Implications of an integrated late Ediacaran to early Cambrian stratigraphy of the Siberian Platform, Russia

The transition from the terminal Ediacaran to early Cambrian (ca. 550-530 Ma) witnessed both the decline of Ediacaran-type soft-bodied and skeletal biota and the rapid diversification of Cambrian-type skeletal biota, which dominate the Terreneuvian (ca. 538.8-521 Ma) fossil record. This interval hosts globally widespread positive and negative delta C-13(carb) excursions, including a negative delta C-13(carb) excursion near the EdiacaranCambrian boundary termed the 1n/BACE. Efforts to produce a global composite chemo-stratigraphic and biostratigraphic correlation through this interval are complicated by stratigraphic incompleteness and a dearth of radiometric ages with which to constrain delta C-13(carb) chemostratigraphy. Extensive and richly fossiliferous open-marine carbonates of the Siberian Platform were deposited from the terminal Ediacaran to beyond Cambrian Series 2, and they offer a unique archive to refine this chemostratigraphic and bio-stratigraphic framework. Here, we present new delta C-13(carb) data from two sections of the south-eastern Siberian Platform, and we synthesize these with published delta C-13(carb) data from multiple sections throughout the Siberian Platform that record near-continuous carbonate deposition from the latest Ediacaran to Cambrian Series 2. This compilation allowed the construction of two possible chemostratigraphic age models that conform to a coherent framework of lithostratigraphic correlation and platformwide stratal stacking patterns. These age models were then used to test alternative calibrations of fossil first appearances and the spatiotemporal evolution of carbonate deposition on the Siberian Platform. Both models support a pre1n/BACE appearance of anabaritids in the most distal open-marine sections, and they confirm a transitional Ediacaran-Cambrian biotic assemblage that consisted of co-occurring cloudinids and anabaritids. Sedimentologic and sequence stratigraphic analysis on the Siberian Platform also provides strong evidence to indicate that the 1n/BACE marks the onset of a gradual, pulsed rise in relative sea level that was sustained throughout the Terreneuvian and Series 2 of the Cambrian.

Automated summary

This study investigates the geological, biological, and chemical changes during the transition from the terminal Ediacaran to early Cambrian. By analyzing sedimentary deposits on the Siberian Platform, the researchers constructed two potential age models and revealed the evolution of biota during the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary.