A highly redox-heterogeneous ocean in South China during the early Cambrian (∼529-514 Ma): Implications for biota-environment co-evolution

•We study Fe-S-C-Al-trace element data from eight early-Cambrian sections from South China.•We found a low sulfate and highly redox-heterogeneous ocean in South China in early Cambrian.•We found a clear pattern that more complex biotas lived in more oxygenated waters by comparison.•We propose that the “Cambrian Explosion” was likely a consequence of local oceanic oxygenation.•Our results suggest that the influence of animals on early Cambrian ocean chemistry was limited.

The “Cambrian Explosion” is known for rapid increases in the morphological disparity and taxonomic diversity of metazoans. It has been widely proposed that this biological event was a consequence of oxygenation of the global ocean, but this hypothesis is still under debate. Here, we present high-resolution Fe-S-C-Al-trace element geochemical records from the Jinsha (outer shelf) and Weng'an (outer shelf) sections of the early Cambrian Yangtze Platform, integrating these results with previously published data from six correlative sections representing a range of water depths (Xiaotan, Shatan, Dingtai, Yangjiaping, Songtao, and Longbizui). The integrated iron chemistry and redox-sensitive trace element data suggest that euxinic mid-depth waters dynamically coexisted with oxic surface waters and ferruginous deep waters during the earliest Cambrian, but that stepwise expansion of oxic waters commenced during Cambrian Stage 3 (∼521-514Ma). Combined with data from lower Cambrian sections elsewhere, including Oman, Iran and Canada, we infer that the global ocean exhibited a high degree of redox heterogeneity during the early Cambrian, consistent with low atmospheric oxygen levels (∼10-40% of present atmospheric level, or PAL). A large spatial gradient in pyrite sulfur isotopic compositions (δ34Spy), which vary from a mean of −12.0‰ in nearshore areas to +22.5‰ in distal deepwater sections in lower Cambrian marine units of South China imply low concentrations and spatial heterogeneity of seawater sulfate, which is consistent with a limited oceanic sulfate reservoir globally. By comparing our reconstructed redox chemistry with fossil records from the lower Cambrian of South China, we infer that a stepwise oxygenation of shelf and slope environments occurred concurrently with a gradual increase in ecosystem complexity. However, deep waters remained anoxic and ferruginous even as macrozooplankton and suspension-feeding mesozooplankton appeared during Cambrian Stage 3. These findings suggest that the “Cambrian Explosion” in South China may have been primarily a consequence of locally improved oxygenation of the ocean-surface layer rather than of the full global ocean. Our observations are inconsistent with predicted changes in ocean chemistry driven by early Cambrian animals, suggesting that the influence of early Cambrian animals on contemporaneous ocean chemistry, as proposed in previous studies, may be overly exaggerated.