The species diversity of fusulinaceans and high-frequency sea-level changes in the Carboniferous-Permian boundary section at Xikou, Zhen’an County, Shaanxi Province, China

Abstract

The study on the interrelation between sea-level changes and biodiversity with its evolution has great significance for understanding the impact of global changes on organic evolution and exploring the inherent laws of life-environment coevolution in geological history. In this paper, the stratigraphic distribution of fusulinacean fauna in the Carboniferous-Permian boundary section at Xikou, Zhen’an County, Shaanxi Province, is analyzed quantitatively, and the relationship between the species diversity of fusulinaceans and relative sea-level changes is discussed. As a whole, the species numbers of fusulinacean fauna experience a rapid increase and an obvious decline in Xikou, Zhen’an County, from the Late Carboniferous to the Early Permian. There is a significant increase in species diversity around the Carboniferous-Permian boundary, which is one of the biggest bio-events of the fusulinacean fauna, and represents the radiation of Pseudoschwagerininae subfamily in the studied area. Integrated fusulinacean species diversity into sequence stratigraphic framework, detailed study suggests that the species diversity of the fusulinaceans is closely related to its relative stratigraphic location, and is essentially controlled by the sea-level changes, especially by the high-frequency sea-level changes. Generally, the species diversity of fusulinaceans is low, and the number of first and last appearance datum is small in the lower unit of high-frequency depositional cycle formed during the quick rise of the sea level; whereas the species diversity of fusulinaceans is high, and the number of first and last appearance datum is large in the upper unit of high-frequency cycle formed during the slow fall of the sea level. Within the third-order depositional sequence, the species diversity of the fusulinaceans at the first flooding surfaces and the maximum flooding surfaces is low, and it increases upward. The fusulinacean species diversity is low within the transgressive systems track, and it is high within the highstand systems track. The second-order rise and fall in sea level coincide with the bloom and decline of high order taxa of fusulinaceans.