Review of organic-walled microfossils research from the Cambrian of China: Implications for global phytoplankton diversity

Abstract

In recent years, significant progress has been made in organic-walled microfossil research from the Paleozoic of China. In the present study, all palynological investigations from the Cambrian of China, including thin sections, are reviewed and a synthesis of the organic-walled microfossil record is presented. The stratigraphic ranges of the organic-walled microfossils for each geographical region of China are listed in chronological order according to the most recent international stratigraphic chart. The compilation reveals that 99 genera and 276 species of organic-walled microfossils have been documented so far. The localities of the investigated areas are mostly on the Cambrian Jiangnan slope and basin and the north continental shelf of the Yangtze plate, where the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition has been largely discussed. The compilation points out that some geographical areas and some stratigraphical intervals remain relatively unstudied. Further research on these intervals and areas needs to be carried out to fill some of the gaps in the record. The data from the literature on organic-walled microfossils in China are added to the previously published dataset of global acritarch diversity. The higher diversities in the early Cambrian Fortunian stage and Stage 2 in China point to a global diversification up to a diversity peak around the late early/early middle Cambrian reported in previous studies. The latest Cambrian diversification rise in China confirms the onset of the Ordovician plankton revolution.