Ediacaran algal cysts from the Doushantuo Formation, South China

Germanium/silica ratios in diagenetic chert nodules from the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation, South China

A multicellular organism with embedded cell clusters from the Ediacaran Weng'an biota (Doushantuo Formation, South China).

Three-dimensional analyses of the early Ediacaran microfossils from the Weng'an biota (Doushantuo Formation) have focused predominantly on multicellular forms that have been interpreted as embryos, and yet they have defied phylogenetic interpretation principally because of absence of evidence from other stages in their life cycle. It is therefore unfortunate that the affinities of the various o...

Pulsed oxidation and biological evolution in the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation.

Recent geochemical data from Oman, Newfoundland, and the western United States suggest that long-term oxidation of Ediacaran oceans resulted in progressive depletion of a large dissolved organic carbon (DOC) reservoir and potentially triggered the radiation of acanthomorphic acritarchs, algae, macroscopic Ediacara organisms, and, subsequently, motile bilaterian animals. However, the hypothesize...

Mineralogical constraints on the paleoenvironments of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation.

Assemblages of clay minerals are routinely used as proxies for paleoclimatic change and paleoenvironmental conditions in Phanerozoic rocks. However, this tool is rarely applied in older sedimentary units. In this paper, the clay mineralogy of the Doushantuo Formation in South China is documented, providing constraints on depositional conditions of the Ediacaran Yangtze platform that host the ea...

Carbonaceous biosignatures of diverse chemotrophic microbial communities from chert nodules of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation

Centre for Geobiology, University of Bergen, Norway b Swedish Museum of Natural History, Sweden c State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), China Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech, USA MAX IV Laboratory, Lund University, Sweden Department of Geology, Rhodes University, South Africa Albany Museum, Graha...