宁王家湾灯影组上段隧石条带中的单轴双射硅质骨针,它们可能分属于钙质海绵和普通海绵类;贵州瓮安陡山沱组上段磷质白云岩中的可疑壳状化石;宜昌三斗坪金瓜墩陡山沱组下部（第二段）遗迹化石;瓮安陡山沱组上段及湖北南漳灯影组上段底部磷质硬底中的生物扰动构造。另外还报道了贵州清镇桃子冲剖面桃子冲组最底部的瓶状动物（Pro-tolagena limbata）化石,并认定桃子冲组与灯影组之间为假整合接触,其底界并无跨入震旦系的证据。     

湖北峡东地区九龙湾剖面震旦系陡山沱组微体化石的新发现

中国南方扬子地台震旦系陡山沱组产出丰富的微体化石,它们主要保存在磷块岩以及燧石结核和条带中。文章详细报道湖北峡东地区九龙湾剖面震旦系陡山沱组微体化石,描述以前未曾在峡东地区碳酸盐相燧石中发现的8属8种微体化石。研究九龙湾剖面陡山沱组大型带刺疑源类、微体多细胞藻类和动物胚胎化石的分布特征,发现Tianzhushania spinosa是最早出现的大型带刺疑源类分子,大冰期后微体生物的辐射是一个阶段性渐进的过程。同时．本项研究进一步证实华南扬子区陡山沱组碳酸盐相燧石和磷块岩地层中保存的微体化石面貌基本一致。     

峡东震旦系陡山沱组宏体生物群*

描述了陡山沱组宏体化石11属11种(其中5新属,5新种).这一发现表明,多细咆后生动、植物在震旦纪陡山沱期已经繁荣.在后生动物中,除有大量软躯体动物外,具有内、外骨骼的动物已有少量出现,这是生命发展史上的重大事件.有的属种,有着复杂化的内部器官,或许代表着一个生物进化方向.在后生植物中,高级藻类已显示出初步的形态分化,在生态系中起了重要作用.它们排挤或取代了几乎与地球历史同样悠久的微生物群落.     

论陡山沱组的年代

三峡地区震旦系的三层式地层结构 (冰积层 ,陡山沱组特色的大型带刺疑源类组合层 ,埃迪卡拉生物化石层 )在世界其它地区是常见的。通过生物和化学地层对比我们认为陡山沱组及其化石组合层是在马雷诺恩 ( Marinoan)冰期之后、埃迪卡拉生物群分异之前沉积的。根据这一地层对比方案以及西伯利亚、纳米比亚和阿瓦龙半岛 ( Avalon Peninsula)新元古代地层的精确放射性同位素测年资料 ,陡山沱组的沉积年龄很可能在五亿五千万年至六亿年之间。这一估计要新于以前发表的铷锶法或钾氩法测定的陡山沱组黑色页岩或海绿石年龄。更精确地估算陡山沱组的沉积年龄还有待于在陡山沱组地层中发现火山灰以及对火山灰的精确年龄测定 ,但我们根据地层对比估算的陡山沱组年龄 ,为评估庙河和瓮安陡山沱组生物群的演化意义提供了必要的地层框架。     

湖北保康陡山沱组磷酸盐化微体化石组合

中国南方震旦系陡山沱组磷块岩、燧石和页岩中陆续发现的精美保存的化石生物群,为我们提供了一个栩栩如生的新元古代晚期生物演化的图景,表明多细胞真核生物在新元古代冰期之后发生了非常显著的分异。其中磷块岩化石库以生物细胞结构的完好保存而著称。继在贵州瓮安、陕西勉县茶店和江西上饶朝阳之后,湖北保康白竹磷矿陡山沱组磷块岩中也发现了类似的磷酸盐化化石生物群。保康化石组合中包括多细胞藻类Wengania,Paramecia和原地保存的Thallophyca;大型复杂疑源类Meghystrichosphaeridium,Echinosphaeridium和目前仅在保康发现的Bacatisphaera;球状蓝菌化石Archaeophycus,丝状蓝菌化石Siphonophycus和在陡山沱组磷块岩中首次发现的Obruchevella;同时,内部保存不同数量小球体的球状化石在保康也大量产出。古地理分析表明中国南方扬子地台陡山沱组磷块岩中保存的磷酸盐化化石库大都形成于浅水台地边缘地带。     

The Cambrian brachiopod fauna from the first-trilobite age Shuijingtuo Formation in the Three Gorges area of China

The Yangtze platform of South China offers evidence within its Ediacaran–Cambrian geological record of the Cambrian explosion and diversification events in metazoan history. To understand the explosive radiation of animals and the environments in which it took place, the basal Cambrian fauna succession of the Aijiahe section in the Three Gorges area, western Hubei Province, has been studied, revealing the earliest brachiopod fauna (Tsunyidiscus trilobite Zone) in this region, which was dominated numerically by acrotretoids. This is accompanied by abundant skeletal fossils including minute well-preserved phosphatized archaeocyath cups and an assortment of abundant sponge spicules, chancelloriids, mollusks, hyoliths, and bradoriids, retrieved by acid-etching limestone interbeds in the black shale-dominated Shuijingtuo Formation (Series 2). The brachiopods comprise two species of acrotretoids, two types of botsfordiids (Botsfordiidae gen. et sp. indet. A and B), and four species of linguloids. Of the latter, Spinobolus popovi n. gen. n. sp. is strikingly distinctive and typified by spine-like ornamentation seen for the first time in the lower Cambrian; the remaining three linguloid genera, Palaeobolus, Eoobolus, and Lingulellotreta, have a trans-paleocontinental distribution. The Three Gorges Shuijingtuo brachiopod assemblage differs from that of the upper Atdabanian Stage (Cambrian Stage 3) in Siberia and South China, but shows great similarities with those discovered in the Tsanglangpuan (equivalent to Botoman or Stage 4) Stage of eastern Yunnan Province, Siberia, and South Australia, suggesting a much more prolonged sedimentary hiatus in basalmost Shuijingtuo Formation of the Three Gorges area than previously expected. The presence of such unconformities provides a caveat to stable isotope-based correlations that involve a number of discussions of global ocean geochemical changes across the time interval that witnessed Cambrian explosion of metazoans.     

论埃迪卡拉纪微体球状化石Schizofusa与Leiosphaeridia的关系

埃迪卡拉纪是新元古代最后一个纪,是新元古代雪球地球事件与寒武纪生命大爆发之间地质历史最重要的转折时期,在研究地球早期生命演化方面具有举足轻重的地位。我国华南三峡地区埃迪卡拉系陡山沱组中下部的地层中,发现了大量的以具刺疑源类为主的微体化石,其中有两个形态简单、分布广泛的类型——分别是以光面、球状为特征的Leiosphaeridia和光面囊胞状、具开裂特征的Schizofusa。本文通过对这两种化石材料的细致观察与统计,对两者间的亲缘关系进行了详细探讨,认为Schizofusa开裂之前应为光面球体,即Schizofusa是某些光面球的发展演化后期阶段。     

Uncovering the spatial heterogeneity of Ediacaran carbon cycling

Records of the Ediacaran carbon cycle (635–541 million years ago) include the Shuram excursion (SE), the largest negative carbonate carbon isotope excursion in Earth history (down to ?12‰). The nature of this excursion remains enigmatic given the difficulties of interpreting a perceived extreme global decrease in the δ¹³C of seawater dissolved inorganic carbon. Here, we present carbonate and organic carbon isotope (δ¹³C_carb and δ¹³C_org) records from the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation along a proximal‐to‐distal transect across the Yangtze Platform of South China as a test of the spatial variation of the SE. Contrary to expectations, our results show that the magnitude and morphology of this excursion and its relationship with coexisting δ¹³C_org are highly heterogeneous across the platform. Integrated geochemical, mineralogical, petrographic, and stratigraphic evidence indicates that the SE is a primary marine signature. Data compilations demonstrate that the SE was also accompanied globally by parallel negative shifts of δ³⁴S of carbonate‐associated sulfate (CAS) and increased ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio and coastal CAS concentration, suggesting elevated continental weathering and coastal marine sulfate concentration during the SE. In light of these observations, we propose a heterogeneous oxidation model to explain the high spatial heterogeneity of the SE and coexisting δ¹³C_org records of the Doushantuo, with likely relevance to the SE in other regions. In this model, we infer continued marine redox stratification through the SE but with increased availability of oxidants (e.g., O₂ and sulfate) limited to marginal near‐surface marine environments. Oxidation of limited spatiotemporal extent provides a mechanism to drive heterogeneous oxidation of subsurface reduced carbon mostly in shelf areas. Regardless of the mechanism driving the SE, future models must consider the evidence for spatial heterogeneity in δ¹³C presented in this study.     

浅议峡东陡山沱组的“瓶状微化石”

通过对峡东晚震旦世陡山沱组岩石样品的化学浸解处理、连续切片研究及大量薄片观察,作者认为先前报道的陡山沱组“瓶状微化石”,即所谓最古老的原生动物的外壳遗骸,实际上并非什么瓶状微化石,而是一种有蓝藻（可能还有细菌）参与的沉积构造。     

峡东地区埃迪卡拉系陡山沱组疑源类生物地层序列

峡东地区埃迪卡拉系陡山沱组自下而上可分4个岩性段:第1段为1.5-5m具帐篷和板裂构造的"盖帽白云岩";第2段是90-120m白云质灰岩夹黑色页岩,富含燧石结核;第3段为40-70m的白云岩夹燧石层和燧石结核;第4段10-20m为黑色碳质页岩夹碳酸盐岩透镜体.根据对该区九龙湾、王丰岗、田家园子、九曲脑、晓峰河、樟村坪等多条陡山沱组剖面的重新调查,确认第2和第3段分别含有不同的疑源类组合,二者被之间出现的δ13C负漂移(EN2)所分隔.下组合以Tianzhushania和高分异的具刺疑源类出现为特征.上组合与下组合的区别是:(1)Tianzhushania绝迹;(2)出现大量表面光滑,介于90-150μm的球状膜壳;(3)高分异的具刺疑源类既包括下伏上延的种类,又含有首次出现的新类型;(4)还出现可能为单细胞原生动物的微化石;(5)管状化石震旦圆圆茎(Sinocyclocylicus guizhouensis)首现.     

现代丰年虾卵的腐解实验——对早期化石胚胎研究的启示

早寒武世和埃迪卡拉纪中的球状化石,一些已被归入可能的后生动物胚胎化石,由于具较为完好的三维保存方式以及近乎完美的胚胎发育序列,为早期后生动物的起源、分类、谱系演化及发育生物学提供了难得的实证材料。然而随着研究的深入,多数寒武纪胚胎的生物学分类位置未定;而数量异常巨大、又有独自的保存方式的晚元古代陡山沱组胚胎的真伪和生物学归属,更是争议未消。通过对现生生物胚胎的实验埋藏研究,可以揭示出各类生物胚胎在腐解、埋藏各阶段的保存潜力,而现代胚胎在各实验埋藏阶段形态、结构的变化,也能为化石胚胎的研究提供重要的实证材料。本文就是通过对虾卵胚胎各发育阶段腐解保存潜力的实验模拟研究,试图为球状化石的形成机制和化石归属提供一些实验室依据。     

Precambrian animal life: Taphonomy of phosphatized metazoan embryos from southwest China

Phosphatized fossils from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation have provided valuable insight into the early evolution of metazoans, but the preservation of these spectacular fossils is not yet fully understood. This research begins to address this issue by performing a detailed specimen-based taphonomic analysis of the Doushantuo Formation phosphatized metazoan embryos. A total of 206 embryos in 65 thin sections from the Weng'an Phosphorite Member of the Doushantuo Formation were examined and their levels of pre-phosphatization decay estimated. The data produced from this examination reveal a strong taphonomic bias toward earlier (2-cell and 4-cell) cleavage stages, which tend to be well-preserved, and away from later (8-cell and 16-cell) cleavage stages, which tend to exhibit evidence for slight to intense levels of organic decay. In addition, the natural abundances of these embryos tend to decrease with advancement in cleavage stage, and no evidence of more advanced (beyond 16-cell) cleavage stages or eventual adult forms were found in this study. One possible explanation for this taphonomic bias toward early cleavage stages is that later cleavage stages and adult forms were more physically delicate, allowing them to be more easily damaged during burial and reworking, allowing for more rapid decay. The spectacular preservation of these embryos was probably aided by their likely internal enrichment in phosphate-rich yolk, which would have caused their internal dissolved phosphate levels to reach critical levels with only miniscule organic decay, thereby hastening phosphatization. If internal sources of phosphate did indeed play a role in the phosphatization of these embryos, it may explain their prolific abundance in these rocks compared to other phosphatized fossils as well as indicating that metazoans lacking such internal phosphate sources were likely much more difficult to preserve. The phosphatic fossils of the Doushantuo Formation, therefore, provide an indispensable, yet restricted, window into Neoproterozoic life and metazoan origins.     

Distinguishing geology from biology in the Ediacaran Doushantuo biota relaxes constraints on the timing of the origin of bilaterians

The Ediacaran Doushantuo biota has yielded fossils that include the oldest widely accepted record of the animal evolutionary lineage, as well as specimens with alleged bilaterian affinity. However, these systematic interpretations are contingent on the presence of key biological structures that have been reinterpreted by some workers as artefacts of diagenetic mineralization. On the basis of chemistry and crystallographic fabric, we characterize and discriminate phases of mineralization that reflect: (i) replication of original biological structure, and (ii) void-filling diagenetic mineralization. The results indicate that all fossils from the Doushantuo assemblage preserve a complex mélange of mineral phases, even where subcellular anatomy appears to be preserved. The findings allow these phases to be distinguished in more controversial fossils, facilitating a critical re-evaluation of the Doushantuo fossil assemblage and its implications as an archive of Ediacaran animal diversity. We find that putative subcellular structures exhibit fabrics consistent with preservation of original morphology. Cells in later developmental stages are not in original configuration and are therefore uninformative concerning gastrulation. Key structures used to identify Doushantuo bilaterians can be dismissed as late diagenetic artefacts. Therefore, when diagenetic mineralization is considered, there is no convincing evidence for bilaterians in the Doushantuo assemblage.     

Fossil preservation in the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo phosphorite Lagerstätte, South China

Phosphorites of the late Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation exposed in the vicinity of Weng'an, Guizhou Province, and Chadian, Shaanxi Province, South China, contain exceptionally well-preserved algal thalli, acritarchs, and globular microfossils interpreted as animal embryos. Combined optical microscopic and SEM observations provide insights into the taphonomy of phosphatized fossils. Algal cells and tissues are variably resistant to decay, and within preserved populations permineralization began at varying stages of degradation. In consequence, there is a spectrum of quality in cellular preservation. Algal cell walls, acritarch vesicles, and embryo envelopes are commonly encrusted by an isopachous rim of apatite, with cell interiors filled by collophane and later diagenetic dolomite. In contrast, blastomere surfaces of animal embryos are encrusted primarily by minute phosphatic spherules and filaments, possibly reflecting an immediately postmortem infestation of bacteria that provided nucleation sites for phosphate crystal growth. Thus, the same processes that gave rise to Phanerozoic phosphatized Lagerstätten - phosphatic encrustation, and impregnation, probably mediated by microbial activity - effected soft-tissue preservation in the Doushantuo Lagerstätte. It remains unclear how phosphatic ions and organic macro-molecules interact at the molecular level and to what extent specific microbial metabolisms or microenvironmental conditions control the phosphatization of soft tissues. New observations of phosphatized Doushantuo fossils include: a second locality (Chadian) for Wengania globosa , interpreted as an algal thallus and previously known only from Weng'an; microtunnels in Weng'an phosphorites interpreted as pyrite trails; and new taxa described from Weng'an: Meghystrichosphaeridium reticulatum (acritarch), Sarcinophycus radiatus (algal thallus), and one unnamed problematic form.     

Phosphatized multicellular algae in the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation, China, and the early evolution of florideophyte red algae

Phosphatic sediments of the Late Neoproterozoic (ca. 600 million years old [Myr]) Doushantuo Formation at Weng'an, South China, contain fossils of multicellular algae preserved in anatomical detail. As revealed by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, these fossils include both simple pseudoparenchymatous thalli with apical growth but no cortex-medulla differentiation and more complex thalli characterized by cortex-medulla differentiation and structures interpretable as carposporophytes, suggesting a multiphasic life cycle. Simple pseudoparenchymatous thalli, represented by Wengania, Gremiphyca, and Thallophycoides, are interpreted as stem group florideophytes. In contrast, complex pseudoparenchymatous thalli, such as Thallophyca and Paramecia, compare more closely to fossil and living corallinaleans than to other florideophyte orders, although they also differ in some important aspects (e.g., lack of biocalcification). These more complex thalli are interpreted as early stem group corallinaleans that diverged before Paleozoic stem groups such as Arenigiphyllum, Petrophyton, Graticula, and Archaeolithophyllum. This phylogenetic interpretation implies that (1) the phylogenetic divergence between the Florideophyceae and its sister group, the Bangiales, must have taken place before Doushantuo time-an inference supported by the occurrence of bangialean fossils in Mesoproterozoic rocks; (2) the initial diversification of the florideophytes occurred no later than the Doushantuo time; and (3) the corallinalean clade had a "soft" (uncalcified) evolutionary history in the Neoproterozoic before evolving biocalcification in the Paleozoic and undergoing crown group diversification in the Mesozoic.     

Fossil preservation in the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo phosphorite Lagerstatte, South China.

Phosphorites of the late Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation exposed in the vicinity of Weng'an, Guizhou Province, and Chadian, Shaanxi Province, South China, contain exceptionally well-preserved algal thalli, acritarchs, and globular microfossils interpreted as animal embryos. Combined optical microscopic and SEM observations provide insights into the taphonomy of phosphatized fossils. Algal cells and tissues are variably resistant to decay, and within preserved populations permineralization began at varying stages of degradation. In consequence, there is a spectrum of quality in cellular preservation. Algal cell walls, acritarch vesicles, and embryo envelopes are commonly encrusted by an isopachous rim of apatite, with cell interiors filled by collophane and later diagenetic dolomite. In contrast, blastomere surfaces of animal embryos are encrusted primarily by minute phosphatic spherules and filaments, possibly reflecting an immediately postmortem infestation of bacteria that provided nucleation sites for phosphate crystal growth. Thus, the same processes that gave rise to Phanerozoic phosphatized Lagerstatten--phosphatic encrustation, and impregnation, probably mediated by microbial activity--effected soft-tissue preservation in the Doushantuo Lagerstatte. It remains unclear how phosphatic ions and organic macromolecules interact at the molecular level and to what extent specific microbial metabolisms or microenvironmental conditions control the phosphatization of soft tissues. New observations of phosphatized Doushantuo fossils include: a second locality (Chadian) for Wengania globosa, interpreted as an algal thallus and previously known only from Weng'an; microtunnels in Weng'an phosphorites interpreted as pyrite trails; and new taxa described from Weng'an: Meghystrichosphaeridium reticulatum (acritarch), Sarcinophycus radiatus (algal thallus), and one unnamed problematic form.     

Sexual reproductive structures of Latest Proterozoic multicellular rhodophytes (red algae) from South China

Carposporangium- and spermatangium-like reproductive structures associated with differentiated vegetative tissues have been observed in the multicellular rhodophyte fossils, which were well preserved in the 650-Ma-old phosphate rocks of Doushantuo Formation in Guizhou Province, South China. The fossils show details of cellular structures that are comparable to the female and male reproductive organs of some extant rhodophytes. The first fossil-histological evidence for sexuality of Precambrian non-vascular plants is provided.     

山西屯留西村早更新世地层

山西屯留西村的早更新世地层,位于长治盆地的西北隅,属山间盆地。由于地层出露好,并含有丰富的哺乳动物化石,对于确定这一地区第四纪地层的时代划分和对比很有意义。由于在该盆地中沉积了不同时代的河湖相和土状堆积,上、下层位和接触关系清楚,因此,对长期以来有争议的“晋东南红土”或“R红土”的解决有所帮助。尽管到目前为止,在“R红土”中没有找到可靠的化石依据,但它的上、下层位为河湖相沉积,并含有丰富的哺乳动物化石。所以,它被限制在中更新世早期和早更新世初期之间。     

Experimental taphonomy of giant sulphur bacteria: implications for the interpretation of the embryo-like Ediacaran Doushantuo fossils

The Ediacaran Doushantuo biota has yielded fossils interpreted as eukaryotic organisms, either animal embryos or eukaryotes basal or distantly related to Metazoa. However, the fossils have been interpreted alternatively as giant sulphur bacteria similar to the extant Thiomargarita. To test this hypothesis, living and decayed Thiomargarita were compared with Doushantuo fossils and experimental taphonomic pathways were compared with modern embryos. In the fossils, as in eukaryotic cells, subcellular structures are distributed throughout cell volume; in Thiomargarita, a central vacuole encompasses approximately 98 per cent cell volume. Key features of the fossils, including putative lipid vesicles and nuclei, complex envelope ornament, and ornate outer vesicles are incompatible with living and decay morphologies observed in Thiomargarita. Microbial taphonomy of Thiomargarita also differed from that of embryos. Embryo tissues can be consumed and replaced by bacteria, forming a replica composed of a three-dimensional biofilm, a stable fabric for potential fossilization. Vacuolated Thiomargarita cells collapse easily and do not provide an internal substrate for bacteria. The findings do not support the hypothesis that giant sulphur bacteria are an appropriate interpretative model for the embryo-like Doushantuo fossils. However, sulphur bacteria may have mediated fossil mineralization and may provide a potential bacterial analogue for other macroscopic Precambrian remains.