Chemical weathering and nutrient input into late Ediacaran ocean and their relationship to life diversification

• Grant number: 17/00399-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: June 01, 2017
• End date: June 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Geology
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Jacinta Enzweiler
• Grantee: Gustavo Macedo de Paula Santos
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 16/06114-6 - The Neoproterozoic Earth System and the rise of biological complexity, AP.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 18/25039-0 - Estimation of nutrient input into Late Ediacaran marine systems via numerical box modelling of Li isotope data of carbonate rocks from the Corumbá and Bambuí Groups, Brazil, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

The appearance of the first complex organisms during the Ediacaran period (635 to 541 Ma) is one of the most notable episodes in Earth's history. Nevertheless, the causes that led to such life evolution remain still unclear. One of the hypotheses is the enhanced influx of nutrients into the ocean via chemical weathering of newly formed large continental masses. Such high nutrient availability might have stimulated biological activity and possibly life radiation. Although plausible, this is still poorly tested at global scale. The objective of this project is to test this hypothesis using Rare Earth Elements (REE) and Li isotope compositions of carbonate rocks as chemical weathering proxies. The targets are two geological units spread across the West Gondwana paleo continent: the Corumbá Group and the Bambuí Group in Brazil. The results will be compared to biochemical and paleontological data obtained in the same units by other researchers in the Thematic Project, to search for correlations. This project will be part of an effort to track and understand the move of life to its complex forms. Currently, no laboratory in South America perform Li isotope analysis and a complete routine for REE+Y determination in the carbonate fraction of rocks is yet to be set in Brazil. Thus, a secondary goal is to implement these analytical procedures in geoanalytical laboratories of São Paulo state universities for future use by other researchers. This project aims not only to enlighten the biochemical changes in the Late Neoproterozoic Ocean but also to promote scientific innovation, leaving a valuable legacy to Brazilian Earth sciences. (AU)

Scientific publications

(9)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

PAULA-SANTOS, GUSTAVO MACEDO; DA CRUZ CAMPANHA, GINALDO ADEMAR; FALEIROS, FREDERICO MEIRA; BEZERRA MAIA HOLLANDA, MARIA HELENA; DE OLIVEIRA RODRIGUES, SERGIO WILIANS. Carbon isotope variations of high magnitude recorded in carbonate rocks from the Stenian-Tonian Lajeado Group, Southeast Brazil. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, v. 109, AUG 2021. (17/00399-1, 18/10012-0)

CAETANO-FILHO, SERGIO; PAULA-SANTOS, GUSTAVO M.; DIAS-BRITO, DIMAS. Carbonate REE plus Y signatures from the restricted early marine phase of South Atlantic Ocean (late Aptian - Albian): The influence of early anoxic diagenesis on shale-normalized REE plus Y patterns of ancient carbonate rocks. PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY, v. 500, p. 69-83, JUL 1 2018. (16/11496-5, 17/00399-1)

CAETANO-FILHO, SERGIO; PAULA-SANTOS, GUSTAVO M.; GUACANEME, CRISTIAN; BABINSKI, MARLY; BEDOYA-RUEDA, CAROLINA; PELOSO, MARILIA; AMORIM, KAMILLA; AFONSO, JHON; KUCHENBECKER, MATHEUS; REIS, HUMBERTO L. S.; et al. Sequence stratigraphy and chemostratigraphy of an Ediacaran-Cambrian foreland-related carbonate ramp (Bambui Group, Brazil). Precambrian Research, v. 331, SEP 1 2019. (16/11496-5, 16/06114-6, 17/00399-1)

CAETANO-FILHO, SERGIO; SANSJOFRE, PIERRE; ADER, MAGALI; PAULA-SANTOS, GUSTAVO M.; GUACANEME, CRISTIAN; BABINSKI, MARLY; BEDOYA-RUEDA, CAROLINA; KUCHENBECKER, MATHEUS; REIS, HUMBERTO L. S.; TRINDADE, RICARDO I. F.. A large epeiric methanogenic Bambui sea in the core of Gondwana supercontinent?. GEOSCIENCE FRONTIERS, v. 12, n. 1, p. 203-218, JAN 2021. (16/11496-5, 16/06114-6, 17/00399-1)

DE PAULA-SANTOS, GUSTAVO MACEDO; BABINSKI, MARLY. Sedimentary provenance in the southern sector of the São Francisco Basin, SE Brazil. BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY, v. 48, n. 1, p. 51-74, JAN-MAR 2018. (16/06114-6, 17/00399-1)

PAULA-SANTOS, GUSTAVO MACEDO; CAETANO-FILHO, SERGIO; ENZWEILER, JACINTA; NAVARRO, MARGARETH S.; BABINSKI, MARLY; GUACANEME, CRISTIAN; KUCHENBECKER, MATHEUS; REIS, HUMBERTO; TRINDADE, RICARDO I. F.. Rare earth elements in the terminal Ediacaran Bambui Group carbonate rocks (Brazil): evidence for high seawater alkalinity during rise of early animals. Precambrian Research, v. 336, JAN 2020. (17/00399-1, 16/06114-6)

DE PAULA-SANTOS, GUSTAVO MACEDO; CAETANO-FILHO, SERGIO; BABINSKI, MANY; ENZWEILER, JACINTA. Rare earth elements of carbonate rocks from the Bambui Group, southern Sao Francisco Basin, Brazil, and their significance as paleoenvironmental proxies. Precambrian Research, v. 305, p. 327-340, FEB 2018. (17/00399-1, 16/06114-6)

GUACANEME, CRISTIAN; BABINSKI, MARLY; BEDOYA-RUEDA, CAROLINA; PAULA-SANTOS, GUSTAVO M.; CAETANO-FILHO, SERGIO; KUCHENBECKER, MATHEUS; REIS, HUMBERTO L. S.; TRINDADE, RICARDO I. F.. Tectonically-induced strontium isotope changes in ancient restricted seas: The case of the Ediacaran-Cambrian Bambui foreland basin system, east Brazil. GONDWANA RESEARCH, v. 93, p. 275-290, MAY 2021. (16/11496-5, 17/00399-1, 16/06114-6)

GUACANEME, CRISTIAN; CAETANO-FILHO, SERGIO; PAULA-SANTOS, GUSTAVO M.; BABINSKI, MARLY; FRAGA-FERREIRA, PAULA L.; BEDOYA-RUEDA, CAROLINA; KUCHENBECKER, MATHEUS; REIS, HUMBERTO L. S.; TRINDADE, RICARDO I. F.. Paleoenvironmental redox evolution of Ediacaran-Cambrian restricted seas in the core of West Gondwana: Insights from trace-metal geochemistry and stratigraphy of the Bambui Group, east Brazil. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, v. 119, p. 19-pg., 2022-09-01. (16/06114-6, 19/13228-6, 17/00399-1, 16/11496-5)