Abstract
Metazoans are likely to have their roots in the Cryogenian period1,2,3, but there is a marked increase in the appearance of novel animal and algae fossils shortly after the termination of the late Cryogenian (Marinoan) glaciation about 635 million years ago4,5,6. It has been suggested that an oxygenation event in the wake of the severe Marinoan glaciation was the driving factor behind this early diversification of metazoans and the shift in ecosystem complexity7,8. But there is little evidence for an increase in oceanic or atmospheric oxygen following the Marinoan glaciation, or for a direct link between early animal evolution and redox conditions in general9. Models linking trends in early biological evolution to shifts in Earth system processes thus remain controversial10. Here we report geochemical data from early Ediacaran organic-rich black shales (∼635–630 million years old) of the basal Doushantuo Formation in South China. High enrichments of molybdenum and vanadium and low pyrite sulphur isotope values (Δ34S values ≥65 per mil) in these shales record expansion of the oceanic inventory of redox-sensitive metals and the growth of the marine sulphate reservoir in response to a widely oxygenated ocean. The data provide evidence for an early Ediacaran oxygenation event, which pre-dates the previous estimates for post-Marinoan oxygenation11,12,13 by more than 50 million years. Our findings seem to support a link between the most severe glaciations in Earth’s history, the oxygenation of the Earth’s surface environments, and the earliest diversification of animals.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the National Science Foundation Division of Earth Science, NASA Astrobiology programme and National Natural Science Foundation of China. We are grateful to S. Xiao for input, discussions and editing the palaeontological text. We thank C. Reinhard, G. Love, A. Mix, J. Morford, D. Adams, J. Owens, C. Li and L. Och for discussions and S. Bates, G. Gordon and J. Owens for assistance with laboratory analyses. We thank M. Wille for comments and suggestions.
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The research was planned by G.J., T.W.L., A.D.A., X.S., S.K.S., N.J.P., B.K. and X.W. Samples were collected by S.K.S., X.W. and G.J. The manuscript was prepared by S.K.S., N.J.P. and G.J., with important contributions from all co-authors. Analyses were carried out by S.K.S. with contributions from N.J.P. and B.K.
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Sahoo, S., Planavsky, N., Kendall, B. et al. Ocean oxygenation in the wake of the Marinoan glaciation. Nature 489, 546–549 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11445
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11445
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