1. Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources Research, CAS; Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; 2. Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, PetroChina Huabei Oilfield Company, Cangzhou 062552, China
Abstract A continuous Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) section has been found and studied for the first time in Xiushui, Jiangxi Province, South China. Evidence for a large sea-level fall has been found in the horizon of 0.8 m below the PTB, from the beginning of Hindeodus changxingensis zone (correlatable to Hindeodus typicalis Zone of the Meishan section). Sedimentary record indicates that the sea level kept at lowstand, or occasionally rose slowly during the whole Hindeodus parvus zone, except another substantial sea-level fall in early H. parvus zone. It began a quick rise from the beginning of Isarcicella staeschei zone, kept rising for the whole I. staeschei zone, and probably caused the stagnation of sea water.
The first severe change in the biota, marked by the sudden disappearance of all stenotropic organisms such as fusulinids and dasycladacians, happened at the same time as the first sea-level fall, and is regarded as the first and main episode of the end-Permian mass extinction in this area. A microbe-dominated biota followed the first extinction, and spanned the late H. changxingensis zone and the whole H. parvus zone. All the microbes and some other eurytropic organisms including gastropods and ostracods disappeared at the end of the H. parvus zone, and the following biota in the I. staeschei zone is very simple.
The coevality of the main sea-level fall and the main extinction episode might be causal: both of them might be caused by a drastic climatic cooling.
Fund:This work was supported by the National Natural Scientific Foundation of China (Nos. 40472015 and 40802001), the State Key Laboratory of Modern Paleontology and Stratigraphy (No. 083113), the postdoctoral funds of China (No. 20070420523), and the State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources (GPMR2007-01).
Ya-Sheng Wu,Xiao-Hong Yuan,Hong-Xia Jiang et al. Coevality of the sea-level fall and main mass extinction in the Permian-Triassic transition in Xiushui, Jiangxi Province, southern China[J]. , 2014, 3(2): 309-322.
Ya-Sheng Wu,Xiao-Hong Yuan,Hong-Xia Jiang et al. Coevality of the sea-level fall and main mass extinction in the Permian-Triassic transition in Xiushui, Jiangxi Province, southern China[J]. Journal of Palaeogeography, 2014, 3(2): 309-322.
Adachi, N., Ezaki, Y., Liu, J. B., 2004. The fabrics and origins of peloids immediately after the end-Permian extinction, Guizhou Province, South China. Sedimentary Geology, 164(1-2): 161-178.
Algeo, T. J., Hannigan, R., Rowe, H., Brookfield, M., Baud, A., Krystyn, L., Ellwood, B. B., 2007. Sequencing events across the Permian-Triassic boundary, Guryul Ravine (Kashmir, India). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 252(1-2): 328-346.
Arenas, C., Alonso Zarza, A. M., Pardo, G., 1999. Dedolomitization and other early diagenetic processes in Miocene lacustrine deposits, Ebro Basin (Spain). Sedimentary Geology, 125(1-2): 23-45.
Benton, M. J., Tverdokhlebov, V. P., Surkov, M. V., 2004. Ecosystem remodelling among vertebrates at the Permian-Triassic boundary in Russia. Nature, 432(7013): 97-100.
Cao, C. Q., Love, G. D., Hays, L. E., Wang, W., Shen, S. Z., Summons, R. E., 2009. Biogeochemical evidence for euxinic oceans and ecological disturbance presaging the end-Permian mass extinction event. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 281(3-4): 188-201.
Chen, Z. Q., Kaiho, K., George, A. D., Tong, J. N., 2006. Survival brachiopod faunas of the end-Permian mass extinction from the southern Alps (Italy) and South China. Geological Magazine, 143(3): 301-327.
Collin, P. Y., Kershaw, S., Crasquin-Soleau, S., Feng, Q. L., 2009. Facies changes and diagenetic processes across the Permian-Triassic boundary event horizon, Great Bank of Guizhou, South China: A controversy of erosion and dissolution. Sedimentology, 56(3): 677-693.
deGroot, K., 1967. Experimental dedolomitization. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 37(4): 1216-1220.
Erwin, D. H., 1993. The Great Paleozoic Crisis: Life and Death in the Permian. New York: Columbia University Press, 1-327.
Ezaki, Y., Liu, J. B., Adachi, N., 2003. Earliest Triassic microbialite micro- to megastructures in the Huaying area of Sichuan Province, South China: Implications for the nature of oceanic conditions after the end-Permian extinction. Palaios, 18(4-5): 388-402.
Ezaki, Y., Liu, J. B., Nagano, T., Adachi, N., 2008. Geobiological aspects of the earliest Triassic microbialites along the southern periphery of the tropical Yangtze Platform: Initiation and cessation of a microbial regime. Palaios, 23(6): 356-369.
Farabegoli, E., Perri, M. C., Posenato, R., 2007. Environmental and biotic changes across the Permian-Triassic boundary in western Tethys: The Bulla parastratotype, Italy. Global and Planetary Change, 55(1-3): 109-135.
Feng, Q. L., He, W. H., Gu, S. Z., Meng, Y. Y., Jin, Y. X., Zhang, F., 2007. Radiolarian evolution during the latest Permian in South China. Global and Planetary Change, 55(1-3): 177-192.
Haas, J., Dem��ny, A., Hips, K., Zajzon, N., Weiszburg, T. G., Sudar, M., P��lfy, J., 2007. Biotic and environmental changes in the Permian-Triassic boundary interval recorded on a western Tethyan ramp in the B��kk Mountains, Hungary. Global and Planetary Change, 55(1-3): 136-154.
He, W. H., 2005. Brachiopod miniaturization in the Permian-Triassic life crisis in South China. Albertiana, 33(1): 37-38.
Heydari, E., Hassanzadeh, J., Wade, W. J., Ghazi, A. M., 2003. Permian-Triassic boundary interval in the Abadeh section of Iran with implications for mass extinction: Part 1 - Sedimentology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 193(3-4): 405-423.
Hs��, K. J., Siegenthaler, C., 1969. Preliminary experiments on hydrodynamic movement induced by evaporation and their bearing on the dolomite problem. Sedimentology, 12 (1-2): 11-25.
Illing, L. V., Wells, A. J., Taylor, J. C. M., 1965. Penecontemporary dolomite in the Persian Gulf. In: Pray, L. C., Murray, R. C., (eds). Dolomitization and Limestone Diagenesis. SEPM Special Publications, 13: 89-111.
Jiang, H. X., Wu, Y. S., 2007a. Origin of microbialite-like dendroid rocks in the Permian-Triassic boundary section in Xiushui, Jiangxi Province. Geological Review, 53(3): 323-328 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Jiang, H. X., Wu, Y. S., 2007b. Restudy of the microbialite from the Permian-Triassic boundary section, Chongqing. Acta Petrologica Sinica, 23(5): 1189-1196 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Jiang, H. X., Wu, Y. S., 2013. Diagenesis of the microbialites in the Permian-Triassic boundary section at Laolongdong, Chongqing, South China. Journal of Palaeogeography, 2(2): 183-191.
Jin, Y. G., Wang, Y., Wang, W., Shang, Q. H., Cao, C. Q., Erwin, D. H., 2000. Pattern of marine mass extinction near the Permian-Triassic boundary in South China. Science, 289(5478): 432-436.
Kenny, R., 1992. Origin of disconformity dedolomite in the Martin Formation (Late Devonian, Northern Arizona). Sedimentary Geology, 78(1-2): 137-146.
Kershaw, S., Zhang, T. S., Lan, G. Z., 1999. A ?microbiolite carbonate crust at the Permian-Triassic boundary in South China, and its palaeoenvironmental significance. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 146(1-4): 1-18.
Kershaw, S., Guo, L., Swift, A., Fan, J. S., 2002. ?Microbialites in the Permian-Triassic boundary interval in central China: Structure, age and distribution. Facies, 47(1): 83-89.
Kershaw, S., Li, Y., Crasquin-Soleau, S., Feng, Q. L., Mu, X. N., Collin, P. Y., Reynolds, A., Guo, L., 2007. Earliest Triassic microbialites in the South China block and other areas: Controls on their growth and distribution. Facies, 53(3): 409-425.
Kershaw, S., Crasquin, S., Forel, M. B., Randon, C., Collin, P. Y., Kosun, E., Richoz, S., Baud, A., 2011. Earliest Triassic microbialites in ?��r��k Dag, southern Turkey: Composition, sequences and controls on formation. Sedimentology, 58(3): 739-755.
Kershaw, S., Crasquin, S., Li, Y., Collin, P. Y., Forel, M. B., Mu, X. N, Baud, A., Wang, Y., Xie, S., Maurer, F., Guo, L., 2012. Microbialites and global environmental change across the Permian-Triassic boundary: A synthesis. Geobiology, 10(1): 25-47.
Kozur, H. W., 2007. Biostratigraphy and event stratigraphy in Iran around the Permian-Triassic Boundary (PTB): Implications for the causes of the PTB biotic crisis. Global and Planetary Change, 55(1-3): 155-176.
Krystyn, L., Richoz, S., Baud, A., Twitchett, R. J., 2003. A unique Permian-Triassic boundary section from the Neotethyan Hawasina Basin, Central Oman Mountains. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 191(3-4): 329-344.
Liu, L. J., Jiang, H. X., Wu, Y. S., Cai, C. F., 2014. Community replacement sequences and paleoenvironmental changes in reef areas of South China from Late Permian to Early Triassic exemplified by Panlongdong section in northeastern Sichuan Basin. Science China Earth Sciences, 57(5): 1093-1108.
No��, S. U., 1987. Facies and paleogeography of the marine Upper Permian and of the Permian-Triassic boundary in the Southern Alps (Bellerophon Formation, Tesero Horizon). Facies, 16(1): 89-141.
Rameil, N., 2008. Early diagenetic dolomitization and dedolomitization of Late Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous platform carbonates: A case study from the Jura Mountains (NW Switzerland, E France). Sedimentary Geology, 212(1-4): 70-85.
Shen, S. Z., Cao, C. Q., Henderson, C. M., Wang, X. D., Shi, G. R., Wang, Y., Wang, W., 2006. End-Permian mass extinction pattern in the northern peri-Gondwanan region. Palaeoworld, 15(1): 3-30.
Shen, S. Z., Crowley, J. L., Wang, Y., Bowring, S. A., Erwin, D. H., Sadler, P. M., Cao, C. Q., Rothman, D. H., Henderson, C. M., Ramezani, J., Zhang, H., Shen, Y. A., Wang, X. D., Wang, W., Mu, L., Li, W. Z., Tang, Y. G., Liu, X. L., Liu, L. J., Zeng, Y., Jiang, Y. F., Jin, Y. G., 2011. Calibrating the end-Permian mass extinction. Science, 334(6061): 1367-1372.
Sun, Y. D., Joachimski, M. M., Wignall, P. B., Yan, C. B., Chen, Y. L., Jiang, H. S., Wang, L. N., Lai, X. L., 2012. Lethally hot temperatures during the Early Triassic greenhouse. Science, 338(6105): 366-370.
Twitchett, R. J., Looy, C. V., Morante, R., Visscher, H., Wignall, P. B., 2001. Rapid and synchronous collapse of marine and terrestrial ecosystems during the end-Permian biotic crisis. Geology, 29(4): 351-354.
2.0.CO;2 target="_blank">
Twitchett, R. J., Krystyn, L., Baud, A., Wheeley, J. R., Richoz, S., 2004. Rapid marine recovery after the end-Permian mass-extinction event in the absence of marine anoxia. Geology, 32(9): 805-808.
Wang, C. J., Liu, Y. M., Liu, H. X., Zhu, L., Shi, Q., 2005a. Geochemical significance of the relative enrichment of pristane and the negative excursion of ��13CPr across the Permian-Triassic Boundary at Meishan, China. Chinese Science Bulletin, 50(19): 2213-2225.
Wang, Y. B., Tong, J. N., Wang, J. S., Zhou, X. G., 2005b. Calcimicrobialite after end-Permian mass extinction in South China and its palaeoenvironmental significance. Chinese Science Bulletin, 50(7): 665-671.
Wang, H. F., Liu, J. B., Ezaki, Y. 2012. Sea-level changes at the Dawen Permian-Triassic boundary section of Luodian, Guizhou Province, South China: A global correlation. Acta Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Pekinensis, 48(4): 589-602 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Weidlich, O., Kiessling, W., Flugel, E., 2003. Permian-Triassic boundary interval as a model for forcing marine ecosystem collapse by long-term atmospheric oxygen drop. Geology, 31(11): 961-964.
Wignall, P. B., Hallam, A., 1992. Anoxia as a cause of the Permian/Triassic mass extinction: Facies evidence from northern Italy and the western United States. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 93(1-2): 21-46.
Wignall, P. B., Hallam, A., 1996. Facies change and the end-Permian mass extinction in S.E. Sichuan, China. Palaios, 11(6): 587-596.
Wignall, P. B., Newton, R., 2003. Contrasting deep-water records from the Upper Permian and Lower Triassic of South Tibet and British Columbia: Evidence for a diachronous mass extinction. Palaios, 18 (2): 153-167.
Wu, Y. S., 2005a. Conodonts, Reef Evolution and Mass Extinction across the Permian-Triassic Boundary. Beijing: Geological Publishing House, 1-90.
Wu, Y. S., 2005b. Conodont evolution during Permian-Triassic transition in mid-low latitudes: A close-up view. Albertiana, 33(1): 93-94.
Wu, Y. S., Fan, J. S., Jin, Y. G., 2003. Emergence of the Late Permian Changhsingian reefs at the end of the Permian. Acta Geologica Sinica, 77(3): 289-296 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Wu, Y. S., Jiang, H. X., Liao, T. P., 2006a. Sea-level drops in the Permian-Triassic boundary section at Laolongdong, Chongqing, Sichuan Province. Acta Petrologica Sinica, 22(9): 2405-2412 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Wu, Y. S., Yang, W., Jiang, H. X., Fan, J. S., 2006b. Petrologic evidence for sea-level drop in the latest Permian in Jiangxi province, China and its meanings for the mass extinction. Acta Petrologica Sinica, 22(12): 3039-3046 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Wu, Y. S., Fan, J. S., Jiang, H. X., Yang, W., 2007a. Extinction pattern of reef ecosystems in latest Permian. Chinese Sciences Bulletin, 52(4): 512-520.
Wu, Y. S., Jiang, H. X., Yang, W., Fan, J. S., 2007b. Microbialite of anoxic condition from Permian-Triassic transition in Guizhou, China. Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences, 50(7): 1040-1051.
Wu, Y. S., Jiang, H. X., Fan, J. S., 2010. Evidence for sea-level falls in the Permian-Triassic transition in the Ziyun area, South China. Geological Journal, 45(2-3): 170-185.
Wu, Y. S., Yu, G. L., Li, R. H., Song, L. R., Jiang, H. X., Riding, R., Liu, L. J., Liu, D. Y., Zhao, R., 2014. Cyanobacterial fossils from 252 Ma old microbialites and their environmental significance. Scientific Reports, 4(3820): 1-5.
Xie, S. C., Pancost, R. D., Yin, H. F., Wang, H. M., Evershed, R. P., 2005. Two episodes of microbial change coupled with Permo/Triassic faunal mass extinction. Nature, 434(7032): 494-497.
Xu, G. R., Luo, X. M., Wang, Y. B., Zhou, L. Y., Xiao, S. Y., 1997. On a Building Model of Late Permian Reefs in Central Yangtze River Area. Wuhan: China University of Geosciences Press, 1-138 (in Chinese).
Yang, Z. Y., Wu, S. B., Yin, H. F., Xu, G. R., Zhang, K. X., Bi, X. M., 1991. Permo-Triassic Events of South China. Beijing: Geological Publishing House, 1-190 (in Chinese with English content and summary).
Yin, H. F., Zhang, K. X., Tong, J. N., Yang, Z. Y., Wu, S. B., 2001. The global stratotype section and point (GSSP) of the Permian-Triassic Boundary. Episodes, 24(2): 102-114.
Yin, H. F., Feng, Q. L., Lai, X. L., Baud, A., Tong, J. N., 2007. The protracted Permo-Triassic crisis and multi-episode extinction around the Permian-Triassic boundary. Global and Planetary Change, 55(1-3): 1-20.
Yu, J. X., Peng, Y. Q., Zhang, S. X., Yang, F. Q., Zhao, Q. M., Huang, Q. S., 2007. Terrestrial events across the Permian-Triassic boundary along the Yunnan-Guizhou border, SW China. Global and Planetary Change, 55(1-3): 193-208.
Zeeh, S., Becker, F., Heggemann, H., 2000. Dedolomitization by meteoric fluids: The Korbach fissure of the Hessian Zechstein basin, Germany. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 69-70: 173-176.
Zhang, F., Feng, Q. L., Meng, Y. Y., He, W. H., Gu, S. Z., 2006. Stratigraphy of organic carbon isotope and associated events across the Permian-Triassic boundary in the Dongpan deep-water section in Liuqiao area, Guangxi, South China. Geoscience, 20(1): 42-48 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Zhao, L. S., Orchard, M. J., Tong, J. N., Sun, Z. M., Zuo, J. X., Zhang, S. X., Yun, A. L., 2007. Lower Triassic conodont sequence in Chaohu, Anhui Province, China and its global correlation. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 252(1-2): 24-38.
Zhu, X. S., Wang, C. Y., L��, H., Mu, X. N., Zhang, L. X., Qin, Z. S., Luo, H., Yang, W. R., Deng, Z. Q., 1994. Permian-Triassic boundaries in Jiangxi, China. Acta Micropalaeontologica Sinica, 11(4): 439-452 (in Chinese with English abstract).
2014, Vol. 3 
