A Permian-Triassic(P-Tr) boundary section of continuous carbonate facies, which well recorded the biotic and environmental processes through the great P-Tr transition in the shallow non-microbialite carbonate facies, has been studied in Yangou, Leping County, Jiangxi Province. The P-Tr sequence is well correlated with the Meishan section according to the conodont biostratigraphy and the excursion of carbon isotopes. A series of high-resolution thin-sections from the P-Tr boundary carbonate rocks at the Yangou section are studied to explore the interrelation between environmental change and biological evolution during the transitional time. Six microfacies have been identified based upon the observation of the thin-sections under a microscope on the grains and matrix and their interrelation. Combined with the data of fossils and carbon isotopes, Microfacies 4(MF-4), coated-grain-bearing foraminifer oolitic sparitic limestone, and Microfacies 6(MF-6), dark shelly micritic limestone, should be the different responses to the two episodes of mass extinction and environmental events that can be correlated throughout South China and even over the world. The oolitic limestone of MF-4 is the first finding from the latest Permian strata in South China and it might be a proxy of an unusual environmental condition of high pCO2, low sulfate concentration and of microbial blooming in the aftermath of the latest Permian mass extinction. The micritic limestone of MF-6 containing rich micro-gastropods and ostracods probably represents the blooming event of disaster taxa in the earliest Triassic environment. The microfacies analysis at the Yangou section can well reveal the episodic process of the biological evolution and environmental change in the shallow non-microbialite carbonate facies throughout the great P-Tr transition, thus the Yangou section becomes an important complement to the Meishan section.
Carbonate carbon isotope δ(13Ccarb) has received considerable attention in the Permian-Triassic transition for its rapid negative shift coinciding with the great end-Permian mass extinction event.The mechanism has long been debated for such a δ13Ccarb negative excursion through the end-Permian crisis and subsequent large perturbations in the entire Early Triassic.A δ13Ccarb depth gradient is observed at the Permian-Triassic boundary sections of different water-depths,i.e.,the Yangou,Meishan,and Shangsi sections,and such a large δ13Ccarb-depth gradient near the end-Permian mass extinction horizon is believed to result from a stratified Paleotethys Ocean with widespread anoxic/euxinic deep water.The evolution of δ13Ccarb-depth gradient combined with paleontological and geochemical data suggests that abundant cyanobacteria and vigorous biological pump in the immediate aftermath of the end-Permian extinction would be the main cause of the large δ13Ccarb-depth gradient,and the enhanced continental weathering with the mass extinction on land provides a mass amount of nutriment for the flourishing cyanobacteria.Photic zone anoxia/euxinia from the onset of chemocline upward excursion might be the direct cause for the mass extinction whereas the instability of chemocline in the stratified Early Triassic ocean would be the reason for the delayed and involuted biotic recovery.
SONG HaiJunTONG JinNanXIONG YanLinSUN DongYingTIAN LiSONG HuYue
