Recurrent photic zone euxinia limited ocean oxygenation and animal evolution during the Ediacaran

Wang Zheng, Anwen Zhou, Swapan K. Sahoo (), Morrison R. Nolan, Chadlin M. Ostrander, Ruoyu Sun, Ariel D. Anbar, Shuhai Xiao and Jiubin Chen ()
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Wang Zheng: Institute of Surface-Earth System Science, Tianjin University
Anwen Zhou: Institute of Surface-Earth System Science, Tianjin University
Swapan K. Sahoo: Equinor US
Morrison R. Nolan: Virginia Tech
Chadlin M. Ostrander: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Ruoyu Sun: Institute of Surface-Earth System Science, Tianjin University
Ariel D. Anbar: Arizona State University
Shuhai Xiao: Virginia Tech
Jiubin Chen: Institute of Surface-Earth System Science, Tianjin University

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract The Ediacaran Period (~635–539 Ma) is marked by the emergence and diversification of complex metazoans linked to ocean redox changes, but the processes and mechanism of the redox evolution in the Ediacaran ocean are intensely debated. Here we use mercury isotope compositions from multiple black shale sections of the Doushantuo Formation in South China to reconstruct Ediacaran oceanic redox conditions. Mercury isotopes show compelling evidence for recurrent and spatially dynamic photic zone euxinia (PZE) on the continental margin of South China during time intervals coincident with previously identified ocean oxygenation events. We suggest that PZE was driven by increased availability of sulfate and nutrients from a transiently oxygenated ocean, but PZE may have also initiated negative feedbacks that inhibited oxygen production by promoting anoxygenic photosynthesis and limiting the habitable space for eukaryotes, hence abating the long-term rise of oxygen and restricting the Ediacaran expansion of macroscopic oxygen-demanding animals.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39427-z

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