Biosedimentological features of major microbe-metazoan transitions (MMTs) from Precambrian to Cenozoic

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.01.015

Earth-Science Reviews

Volume 189, February 2019, Pages 21-50

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.01.015 Get rights and content

Highlights

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Five MMTs: late Ediacaran, Cambrian, and the aftermaths of O-S, F-F, P-Tr extinctions
•
Early–Middle Triassic and Cambrian MMTs have comparable biosedimentary features and environmental stresses
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Four developmental stages of MMTs correspond to metazoan survival, and initial and full recoveries.
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Microbial abundance in MMTs may be unrelated to the extreme volatile volcanisms
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Food source for metazoans shifting to phytoplankton may account for microbial depauperate in Mesozoic oceans

Abstract

Biotic activities are involved in almost all sedimentation processes throughout the evolutionary history of life on our planet. However, deep-time organism-induced sedimentation and biosedimentary records remain unclear in terms of lithologic types, strata stacking patterns and possible controlling factors. We document biosedimentary features of major transitions from microbe-dominated switching to metazoan-dominated biosedimentary systems based on the global distributions of both microbial and metazoan carbonates through Precambrian to Phanerozoic times, with emphasis on sedimentary records from China. The compilation of 150 and 180 well-documented metazoan and microbial reefs, respectively, from China, reveals that metazoan reefs proliferated during the Middle Ordovician, Middle Devonian and Middle Permian, whereas microbial reefs were well developed during the Cambrian, Late Devonian and Early–Middle Triassic, plus a moderate development during the early Silurian. These stratigraphic abundances of metazoan and microbial carbonates of China generally match the global patterns. The updated variation trends of microbial and metazoan carbonates throughout the late Precambrian and Phanerozoic reveal that there were five major microbe-metazoan transitions (MMTs): the late Ediacaran, the Cambrian, and the aftermaths of the mass extinctions of the end-Ordovician, Late Devonian, and end-Permian. The late Ediacaran MMT began with microbe-dominated oceans with occasional occurrences of metazoans. The presence of Cloudina-dominated reefs in the latest Ediacaran marks the completion of the switching of this microbe-dominated depositional system into a metazoan-dominated system. The Cambrian saw the expansion of skeletal microbes (i.e., Epiphyton, Renalcis) in the oceans; and the stratigraphic successions yield the most diverse biosedimentary deposits and/or structures of the entire Phanerozoic. The Cambrian MMT was the longest microbial-metazoan alternation period and is marked by two metazoan occurrence peaks marked by dominance of abundant archaeocyath buildups during its Epoch 2 and by maceriate and lithistid sponge reefs during the late Furongian Epoch. The early Silurian in China saw the deposition of a thick suite of organic-rich black shales followed by alternations of microbe-rich sediments (oil shales) and metazoan-bearing deposits, which are replaced by microbial and metazoan reefs during the late early Silurian. The Late Devonian MMT started during the late Frasnian and persisted into the early Mississippian, and thus extended slightly longer than the aftermath of the Frasnian–Famennian extinction interval. Alternating occurrences of microbial and metazoan reefs characterize this Late Devonian MMT. Almost all microbe-mediated sediments/structures observed in the Cambrian MMT reoccurred in the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction during the Early–Middle Triassic MMT, suggesting high similarities between those two MMTs. Cambrian and Early–Middle Triassic MMTs also share comparable carbon and sulfur isotopic perturbations, warming regimes, and generally oxygen-deficient seawaters. Some of these environmental and climatic extremes may also occur during other MMTs, but they usually did not occur synchronously.

Most MMTs seem to have undergone four developmental stages. They initiated as microbe-dominated successions (Stage A), and then were characterized by alternations of microbe-dominated and of metazoan-bearing or bioturbated successions (Stage B). Both microbial and metazoan reefs co-occurred during Stage C; and a dominance of metazoan reefs marks the development of Stage D. Ediacaran and Cambrian MMTs seem to have undergone the first three development stages, whereas the three post-extinction MMTs experienced the full set of Stages A−D, corresponding to metazoan survival, initial recovery and full recovery.

The majority of volatile-rich Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), coupled with intensive acidification events, anoxia and global warming regimes, took place during the Mesozoic–Cenozoic. However, microbe-dominated sediments were only widely deposited during the Early Triassic, and greatly declined after that time. Therefore, it seems that microbial abundance in MMTs may not be directly related to these extreme LIP events. This is probably because a primary source of food for the metazoans might have shifted to phytoplankton (e.g., coccoliths, dinoflagellates, and radiolarians) in the marine waters since the Triassic. Certainly, the pre-Mesozoic oceans were not dominated by phytoplankton. Perturbations in the carbon isotope record characterize all MMTs, and thus may be reliable proxies indicating MMT biosedimentary systems.

Graphical abstract

Introduction

There is growing evidence that biotic activities are involved in most, if not all, sedimentation processes from the ancient geological past through the present day (Zadoroshnaya et al., 1982; Fagerstrom, 1987; Zeng et al., 1988, Zeng et al., 1992; Geldsetzer et al., 1989; Grotzinger and Knoll, 1995, Grotzinger and Knoll, 1999; Fan, 1996; Yu and Shen, 1998; Wood, 1999; Stanley Jr., 2001; Stanley, 2003; Stanley, 2011; Kiessling et al., 2002; Riding, 2002, Riding, 2006, Riding, 2011; Riding and Liang, 2005; Knoll, 2012, Knoll, 2015; Knoll et al., 2012, Knoll et al., 2016; Chen et al., 2017a; Lee and Riding, 2018). The study focusing on organism-induced sedimentation, also termed biosedimentology, has attracted increasing interest from global paleontologists and sedimentologists. Of the deep-time biosedimentary records, both metazoan-induced and microbe-mediated carbonates often form spectacular mountains in the field and are commonly present worldwide within upper Precambrian to Phanerozoic successions. Flügel and Kiessling (2002) and Kiessling et al. (2002) compiled a global dataset of metazoan reefs through the Phanerozoic; and they found that reef abundance peaked during the Middle Ordovician, the Middle Devonian, the Middle and Late Permian, and the Jurassic, but was reduced after mass extinctions (i.e., end-Ordovician, Late Devonian, end-Permian, and end-Triassic) (Kiessling et al., 2002). Riding (2002, 2006) confirmed that microbial carbonates exhibit an opposite pattern to metazoan-induced sediments in their abundance. In particular, the switching between metazoan carbonate and microbial carbonate depositional systems typically corresponds to major environmental, climatic and biotic changes linked with mass extinctions.

Many Chinese occurrences of both metazoan and microbial buildups were not included in those databases. In China, marine Paleozoic and Triassic strata are widely distributed and are continuously exposed in many areas. Both metazoan reefs and microbial carbonates are also well developed. Accordingly, our study critically reviews these Chinese occurrences to update the global databases of metazoan reefs and microbial carbonates, and then compares the abundance distributions of both types of bio-carbonates during the late Neoproterozoic through Phanerozoic. The associated extinctions and recoveries, large volcanic episodes, oceanic anoxia, oceanic acidifications, sea-surface temperature variations, glaciations, and geochemical proxies, such as carbon and sulfur isotopes, are also summarized to probe into the physical and chemical mechanisms affecting the abundance of both types of carbonates during critical periods in the evolution of life. Depositional features of several microbe-metazoan evolutionary intervals are detailed to reveal biosedimentations during these critical intervals.

Metazoan-induced and microbe-mediated carbonates are here viewed as proxies revealing oceanic geochemical conditions. These two types of carbonates are among the most common sedimentary rocks in the geological record and alternately dominate sedimentary successions. We focus on two major questions about the relationships among organisms and their environmental and climate regimes: (1) What are the common sedimentary patterns of critical microbe-metazoan transitions (MMTs) within stratigraphic sections during late Neoproterozoic through Cenozoic? (2) What were the responses of carbonate production to environmental, climatic and biotic crises during the geological past?

The overall goal of this paper is to provide an overview of biological processes from the Ediacaran to the Cenozoic as recorded in China, together with their possible consequences and controls. We emphasize three aspects: (1) the types of microbial-mediated sediments (i.e., microbialites, oolites, oncolites) and various microbial mats, (2) the forms of metazoan buildups (i.e., bioherms, biostromes, and reefs), and (3) the (bio)geochemical signals of environmental and climatic change during their critical transitions. It should be noted that metazoan buildups include bioherm, biostrome, and reef in term of geometry, while microbialites include stromatolite, thrombolite, and dendrolite, and they are also referred as microbial reefs or buildups (Burne and Moore, 1987; Kershaw, 1994; Riding, 1999, Riding, 2002; Flügel, 2004). Microbial mats include various types of the microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISSs), e.g., wrinkle structures, pictograph-like sand crack-fills, fusiform sand crack-fills, polygonal sand crack-fills, sinuous crack-fills, and levelled ripple marks (Noffke et al., 2001, Noffke et al., 2003; Noffke, 2010; Davies et al., 2016; Xu et al., 2017).

Section snippets

Overview of late Neoproterozoic to Phanerozoic metazoan and microbial reefs in China

A total of 191 metazoan reefs and 206 microbial buildups have been reported in China from the Ediacaran through to the Quaternary (Holocene) (Zeng et al., 1988, Zeng et al., 1992; Fan, 1996; Yu and Shen, 1998; Gong et al., 2013). Of these, 150 metazoan and 180 microbial reefs are well documented. We have tabulated their occurrences, stratigraphic settings and localities in the online supplementary data (Table S1). Of these, the Precambrian reefs are mostly microbial in origin and occur

Biosedimentary features and depositional patterns during major microbe-metazoan transitions from the Ediacaran to Cenozoic

Five major MMTs occurred during the Ediacaran, Cambrian, early Silurian, Late Devonian, and Early−Middle Triassic (Fig. 6). We summarize the major biosedimentary features of these five MMTs to identify biotic evolution and depositional patterns recorded in the changing sedimentary systems.

Ediacaran and Paleozoic MMTs

After the Snowball Earth event, a set of major negative and positive shifts of carbon isotopes recorded in the Ediacaran sequences indicate a succession of perturbed ecosystems (e.g., Zhu et al., 2007), of which the extended Shuram-Wonaka event is the largest known negative carbon-isotope excursion in the geologic record and has been recognized worldwide (Grotzinger et al., 2011). Several anoxic-oxic redox switches are also recognized from the Doushantuo Formation of South China (Li et al., 2010

Conclusions

This study compiled well-documented occurrences in China of 150 metazoan reefs and 180 microbial reefs from Precambrian to Cenozoic strata. The pre-Jurassic records of China share high similarities with the global database in that metazoan reefs proliferated during Middle Ordovician, Middle Devonian and Middle Permian times, whereas microbial reefs are well-developed during the Cambrian, Late Devonian and Early−Middle Triassic, with a moderate development in the early Silurian. Five major

Acknowledgments

This report is derived from multiple discussions at the Xiangshan Sedimentology Workshop held in Beijing in September of 2016. We are grateful to Judith Mckenzie, Hongfu Yin, Robert Riding, Chengshan Wang, Chuanming Zhou, Shucheng Xie, Chao Li and Ping Luo for the input of their ideas and constructive suggestions at the Xiangshan Workshop. Editor in Chief Andre Strasser and three anonymous reviewers are thanked for their critical comments and constructive suggestions, which have improved

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