Abstract
The Ediacaran Period represents a critical transition in Earth history. Major perturbations and innovations occurred in the Ediacaran climate, ocean, and biosphere systems. This paper reviews recent advances in Ediacaran glaciations, oxidation events, and biological evolution. There were one or more glaciations in the Ediacaran Period. Ediacaran successions also record multiple negative δ13Ccarb excursions in addition to the excursion associated with basal Ediacaran cap dolostones. These negative δ13Ccarb excursions possibly represent pulses of ocean oxidation events. The Ediacaran Period is also distinguished by two unique biotas—the Doushantuo-Pertatataka acritarchs and classical Ediacara biota—that characterize, respectively, the early and late part of the period. These two biotas appear to be separated by a glaciation and by a major negative δ13Ccarb excursion, although the exact temporal relationship among the climatic, geochemical, and biotic events is far from resolved. Future research should focus on improving geochronological, paleoenvironmental, and paleontological data from key Ediacaran successions in order to test the apparent and tantalizing couplings between evolutionary and environmental events.
Published Version
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