Hydrothermal alteration of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area (South China)

The geochemical and fossil record preserved in the Ediacaran age (635–551Ma) Doushantuo Formation of South China has been extensively examined to explore the impact of changing climate and the oxidation state of the oceans on the development and distribution of early multicellular life. In the Yangtze Gorges area, this formation shows many of the geochemical trends and features thought to typify global ocean chemistry in the Ediacaran Period, but there are indications that post-sedimentary processes modified these signals. This study of clay minerals and organic matter builds a more detailed picture of the type and degree of post-sedimentary alteration at different stratigraphic levels of the formation and focuses on how this alteration influenced stable carbon and oxygen isotope records.