A large epeiric methanogenic Bambuí sea in the core of Gondwana supercontinent?

Carbon isotope compositions of both sedimentary carbonate and organic matter can be used as key proxies of the global carbon cycle and of its evolution through time,as long as they are acquired from waters where the dissolved inorganic carbon(DIC)is in isotope equilibrium with the atmospheric CO2.However,in shallow water platforms and epeiric settings,the influence of local to regional parameters on carbon cycling may lead to DIG isotope variations unrelated to the global carbon cycle.This may be especially true for the terminal Neoproterozoic,when Gondwana assembly isolated waters masses from the global ocean,and extreme positive and negative carbon isotope excursions are recorded,potentially decoupled from global signals.To improve our understanding on the type of information recorded by these excursions,we investigate the pairedδ^13Ccarb andδ^13Corg evolution for an increasingly restricted late Ediacaran-Cambrian foreland system in the West Gondwana interior:the basal Bambui Group.This succession represents a 1~(st)-order sedimentary sequence and records two majorδ^13Ccarb excursions in its two lowermost lower-rank sequences.The basal cap carbonate interval at the base of the first sequence,deposited when the basin was connected to the ocean,hosts antithetical negative and positive excursions forδ^13Ccarb andδ^13Corg,respectively,resulting inΔ^13C values lower than 25‰.From the top of the basal sequence upwards,an extremely positiveδ^13Ccarb excursion is coupled toδ^13Corg,reaching values of+14‰and-14‰,respectively.This positive excursion represents a remarkable basin-wide carbon isotope feature of the Bambui Group that occurs with only minor changes inΔ^13C values,suggesting change in the DIC isotope composition.We argue that this regional isotopic excursion is related to a disconnection between the intrabasinal and the global carbon cycles.This extreme carbon isotope excursion may have been a product of a disequilibria between the basin DIC and atmospheric CO2 induced by an active methanogenesis,favored by the basin restriction.The drawdown of sulfate reservoir by microbial sulfate reduction in a poorly ventilated and dominantly anoxic basin would have triggered methanogenesis and ultimately methane escape to the atmosphere,resulting in a^13C-enriched DIC influenced by methanogenic CO2.Isolated basins in the interior of the Gondwana supercontinent may have represented a significant source of methane inputs to the atmosphere,potentially affecting both the global carbon cycle and the climate.

Unraveling one billion years of geological evolution of the southeastern Amazonia Craton from detrital zircon analyses

Despite representing one of the largest cratons on Earth,the early geological evolution of the Amazonia Craton remains poorly known due to relatively poor exposure and because younger metamorphic and tectonic events have obscured initial information.In this study,we investigated the sedimentary archives of the Carajás Basin to unravel the early geological evolution of the southeastern Amazonia Craton.The Carajás Basin contains sedimentary rocks that were deposited throughout a long period spanning more than one billion years from the Mesoarchean to the Paleoproterozoic.The oldest archives preserved in this basin consist of a few ca.3.6 Ga detrital zircon grains showing that the geological roots of the Amazonia Craton were already formed by the Eoarchean.During the Paleoarchean or the early Mesoarchean(<3.1 Ga),the Carajás Basin was large and rigid enough to sustain the formation and preservation of the Rio Novo Group greenstone belt.Later,during the Neoarchean,at ca.2.7 Ga,the southeastern Amazonia Craton witnessed the emplacement of the Parauapebas Large Igneous Province(LIP)that probably covered a large part of the craton and was associated with the deposition of some of the world largest iron formations.The emplacement of this LIP immediately preceded a period of continental extension that formed a rift infilled first by iron formations followed by terrigenous sediments.This major change of sedimentary regime might have been controlled by the regional tectonic evolution of the Amazonia Craton and its emergence above sea-level.During the Paleoproterozoic,at ca.2.1 Ga,the Rio Fresco Group,consisting of terrigenous sediments from the interior of the Amazonia Craton,was deposited in the Carajás Basin.At that time,the Amazonian lithosphere could have either underwent thermal subsidence forming a large intracratonic basin or could have been deformed by long wavelength flexures that induced the formation of basins and swells throughout the craton under the influence of the growing Transamazonian mountain belt.