Zhong-Qiang Chen

End-Permian catastrophe by a bolide impact: Evidence of a gigantic release of sulfur from the mantle

Our studies in southern China have revealed a remarkable sulfur and strontium isotope excursion at the end of the Permian, along with a coincident concentration of impact- metamorphosed grains and kaolinite and a significant decrease in manganese, phosphorous, calcium, and microfossils (foraminifera). These data suggest that an asteroid or a comet hit the ocean at the end of Permian time and caused a rapid and massive release of sulfur from the mantle to the ocean-atmosphere system, leading to significant oxygen consumption, acid rain, and the most severe biotic crisis in the history of life on Earth.

Recovery tempo and pattern of marine ecosystems after the end-Permian mass extinction

High-resolution sampling of more than 10,000 microfossils from seven Late Permian−Middle Triassic paleoequatorial sections in south China refutes claims for a 5 m.y. recovery delay after the end-Permian mass extinction. We show that level-bottom seafloor diversity began to recover in the early Smithian, little more than 1 m.y. after the mass extinction, while recovery of reef-building metazoans began 4 m.y. later, in the Anisian. A further mass extinction in the late Smithian, identified in the pelagic fossil record, is weakly manifest as a temporary pause in diversification among benthic communities. In the Early Triassic of south China, the offshore diversity increase began before then, in shallower settings. The recovery from the end-Permian mass extinction in south China was therefore significantly more rapid and environmentally more complex than hitherto known.

Survival brachiopod faunas of the end-Permian mass extinction from the southern Alps (Italy) and South China

Eight brachiopod species in seven genera are described from the Permian–Triassic boundary beds of South China and northern Italy. The brachiopods from northern Italy are described for the first time and include two new species: Orbicoelia dolomitensis Chen and Spirigerella ? teseroi Chen. The Permian affinity of these brachiopods and their stratigraphical position above the extinction horizon demonstrate that they are survivors from the end-Permian mass extinction. The surviving brachiopods from South China, which was located at the eastern margin of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean, are considerably abundant and diverse and are dominated by geographically widespread generalist elements adapted to a wide variety of environments. They were mostly limited to the Upper Permian to lowest Griesbachian. In contrast, the survivors in northern Italy, which was situated at the western margin of the Palaeo-Tethys, comprise elements ranging from the Carboniferous to Permian or widespread Tethyan genera. These survivors did not occur in the pre-extinction western Tethyan oceans but migrated into this region after the end-Permian extinction event. Disaster taxon Lingula proliferated slightly earlier in western Tethyan oceans than in eastern Tethyan regions following the event. Survival brachiopods from both regions appear to have a generic affinity, although they do not share any species. Both South Chinese and Italian survival faunas support the view that the survival interval is the duration when survivors are dominated by geographically widespread generalist organisms adapted to a wide variety of ecological conditions.

Late Paleozoic depositional history of the Tarim basin, northwest China: An integration of biostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic constraints

This study provides the first detailed lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic constraints for improving stratigraphic resolution for hydrocarbon prospecting and exploration in the Tarim basin. A total of 49 stratigraphic units (38 formations and 11 members), ranging in age from the latest Devonian to Permian, are reviewed or redefined in terms of nomenclatures, lithology, age constraints, and lateral distributions based on the detailed field works or newly published data. Of these, the Piqiang Formation (new formation) is proposed to include the reefal carbonates of Asselian–Sakmarian age from the northern Tarim. The subsurface upper Paleozoic stratigraphic framework of the desert areas of the basin is also established for the first time. The high-resolution, basinwide stratigraphic correlations reveal that the sedimentation of the basin in the late Paleozoic was extremely uneven. Of these, the Famennian to Changhsingian successions are completely recorded in the southwestern margin areas of the basin. Here, five eustatic sedimentary cycles are well recognizable, suggesting the sedimentation was more eustatically controlled and little affected by local tectonism. The late Paleozoic successions of both Kalpin and Taklimakan regions are commonly interrupted by major hiatuses at various horizons, suggesting that the sedimentation was apparently modified by local tectonism. Of these, the northward movement of the Tarim block and its subsequent collision with the Yili microcontinent (part of the Kazakhstan plate) may be principally accountable for the discrepancy in the sedimentation of the various regions in the basin in the late Paleozoic.

A new genus of Rhynchonellid Brachiopod from the Lower Triassic of South China and Implications for timing the recovery of Brachiopoda after the end-Permian mass extinction

A new genus, Meishanorhynchia, is proposed based on new material from the Lower Triassic of the Meishan section, South China. It is of a late Griesbachian age based on both associated biozones (ammonoids and bivalves) and radiometric dates of the intercalated volcanic ash beds. Comparison with both Palaeozoic and Mesozoic–Cenozoic-related genera suggests that it may represent the first radiation of progenitor brachiopods in the aftermath of the end-Permian extinction. The lowest brachiopod horizon that contains the genus is estimated to be about 250.1xa0±xa00.3xa0Ma. This implies that the initial stage of recovery of Brachiopoda in the Early Triassic was probably about 1.3xa0±xa00.3xa0myr after the major pulse of the end-Permian mass extinction (dated as 251.4xa0±xa00.3xa0Ma). This is in agreement with Hallam’s expectancy that biotic recovery typically begins within one million years or so of major mass extinctions, in contrast to current views on the end-Permian extinction event which propose that the recovery of most if not all biotic groups in the Early Triassic was severely delayed and only began about five million years after the end-Permian extinction.

Permian Brachiopods from the Selong Xishan section, Xizang (Tibet), China. Part 2: Palaeobiogeographical and palaeoecological implications, Spiriferida, Athyridida and Terebratulida

Brachiopods from the Selong Group at the Selong Xishan section indicate a typical Peri-Gondwanan affinity, but possibly a rapid invasion of tropical/subtropical Tethyan elements into the Himalayan region at the very end of Permian. A brief analysis of taphonomy and composition of the Selong fauna indicate that Selong Xishan lay on the shallow continental shelf near shore and brachiopods suffered substantial abrasion from contemporaneous wave action. Species of Spiriferida, Athyridida and Terebratulida are herein described and revised. New taxa are Nakmusiella selongensis nov. gen. et sp. and ? Bullarina striata nov. sp.

An ecologically mixed brachiopod fauna from Changhsingian deep‐water basin of South China: consequence of end‐Permian global warming

The Late Permian Shaiwa Group of the Ziyun area of Guizhou, South China is a deep-water facies succession characterized by deep-water assemblages of pelagic radiolarians, foraminifers, bivalves, ammonoids and brachiopods. Here we report 20 brachiopod species in 18 genera from the uppermost Shaiwa Group. This brachiopod fauna is latest Changhsingian in age and dominated by productides. The palaeoecologic and taphonomic analysis reveals that the brachiopod fauna is preserved in situ. The attachment modes and substratum preference demonstrate that the Shaiwa brachiopod fauna comprises admixed elements of deep-water and shallow-water assemblages. The presence of the shallow-water brachiopods in the Shaiwa faunas indicates the involuntary settlement of shallow-water brachiopods. The stressed ecologic pressure, triggered by warming surface waters, restricted ecospace and short food sources, may have forced some shallow-water elements to move to hospitable deep-water settings and others to modify their habiting behaviours and exploit new ecospace in deep-water environments. We infer that the end-Permian global warming and subsequent transgression event may have accounted for the stressed environmental pressure in the shallow-water communities prior to the end-Permian mass extinction.

UPPERMOST MISSISSIPPIAN BRACHIOPODS FROM THE BASAL ITAITUBA FORMATION OF THE AMAZON BASIN, BRAZIL

Abstract This paper describes 19 brachiopod species (including six indeterminate species) in 15 genera and one indeterminate genus from the basal Itaituba Formation at the Caima Quarry 1 section of Itaituba, Amazon Basin, Brazil. The faunal correlations of the brachiopods and the associated fusulinids and conodonts indicate a late Chesterian (late Serpukhovian) age for the described fauna, therefore confirming for the first time the presence of uppermost Mississippian rocks in the Amazon Basin. A new species, Composita caimaensis, is created, and two species, Inflatia cf. gracilis and Marginovatia cf. catinulus, are described for the first time from the Amazon Basin. The Amazon brachiopods appear to be of strong affinity with coeval faunas of the North American midcontinent.

Late carboniferous to early permian brachiopod faunas from the Bachu and Kalpin areas, Tarim Basin, NW China

Late Carboniferous and Early Permian brachiopod faunas are described from the Xiaohaizi section of the Bachu area and the Shishichang section of the Kalpin area, the Tarim Basin, NW China. Biostratigraphic studies of brachiopods and associated microfossils indicate that the Xiaohaizi Formation is Moscovian (Late Carboniferous) and the Shishichang Formation is Kasimovian-Gzhelian (Late Carboniferous), whereas the Nanza and Kankarin Formations are Asselian to early Artinskian (Early Permian). Two new species proposed from the Nanza Formation are Kutorginella tarimensis and Phricodothyris? bachuensis.

EARLY CARBONIFEROUS ATHYRIDID BRACHIOPODS FROM THE QAIDAM BASIN, NORTHWEST CHINA

Abstract Four new Early Carboniferous athyridid species in three genera, including one new genus, Bruntonathyris, are described from the Qaidam Basin, northwest China: Lamellosathyris qaidamensis, Bruntonathyris amunikeensis, Bruntonathyris? heijianshanensis, and Lochengia qinghaiensis. Based on the new material and also on published information, we also reviewed the taxonomic composition and the stratigraphic and paleogeographic distributions of the three genera. As a result, Lamellosathyris is considered to be indicative of late Famennian to Viséan age, originating in late Famennian in central North America and Armenia of Russia, respectively. Later, the genus appears to have two migratory directions: one branch rapidly dispersed over Mississippi Valley, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico of central North America in Tournaisian; alternatively, another branch from Armenia migrated westerly to Belgium, France, Spain, Britain, Ireland, via the Moscow Basin and Ural seaway, eastward to the Tienshan Mountains and Qaidam Basin of northwest China during the Tournaisian to Viséan, and easterly along the southern shelves of the Paleo-Tethys to Iran and western Yunnan of southwestern China in Tournaisian. Both Bruntonathyris and Lochengia are restrictedly Tournaisian to Viséan in age, and probably originated in the Qaidam Basin. Later, Bruntonathyris migrated easterly to South China and Japan, and westerly to Urals, Moscow Basin, Donetsk Basin and Britain; Lochengia migrated easterly to South China and westerly to the Urals seaway and the adjoined Russian Platform (i.e., both the Moscow and Donetsk Basins).