Carbonate δ13C chemostratigraphy of the Hunjiang Group in North China and a tentative stratigraphic framework for the Meso-Neoproterozoic transition

Abstract

A robust stratigraphic framework for the Meso-Neoproterozoic transition is necessary for a better understanding of evolutionary and environmental changes during this critical geological time interval. Given the limited availability of radiometric and biostratigraphic data from late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic strata, chemostratigraphic correlations have been used to build this framework. To contribute to Proterozoic chemostratigraphy, here we report new carbonate carbon isotope data from the Hunjiang Group in the Baishan area of Jilin Province in North China. The carbon isotope data (average 3.00 ‰ ± 1.15 ‰, 1 SD), together with existing detrital zircon constraints and microfossils, confirm a late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic age of the Hunjiang Group. Using the dynamic time warping algorithm, we then constructed a global chemostratigraphic framework for the Meso-Neoproterozoic transition based on δ¹³C_carb data from the North China, São Francisco, and Congo cratons. This exercise confirms the generally narrow range of δ¹³C_carb fluctuations in the late Mesoproterozoic but also substantiates a negative δ¹³C_carb excursion of notable magnitude (∼9 ‰) and of potential global extent at ca. 1 Ga. This negative excursion, known as the Majiatun excursion, likely marks the Meso-Neoproterozoic transition and the onset of the dynamic carbon cycle in the Neoproterozoic Era.