Reconstructing marine redox conditions for the transition between Cambrian Series 2 and Cambrian Series 3, Kaili area, Yangtze Platform: Evidence from biogenic sulfur and degree of pyritization

•The variability in δ34SCRS and DOP reflects different regional environmental conditions.•Positive δ34SCRS and high DOP around ∈2 and ∈3 boundary.•The closed system with lower sulfate availability across ∈2 and ∈3 interval.•Reflecting perturbation of sulfur cycle during ∈2 and ∈3 transition.

The transition between Series 2 and Series 3 of the Cambrian Period was a time of environmental perturbations and biological innovations. A generally positive sulfur isotopic composition of sedimentary pyrite with δ34Spyrite values between + 1.7 and + 37.3‰ is consistent with a biological origin via reduction of strongly 34S enriched seawater sulfate. No substantial changes in the redox conditions of the water column are discernible from the DOP record, and the sulfide sulfur isotopic composition is independent of DOP, in particular an excursion towards less 34S enriched values immediately preceding the proposed level of the Cambrian Series 2 to Cambrian Series 3 transition. This level is also characterized by a negative carbonate carbon isotope excursion, believed to reflect the transgressive flooding of the shelf with basinal anoxic waters. Low DOP values would suggest that these might have been ferruginous rather than sulfidic.