Lower Triassic δ 13C isotope curve from shallow-marine carbonates in Japan, Panthalassa realm: Confirmation of the Tethys δ 13C curve

Abstract

δ 13C data from Tethyan sections provide evidence of profound changes in the carbon cycle during the Lower Triassic. Sections from the Panthalassa realm were investigated to establish whether these variations are also present there. In the Jurassic accretionary wedges in Japan, exotic blocks having a Panthalassan affinity, have been incorporated. The majority of the blocks are pelagic cherts but rare shallow-water carbonates are also present. We present a δ 13C study on the Lower Triassic of a shallow-water carbonate succession deposited on a mid-oceanic seamount and accreted to the Chichibu Belt, Japan. Two sections have been measured at Kamura, central Kyushu Island. The carbon isotope curve shows depleted values across the Permian–Triassic boundary (PTB), subsequently followed by an increase to heavier values into the Dienerian, culminating in a maximum of almost +4‰ V-PDB, before a steep drop at a stratigraphic gap. Low values are recorded in the Smithian, but rise to enriched δ 13C values > +3.5‰ near the Smithian–Spathian boundary. The observed trend of the stable carbon isotope curve from Japanese sediments mirrors the curves derived from sections in the Tethys (e.g. Italy, Iran, Turkey, Oman and the South China Nanpanjing Basin). Our results support the interpretation of this curve as representing a global trend across the PTB and in the Lower Triassic, although some distinct features are absent around the Dienerian/Smithian boundary. Profound variations of the carbon isotope curve in the Lower Triassic are presented for the first time from a marine section outside of the Tethys. They indicate severe, global changes in the Lower Triassic carbon cycle, and the causative processes must have significantly contributed to the delayed biotic recovery after the PTB. Large amounts of carbon were shifted between carbon reservoirs, most probably between shallow- and deep-ocean waters, and/or ocean and sediment. Anoxia followed by overturn of the ocean water masses may have been the mechanism which quickly altered ecological conditions in the ocean leading to variable availability of nutrients and oxygen, and changes in isotope composition of the available carbon in the surface waters that was incorporated in the precipitated carbonate.