Sr and C Isotopes in Lower Cambrian Carbonates from the Siberian Craton: a Paleoenvironmental Record During the ‘Cambrian Explosion’
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EPSL ELSEVIER Earth and Planetary Science Letters 128 (1994) 671-681 Sr and C isotopes in Lower Cambrian carbonates from the Siberian craton: A paleoenvironmental record during the ‘Cambrian explosion’ L.A. Derry a,1, M.D. Brasier b, R.M. Corfield b, A.Yu. Rozanov c, A.Yu Zhuravlev c a CNRS, Centre de Recherches Petrographiques et Geochemiques, 54501 Vandoeuore-les-Nancy, France b Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford Uniuersity, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PR, UK c Palaeontological Institute, 113 Profsoyuznaya, Moscow 117647, Russia Received 4 May 1994; accepted 22 October 1994 Abstract We report 87Sr/86Sr measurements on a suite of well preserved sedimentary carbonates from Lower Cambrian strata of the Lena River region of Siberia. Stable isotopes and major and trace element chemistry have been used to identify potentially unaltered samples for Sr isotopic measurements. The Sr data define a smooth curve of paleoseawater 87Sr/86Sr values from the Tommotian through to the early Middle Cambrian. During the Tommo- tian-Atdabanian interval, 87Sr/86Sr rose rapidly from 0.7081 to 0.7085. The rate of change in Sr ratios decreased during the Botomian but rose to 0.7088 in the late Toyonian to early- Middle Cambrian. The rate of 87Sr/86Sr increase during the Tommotian-Atdabanian was ca. 0.0001/m.y., comparable to the late Miocene change in seawater Sr. We infer that an interval of enhanced erosion during the ‘Cambrian explosion’ was responsible for this increase. An important source for radiogenic Sr to the oceans may have been erosion of the Pan-African orogenic belt of southern Africa. The rapid change in paleoseawater Sr corresponds with an interval of highly variable marine 613C values. Model results for the Sr and C isotopic records suggest that the quasi-periodicity in the 6’“C record is not a consequence of direct erosional forcing. However, our inference of high erosion rates during the Tommotian- Atdabanian implies enhanced fluxes of nutrient elements such as P to the oceans. Phosphorite deposits and black shale deposition in coeval strata suggest that periods of high marine productivity and anoxia may be in part related to enhanced river dissolved fluxes. Our results thus provide some insight into environmental conditions during the ‘Cambrian explosion.’ 1. Introduction contributions to our understanding of Late Pro- terozoic and Cambrian stratigraphy and paleoen- Measurements of strontium isotopic composi- vironments. Beginning with the work of Veizer et tions of marine carbonates have made significant al. [l], several studies have shown that 87Sr/86Sr values in seawater rose rapidly in the Vendian, from values below 0.707 to values near 0.709 by the Cambrian [2-6]. This rapid change appears 1 Present address: Department of Geological Sciences, Cor- nell University, Ithaca, New York, NY 14853-1504, USA, be comparable to the Cenozoic increase in seawa- email: [email protected]. ter Sr isotopic ratio in both overall rate and 0012-821X/94/$07.00 0 1994 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved SSDI 0012-821X(94)00228-2 672 L.A. Derry et al. / Earth and Planetary Science Letters 128 (1994) 671-681 magnitude. The changes in the Sr isotopic com- position in both Cenozoic and Neoproterozoic Zone seawater appear to reflect increased erosion rates, Schistccephalus Dominant resulting from major continental collisions and \Anabaraspis lithologies orogeny during both eras [2,6,7]. The Neopro- splendens terozoic increase probably also reflects changes in Lomontovia the rate of seafloor hydrothermal input to the grandis oceans [1,2]. However, the relationship between Thin to medium orogenesis, erosion rate and seawater Sr isotopic 6 ketemensis beddedlimestone change is not completely understood. The Neo- B. ornata proterozoic-Cambrian transition offers a poten- Bergeromellus tial analog to the Cretaceous-Cenozoic interval asIaticus of increasing seawater 87Sr/86Sr ratio and, thus, Bergeroniellus may be used to test competing hypotheses for Q”WXll major Sr isotopic change in seawater [6]. 3 micmacciformis Judomla/ The Neoproterozoic Sr record has also been UMaspis limestones shown to be of great interest for interpreting Pagetiellus paleoenvironments during this key interval of anabarus Earth history [8]. Variations in globally averaged Fallotasois erosion/sedimentation rates are an important control in the cycling of nutrient elements and sedimentary carbon and, thus, appear to play a Medium to thick key role in controlling variations in both primary \ “Purella” bedded dolomite Anabarltes productivity and organic carbon burial [9]. Car- trwulatus bon isotope studies and the occurrence of sedi- mentary phosphorite deposits suggest that or- ganic carbon burial and phosphorous fluxes may have varied widely during the ‘Cambrian explo- Fig. 1. Composite stratigraphic column with biozones of sedi- mentary sections along the Lena River, Siberia [16,18]. Com- sion’ of the Lower to Middle Cambrian [10-16]. posite stratigraphic height (in meters) marked on right. Quantitative models of biogeochemical cycling in this remarkable interval require better constraints on erosion rates and weathering fluxes. have yielded a suite of sedimentary carbonate In this study we present Sr isotopic measure- samples suitable for isotope chemostratigraphy ments from a suite of carbonate samples from the [16,18]. Carbonate samples were selected for Lower and Middle Cambrian of the Siberian plat- analysis so as to provide good stratigraphic cover- form. Sediments of the Siberian platform have age through the Tommotian, Atdabanian, Boto- provided data for several recent studies of Pre- mian and’ Toyonian type sections (Fig. 1). Stable cambrian-Cambrian biostratigraphy, isotopic measurements made on a larger sample chemostratigraphy and geochronology [12,16-18]. set [16] were used to avoid the most obviously Our data help fill an important gap in the emerg- altered material (i.e. samples with 6”O < ing geochemical record of paleoenvironments - 10%~ were not chosen). Samples thus selected from the Neoproterozoic and Cambrian interval. were gently crushed, and clean fragments hand picked. These fragments were crushed to powder in a stainless steel mortar and ca. 20 mg was 2. Samples and methods dissolved in 10% ultrapure acetic acid. Insoluble residues were separated by centrifugation, dried Very gently dipping and little deformed strata and weighed. Sr was separated by standard ion along the Aldan and Lena Rivers of Siberia [19,20] exchange techniques and isotopic analyses were L.A. Derry et al. / Earth and Planetary Science Letters 128 (1994) 671-681 673 made on the Finnigan 262 mass spectrometer at the CRPG, Nancy. A further 200 mg of powder was dissolved as above, and Ca, Mg, Mn, Fe and Sr concentrations determined by atomic absorp- tion. 3. Results + No one geochemical or textural indicator has been shown to be an infallible test for the degree Age, Ma of preservation of primary Sr isotopic signatures Fig. 3. 87Sr/86Sr variations in Lower Cambrian carbonates of in ancient carbonates. In addition to petrographic the Siberian platform, plotted on the Lower Cambrian time- and stable isotopic screening, we use the relative scale of Bowring et al. [17]. Vertical dashed lines mark ages of abundances of Mn, Fe and Sr as indicators of stage boundaries as estimated by [17]. w = samples that meet geochemical selection criteria described in text; 0 = samples post-depositional alteration of the carbonates with elevated Fe/Sr and/or Mn/Sr values, which are consid- [1,8,21]. Samples with al80 < - 10%0 were not ered as altered. Values > 0.709 not shown. further analyzed; 87Sr/86Sr values are not corre- lated with 6”O in our sample subset (Fig. 2). CaO/MgO ratios permit the identification of dolomitized samples. All samples which show evi- dence of partial or complete dolomitization (CaO/MgO weight ratio < 8) have high Fe/Sr and Mn/Sr ratios and yield 87Sr/86Sr values consistently higher than coeval limestones (Table 1). Mn/Sr and Fe/Sr are well correlated in the limestones, consistent with previous results which suggest that these parameters are sensitive indi- cators of alteration of Sr isotopic values (Fig. 2). The percent dissolution is not correlated with 87Sr/86Sr ratios (Table 1). Based on the evalua- tion of these and other samples of similar age and environment [5,6,8] we have greatest confidence in 87Sr/86Sr values from samples that: (1) are not dolomitized; (2) have Mn/Sr I 0.6; and (3) have Fe/Sr < 3. However, we caution that this choice of parameters is largely empirical and somewhat arbitrary and the extent of alteration in each suite of samples must be evaluated indepen- dently. The Sr isotopic data are plotted on a time axis Mn/Sr (Fig. 3), using the Lower Cambrian time-scale Fig. 2. (a) s’s0 versus 87Sr/86Sr values for Lena River proposed by Bowring et al. [17]. It should be samples. (b) Fe/Sr versus Mn/Sr for carbonate samples. noted that, while the basal Nemakit Daldyn, basal Hatchured area outlines the region of apparently best pre- Tommotian and Atdabanian-Botomian bound- served samples for Sr isotopic analysis. High values of Fe/Sr aries are reasonably well dated, the age of the (> 5) and Mn/Sr (> 2) are primarily found in dolomitized samples (open symbols), but can also indicate alteration in Lower-Middle Cambrian boundary is at present limestones. not well known. An empirical subsidence curve Table 1 Analytical data for Lower Cambrian Lena River carbonates Sample Stratigraphic Location 87Sr/86Sr dissol. CaO MgO Mn Fe Sr Mn/Sr Fe/Sr CaO/ 6’3C 6’80