A unifying model for Neoproterozoic-Palaeozoic exceptional fossil preservation through pyritization and carbonaceous compression

Nature Communications

Volumn 5, Issue , 2014, Pages

  Schiffbauer, James D ^a   Xiao, Shuhai ^b   Cai, Yaoping ^c   Wallace, Adam F ^d   Hua, Hong ^c   Hunter, Jerry ^b   Xu, Huifang ^e   Peng, Yongbo ^f   Kaufman, Alan J ^g  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI   (United States)

^b VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY   (China)

^d UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE   (United States)

^e UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON   (United States)

^f INDIANA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^g Bldg 142   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CARBON; PYRITE; SULFATE; CARBONIC ACID DERIVATIVE; IRON; SULFIDE;

BIODEGRADATION; CAMBRIAN; COMPRESSION; EDIACARAN; FOSSIL; FOSSILIZATION; GEOCHEMICAL SURVEY; MICROBIAL ACTIVITY; NUCLEATION; PRESERVATION; PYRITE; REDUCTION; SEDIMENTATION RATE; SULFATE; TAPHONOMY;

ARTICLE; BIOTA; COMPRESSION; DEGRADATION; EDIACARAN; FOSSIL; NEOPROTEROZOIC; NONHUMAN; PALEOZOIC; PRECIPITATION; REDUCTION; SEDIMENT; SEDIMENTATION RATE; SOFT TISSUE; ANALYSIS; ANIMAL; CHEMISTRY; CHINA; EVOLUTION; GRAM NEGATIVE ANAEROBIC BACTERIA; OXIDATION REDUCTION REACTION; PHYSIOLOGY; PRESERVATION; PRESSURE;

CHINA; GAOJIASHAN; SHAANXI;

ANIMALIA; BACTERIA (MICROORGANISMS);

ANIMALS; BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION; CARBONATES; CHINA; FOSSILS; GEOLOGIC SEDIMENTS; IRON; OXIDATION-REDUCTION; PRESERVATION, BIOLOGICAL; PRESSURE; SULFIDES; SULFUR-REDUCING BACTERIA;

EID: 84922748374     PISSN: None     EISSN: 20411723     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6754     Document Type: Article

References (67)

1. Cai, Y., Schiffbauer, J. D., Hua, H. & Xiao, S. Preservational modes in the Ediacaran Gaojiashan Lagerstätte: pyritization, aluminosilicification, and carbonaceous compression. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 326-328, 109-117 (2012).
2. Briggs, D. E. G. The role of decay and mineralization in the preservation of softbodied fossils. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 31, 275-301 (2003).
3. Seilacher, A. Begriff and bedeutung der Fossil-Lagerstätten. N. Jb. Geol. Palaontol. Abh. 1970, 34-39 (1970).
4. Allison, P. A. & Briggs, D. E. G. Exceptional fossils record: distribution of softtissue preservation through the Phanerozoic. Geology 21, 527-530 (1993).
5. Schiffbauer, J. D. & Laflamme, M. Lagerstätten through time: a collection of exceptional preservational pathways from the terminal Proterozoic through today. Palaios 27, 275-278 (2012).
6. Butterfield, N. J. Exceptional fossil preservation and the Cambrian Explosion. Integr. Comp. Biol. 43, 166-177 (2003).
7. Xiao, S. & Schiffbauer, J. D. in From Fossils to Astrobiology: Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology (eds Seckbach, J. & Walsh, M.) 89-118 (Springer, 2009).
8. Canfield, D. E. & Raiswell, R. in Taphonomy; releasing the data locked in the fossil record (eds Allison, Peter A. & Briggs, Derek E. G.) 337-387 (Plenum Press, 1991).
9. Briggs, D. E. G., Raiswell, R., Bottrell, S. H., Hatfield, D. & Bartels, C. Controls on the pyritization of exceptionally preserved fossils: an analysis of the Lower Devonian Hunsrueck Slate of Germany. Am. J. Sci. 296, 633-663 (1996).
10. Cai, Y. & Hua, H. Pyritization in the Gaojiashan Biota. Chinese Sci. Bull. 52, 645-650 (2007).
11. Cai, Y., Hua, H., Xiao, S., Schiffbauer, J. D. & Li, P. Biostratinomy of the late Ediacaran pyritized Gaojiashan Lagerstätte from southern Shaanxi, South China: importance of event deposits. Palaios 25, 487-506 (2010).
12. Gabbott, S. E., Hou, X. G., Norry, M. J. & Siveter, D. J. Preservation of Early Cambrian animals of the Chengjiang biota. Geology 32, 901-904 (2004).
13. Farrell,U. C., Briggs, D. E. G., Hammarlund, E. H., Sperling, E. A. & Gaines, R. R. Paleoredox and pyritization of soft-bodied fossils in the Ordovician Frankfort Shale of New York. Am. J. Sci. 313, 452-489 (2013).
14. Raiswell, R. et al. Turbidite depositional influences on the diagenesis of Beecher's Trilobite Bed and the Hunsruck Slate; sites of soft tissue pyritization. Am. J. Sci. 308, 105-129 (2008).
15. Gaines, R. R. et al. Burgess shale-type biotas were not entirely burrowed away. Geology 40, 283-286 (2012).
16. Orr, P. J., Briggs, D. E. G. & Kearns, S. L. Cambrian Burgess Shale animals replicated in clay minerals. Science 281, 1173-1175 (1998).
17. Petrovich, R. Mechanisms of fossilization of the soft-bodied and lightly armored faunas of the Burgess Shale and of some other classical localities. Am. J. Sci. 301, 683-726 (2001).
18. Gaines, R. R. et al. Mechanism for Burgess Shale-type preservation. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 109, 5180-5184 (2012).
19. Butterfield, N. J. Does cement-induced sulfate limitation account for Burgess Shale-type preservation? Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 109, E1901 (2012).
20. Xiao, S., Yuan, X., Steiner, M. & Knoll, A. H. Macroscopic carbonaceous compressions in a terminal Proterozoic shale: a systematic reassessment of the Miaohe biota, South China. J. Paleontol. 76, 345-374 (2002).
21. Anderson, E. P., Schiffbauer, J. D. & Xiao, S. Taphonomic study of organicwalled microfossils confirms the importance of clay minerals and pyrite in Burgess Shale-type preservation. Geology 39, 643-646 (2011).
22. Gaines, R. R., Briggs, D. E. G. & Yuanlong, Z. Cambrian Burgess Shale-type deposits share a common mode of fossilization. Geology 36, 755-758 (2008).
23. Van Roy, P. et al. Ordovician faunas of Burgess Shale type. Nature 465, 215-218 (2010).
24. Lin, J.-P. & Briggs, D. E. G. Burgess Shale-type preservation: a comparison of Naraoiids (Arthropoda) from three Cambrian localities. Palaios 25, 463-467 (2010).
25. Fike, D. A. & Grotzinger, J. P. A paired sulfate-pyrite d34S approach to understanding the evolution of the Ediacaran-Cambrian sulfur cycle. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 72, 2636-2648 (2008).
26. Lin, S., Zhang, Y., Zhang, L., Tao, X. & Wang, M. Body and trace fossils of metazoa and algal macrofossils from the upper Sinian Gaojiashan Formation in southern Shaanxi. Geol. Shaanxi 4, 9-17 (1986).
27. Farrell, U. C., Martin, M. J., Hagadorn, J. W., Whiteley, T. & Briggs, D. E. G. Beyond Beecher's Trilobite Bed: widespread pyritization of soft tissues in the Late Ordovician Taconic foreland basin. Geology 37, 907-910 (2009).
28. Cai, Y., Schiffbauer, J. D., Hua, H. & Xiao, S. Morphology and paleoecology of the late Ediacaran tubular fossil Conotubus hemiannulatus from the Gaojiashan Lagerstätte of southern Shaanxi Province, South China. Precambrian Res. 191, 46-57 (2011).
29. Bartels, C., Briggs, D. E. G. & Brassel, G. The Fossils of the Hunsrück Slate: Marine Life in the Devonian 309 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998).
30. Bergström, J., Briggs, D. E. G., Dahl, E., Rolfe, W. D. I. & Stürmer, W. Nahecaris stuertzi, a phyllocarid crustacean from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate. Palaöntologische Zeitschrift 61, 273-298 (1987).
31. Raiswell, R., Whaler, K., Dean, S., Coleman, M. L. & Briggs, D. E. G. A simple three-dimensional model of diffusion-with-precipitation applied to localised pyrite formation in framboids, fossils and detrital iron minerals. Mar. Geol. 113, 89-100 (1993).
32. Xiao, S., Schiffbauer, J. D., McFadden, K. A. & Hunter, J. Petrographic and SIMS pyrite sulfur isotope analyses of Ediacaran chert nodules: implications for microbial processes in pyrite rim formation, silicification, and exceptional fossil preservation. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 297, 481-495 (2010).
33. Berner, R. A. Sedimentary pyrite formation: an update. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 48, 605-615 (1984).
34. Wallace, A. F., De Yoreo, J. J. & Dove, P. M. Kinetics of silica nucleation on carboxyl-and amine-terminated surfaces: insights for biomineralization. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 5244-5250 (2009).
35. Giuffre, A. J., Hamm, L. M., Han, N., De Yoreo, J. J. & Dove, P. M. Polysaccharide chemistry regulates kinetics of calcite nucleation through competition of interfacial energies. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 9261-9266 (2013).
36. Wood, T. L. & Garrels, R. M. Thermodynamic Values at Low Temperature for Natural Inorganic Materials (Oxford Univ. Press, 1987).
37. Boudreau, B. P. & Canfield, D. E. A provisional diagenetic model for pH in anoxic porewaters. J. Mar. Res. 46, 429-455 (1988).
38. Middelburg, J. J. A simple rate model for organic matter decomposition in marine sediments. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 53, 3581-3595 (1989).
39. Canfield, D. E. & Raiswell, R. in Taphonomy: Releasing the Data Locked in the Fossil Record, Volume 9 of Topics in Geobiology (eds Allison, P. A. & Briggs, D. E. G.) 411-453 (Plenum Press, 1991).
40. Zhang, F., Yan, C., Teng, H., Roden, E. E. & Xu, H. In situ AFM observations of Ca-Mg carbonate crystallization catalyzed by dissolved sulfide: Implications for sedimentary dolomite formation. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 105, 44-55 (2013).
41. Braissant, O. et al. Exopolymeric substances of sulfate-reducing bacteria: Interactions with calcium at alkaline pH and implication for formation of carbonate minerals. Geobiology 5, 401-411 (2007).
42. Habicht, K. S. & Canfield, D. E. Isotope fractionation by sulfatereducing natural populations and the isotopic composition of sulfide in marine sediments. Geology 29, 555-558 (2001).
43. Li, C. et al. A stratified redox model for the Ediacaran ocean. Science 328, 80-83 (2010).
44. Raiswell, R. & Berner, R. A. Pyrite and organic matter in Phanerozoic normal marine shales. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 50, 1967-1976 (1986).
45. Canfield, D. E., Raiswell, R. & Bottrell, S. H. The reactivity of sedimentary iron minerals toward sulfide. Am. J. Sci. 292, 659-683 (1992).
46. Berner, R. A. A new geochemical classification of sedimentary environments. J. Sediment. Petrol. 51, 359-365 (1981).
47. Rickard, D. & Luther, III G. W. Chemistry of iron sulfides. Chem. Rev. 107, 514-562 (2007).
48. Konhauser, K. O. Introduction to Geomicrobiology (Blackwell Publishing, 2007).
49. Allison, P. A. & Briggs, D. E. G. Burgess Shale biotas; burrowed away? Lethaia 26, 184-185 (1993).
50. Orr, P. J., Benton, M. J. & Briggs, D. E. G. Post-Cambrian closure of the deep-water slope-basin taphonomic window. Geology 31, 769-772 (2003).
51. Condon, D. et al. U-Pb ages from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation, China. Science 308, 95-98 (2005).
52. Bowring, S. A. et al. Geochronologic constraints on the chronostratgraphic framework of the Neoproterozoic Huqf Supergroup, Sultanate of Oman. Am. J. Sci. 307, 1097-1145 (2007).
53. Cai, Y., Hua, H., Schiffbauer, J. D., Sun, B. & Xiao, S. Tube growth patterns and microbial mat-related lifestyles in the Ediacaran fossil Cloudina, Gaojiashan Lagerstätte, South China. Gondwana Res. 25, 1008-1018 (2014).
54. Chen, Z., Bengtson, S., Zhou, C., Hua, H. & Yue, Z. Tube structure and original composition of Sinotubulites: Shelly fossils from the late Neoproterozoic in southern Shaanxi, China. Lethaia 41, 37-45 (2008).
55. Hua, H., Chen, Z. & Yuan, X. The advent of mineralized skeletons in Neoproterozoic Metazoa: new fossil evidence from the Gaojiashan Fauna. Geol. J. 42, 263-279 (2007).
56. Hua, H., Chen, Z., Yuan, X., Xiao, S. & Cai, Y. The earliest Foraminifera from southern Shaanxi, China. Sci. China D 53, 1756-1764 (2010).
57. Hua, H., Chen, Z., Yuan, X., Zhang, L. & Xiao, S. Skeletogenesis and asexual reproduction in the earliest biomineralizing animal Cloudina. Geology 33, 277-280 (2005).
58. Hua, H., Pratt, B. R. & Zhang, L. Borings in Cloudina shells: complex predatorprey dynamics in the terminal Neoproterozoic. Palaios 18, 454-459 (2003).
59. Meyer, M., Schiffbauer, J. D., Xiao, S., Cai, Y. & Hua, H. Taphonomy of the late Ediacaran enigmatic ribbon-like fossil Shaanxilithes. Palaios 27, 354-372 (2012).
60. Zhang, P., Hua, H. & Liu, W. Isotopic and REE evidence for the paleoenvironmental evolution of the late Ediacaran Dengying Section, Ningqiang of Shaanxi Province, China. Precambrian. Res. 242, 96-111 (2014).
61. Ault, W. V. & Jensen, M. L. in Biogeochemistry of Sulfur Isotopes: National Science Foundation Symposium Proceedings. (ed. Jensen, M. L.) 16-29 (Yale Univ. Press, 1962).
62. Crowe, D. E. & Vaughan, R. G. Characterization and use of isotopically homogeneous standards for in situ laser microprobe analysis of 34S/32S ratios. Am. Mineral. 81, 187-193 (1996).
63. Kohn, M. J., Riciputi, L. R., Stakes, D. & Orange, D. L. Sulfur isotope variability in biogenic pyrites: reflections of heterogeneous bacterial colonization? Am. Mineral. 83, 1454-1468 (1998).
64. Wotte, T., Shields-Zhou, G. A. & Strauss, H. Carbonate-associated sulfate: experimental comparisons of common extraction methods and recommendations toward a standard analytical protocol. Chem. Geol. 326, 132-144 (2012).
65. Bao, H. Purifying barite for oxygen isotope measurement by dissolution and reprecipitation in a chelating solution. Anal. Chem. 78, 304-309 (2006).
66. Canfield, D. E., Raiswell, R., Westrich, J. T., Reaves, C. M. & Berner, R. A. The use of chromium reduction in the analysis of reduced inorganic sulfur in sediments and shale. Chem. Geol. 54, 149-155 (1986).
67. Froelich, P. N. Early oxidation of organic matter in pelagic sediments of the eastern equitorial Atlantic: Suboxic diagenesis. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 43, 1075-1090 (1979).