Abstract
Stable isotope analyses in sections across a shelf to basinal transect of the Ediacaran Doushantuo basin show substantial isotope variabilities. In Songlin section where sediments were deposited in an intrashelf basin, δ13C values are persistently negative (−3‰ to −5‰, VPDB) through the entire Doushantuo Formation, similar to those obtained from the slope section in Wuhe (−5‰ to −10‰, VPDB). Shallow water sections in Weng’an and Duoding show two broad δ13C anomalies overprinted with significant meter-scale variations, but none of the curves has similar absolute δ13C values compared to the Yangtze Gorges areas in South China and other sections globally. Such isotope variations, if partially recording ancient seawater signature, imply spatial and temporal chemocline instability in the Doushantuo basin. In combination with available δ13C records from other Ediacaran successions globally, the data from the Doushantuo basin are consistent, in first order, with the existence and oxidation of a large dissolved organic carbon (DOC) reservoir in Ediacaran oceans, but imply local environmental controls on Neoproterozoic isotope values and call attentions for using δ13C anomalies as time lines in stratigraphic correlation.
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