Climatic and oceanic controlled deposition of Late Ordovician-Early Silurian black shales on the North Yangtze platform, South China

Abstract

Abstract Black shales deposited across the Late Ordovician and Early Silurian transition are considered to be the most important source rock and shale gas reservoirs in the Yangtze region of South China. However, the origin of these sediments remains contentious. In this study, we investigated the systematic changes in total organic carbon (TOC), organic carbon isotopes (δ13Corg), major elements and trace elements on the Ordovician-Silurian boundary strata from Qiaoting, North Yangtze Sea, to reconstruct the climatic conditions, redox changes, primary productivity, and other factors there, promoting the understanding for the formation mechanism of the organic-rich black shales. Element compositions and their ratios suggest that the black shales studied here were dominantly sourced by the felsic igneous rock, which is similar to granodiorite in composition. Paleoclimatic proxies (CIA, CIW, δ13Corg) suggest that the global climate system experienced significant changes from warm-humid to cold-dry and then to warm-humid climates during the Ordovician-Silurian transition. Paleoredox indices (S/C, U/Th, Ni/Co and V/(V + Ni) ratios) also demonstrate fluctuating redox variations from anoxic to oxygenated, and then to anoxic states during this interval in the Yangtze Sea, which describe an oxygenated Guanyinqiao strata sandwiched between the stagnant and anoxic Wufeng and Longmaxi black shales. Paleoproductivity parameters (TOC, Babio contents and P/Al ratio) suggest that the organic-rich Wufeng and Longmaxi black shales, were deposited with a high biological productivity, while the organic-lean Guanyinqiao sediments were deposited with a low biological productivity. These data demonstrate large climatic and oceanic fluctuations during the Ordovician-Silurian transition, providing essential controlling factors on the oceanic anoxia, primary productivity, and subsequent organic-rich black shale depositions in the Yangtze region during the Late Ordovician and Early Silurian intervals.