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Carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of the Vendian-Cambrian carbonate rocks and paleoecological reconstructions

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Abstract

The carbon isotopic composition of carbonate rocks is widely used for the reconstruction of sedimentation paleoenvironment. Of special interest is the study of the Upper Proterozoic-Cambrian interval—the turning point in the Earth’s geological evolution. Rocks of this age show the widest variations in the carbon isotopic composition of carbonates typically correlated with epochs of global glaciations and change in the CO2 regime. In this paper, we attempted to show that carbon isotopic variations often indicate postsedimentary alterations of carbonates and reflect the specific geochemical transformations of the rocks. Study of variations of carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions in the Vendian-Cambrian rocks provide insight into lithogenetic processes.

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  1. Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (GIN), Pyzhevskii per. 7, Moscow, 119017, Russia

    V. I. Vinogradov

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Original Russian Text © V.I. Vinogradov, 2008, published in Litologiya i Poleznye Iskopaemye, 2008, No. 1, pp. 51–65.

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Vinogradov, V.I. Carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of the Vendian-Cambrian carbonate rocks and paleoecological reconstructions. Lithol Miner Resour 43, 44–57 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0024490208010045

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