Geological Society of America

T214 Life's Innovations from the Early Earth to the Search on Modern Mars II: Honoring the Career of Andrew H. Knoll

Wednesday, 13 October 2021
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Portland Ballroom 255 (Hybrid Room)

BIO- AND CHEMOSTRATIGRAPHY OF THE KROL A FORMATION IN LESSER HIMALAYA, INDIA: EARLY EDIACARAN EUKARYOTE EVOLUTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

Paper number: T214-8
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:40 AM – 9:55 AM

Authors

Shuhai Xiao Presenting Author
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Ganqing Jiang
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV
Qin Ye
China University of Geosciences, Wuhan
Qing Ouyang
Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Center for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Nanjing
Dhiraj M. Banerjee
University of Delhi, Delhi
Birendra P. Singh
Panjab University, Chandigarh
Chuanming Zhou
Nanjing Institute of Geology, Palaeontology, and Center for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing
Nigel Hughes
University of California, Riverside, CA

Abstract

The Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze craton of South China and Krol Group in the Lesser Himalaya of northern India archive the best paleontological and geochemical records to establish lower Ediacaran chronostratigraphy for global correlation, and to understand biological and environmental evolution after the terminal Cryogenian snowball Earth. Whereas the Doushantuo Formation has been intensively investigated using integrative approaches, there have only been isolated studies of the Krol Group—despite strong and persistent stratigraphic and biotic similarity between deposits of South China and the Lesser Himalaya through Ediacaran and lower Cambrian, thus impeding the development of both a regional and global picture. In this study, we carried out an integrative bio- and chemostratigraphic study of the Krol A Formation in the Solan area of northern India. We identified a prominent negative δ¹³C excursion and over a dozen species of acanthomorphic acritarchs from the Krol A Formation, including species belonging to the genera Appendisphaera, Cavaspina, Cymatiosphaeroides, Mengeosphaera, Tanarium, and Weissiella. Together with previous report of Tianzhushania from the underlying Infra-Krol Formation in the Lesser Himalaya and strata within a few meters above the basal Doushantuo cap dolostone in South China, the new data indicate that the negative δ¹³C excursion in Krol A likely correlates with the negative δ¹³C excursion EN2 in the lower Doushantuo Formation in South China. This correlation is consistent with Krol A acanthomorph species, most of which are also present in the lower Doushantuo Formation (e.g., upper part of member II in the Yangtze Gorges area and the Weng’an biota in Guizhou Province). The Indian data affirm the biostratigraphic significance of acanthomorphs, clarify key issues of lower Ediacaran bio- and chemostratigraphic correlation, and strengthen the global picture of eukaryote radiation after the Cryogenian snowball Earth glaciation.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 53, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2021AM-366131

© Copyright 2021 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.