Phosphorus sources for phosphatic Cambrian carbonates

The fossilization of organic remains and shell material by calcium phosphate minerals provides an illuminating, but time-bounded, window into Ediacaran–Cambrian animal evolution. For reasons that remain unknown, phosphatic fossil preservation declined significantly through Cambrian Series 2. Here, we investigate the phosphorus (P) sources for phosphatic Cambrian carbonates, presenting sedimentological, petrographic, and geochemical data from the Cambrian Series 2–3 Thorntonia Limestone, Australia, some of the youngest Cambrian strata to display exceptional phosphatic preservation of small shelly fossils. We find that within Thorntonia sediments, phosphate was remobilized by organic decay and bacterial iron reduction, with subsequent reprecipitation largely as apatite within the interiors of small shelly fossils. We discuss the merits of bioclastic-derived, organic matter–bound, or iron-bound P as potential sources to these strata. Petrographic observations suggest that the dissolution of phosphatic skeletal material did not provide the P for fossil preservation. In contrast, high organic carbon contents imply significant organic fluxes of P to Thorntonia sediments. Sedimentology and iron-speciation data indicate that phosphorus enrichment occurred during times of expanded anoxic, ferruginous conditions in subsurface water masses, suggesting that phosphorus adsorption to iron minerals precipitating from the water column provided a second significant P source to Thorntonia sediments. Simple stoichiometric models suggest that, by themselves, neither organic carbon burial nor an iron shuttle can account for the observed phosphorus enrichment. Thus, we infer that both processes were necessary for the observed phosphorus enrichment and subsequent fossil preservation in the Thorntonia Limestone.Earth and Planetary Science

Radiolarians decreased silicification as an evolutionary response to reduced Cenozoic ocean silica availability

It has been hypothesized that increased water column stratification has been an abiotic “universal driver” affecting average cell size in Cenozoic marine plankton. Gradually decreasing Cenozoic radiolarian shell weight, by contrast, suggests that competition for dissolved silica, a shared nutrient, resulted in biologic coevolution between radiolaria and marine diatoms, which expanded dramatically in the Cenozoic. We present data on the 2 components of shell weight change—size and silicification—of Cenozoic radiolarians. In low latitudes, increasing Cenozoic export of silica to deep waters by diatoms and decreasing nutrient upwelling from increased water column stratification have created modern silica-poor surface waters. Here, radiolarian silicification decreases significantly (r = 0.91, P < 0.001), from ≈0.18 (shell volume fraction) in the basal Cenozoic to modern values of ≈0.06. A third of the total change occurred rapidly at 35 Ma, in correlation to major increases in water column stratification and abundance of diatoms. In high southern latitudes, Southern Ocean circulation, present since the late Eocene, maintains significant surface water silica availability. Here, radiolarian silicification decreased insignificantly (r = 0.58, P = 0.1), from ≈0.13 at 35 Ma to 0.11 today. Trends in shell size in both time series are statistically insignificant and are not correlated with each other. We conclude that there is no universal driver changing cell size in Cenozoic marine plankton. Furthermore, biologic and physical factors have, in concert, by reducing silica availability in surface waters, forced macroevolutionary changes in Cenozoic low-latitude radiolarians

Phosphorus sources for phosphatic Cambrian carbonates

The fossilization of organic remains and shell material by calcium phosphate minerals provides an illuminating, but time-bounded, window into Ediacaran–Cambrian animal evolution. For reasons that remain unknown, phosphatic fossil preservation declined signifi cantly through Cambrian Series 2. Here, we investigate the phosphorus (P) sources for phosphatic Cambrian carbonates, presenting sedimentological, petrographic, and geochemical data from the Cambrian Series 2–3 Thorntonia Limestone, Australia, some of the youngest Cambrian strata to display exceptional phosphatic preservation of small shelly fossils. We fi nd that within Thorntonia sediments, phosphate was remobilized by organic decay and bacterial iron reduction, with subsequent reprecipitation largely as apatite within the interiors of small shelly fossils. We discuss the merits of bioclastic-derived, organic matter–bound, or iron-bound P as potential sources to these strata. Petrographic observations suggest that the dissolution of phosphatic skeletal material did not provide the P for fossil preservation. In contrast, high organic carbon contents imply signifi cant organic fl uxes of P to Thorntonia sediments. Sedimentology and iron-speciation data indicate that phosphorus enrichment occurred during times of expanded anoxic, ferruginous conditions in subsurface water masses, suggesting that phosphorus adsorption to iron minerals precipitating from the water column provided a second signifi cant P source to Thorntonia sediments. Simple stoichiometric models suggest that, by themselves, neither organic carbon burial nor an iron shuttle can account for the observed phosphorus enrichment. Thus, we infer that both processes were necessary for the observed phosphorus enrichment and subsequent fossil preservation in the Thorntonia Limestone