Luoping Biota:Representative of the Third Biological Radiation

The third biological radiation refers to the Middle Triassic biological radiation in the world.In 2007,the China Geological Survey during field investigations of the project “Regional Geological Survey in Datong,Guishan,Luoping County and Pengzha at a scale of 1∶50000 in Yunnan Province”first discovered and named the Luoping Biota （Fig.1）.

A conodont-based Middle Triassic age assignment for the Luoping Biota of Yunnan, China

The Luoping Biota consists of abundant and well-preserved marine fishes, reptiles, invertebrates, and plants. It occurs in the Middle Triassic Guanling Formation in Daaozi Village of Luoping County, Yun-nan Province, China. Based on conodonts, the Luoping Biota is determined to lie within the Nicoraella kockeli Zone, which is assigned to the Pelsonian substage of the Anisian.

Palaeoecological Analysis of Trace Fossil Sinusichnus sinuosus from the Middle Triassic Guanling Formationin Southwestern China

The Luoping Biota discovered from the early Middle Triassic （Anisian） Guanling Formation of southwestern China represents a fully recovered shallow marine ecosystem, marking the end point of Early Triassic biotic recovery following the end-Permian mass extinction. Contemporaneously preserved are prolific trace fossils, which offer good opportunities to understand the palaeoecology of marine invertebrates from a fully recovered shallow marine ecosystem. Here we present a newly discovered sinuous branching burrow from the fossil-bearing unit in Member II of the Guanling Formation. Several features, including the horizontal regular sinuous nature, the branching pattern, typical H-junction, and the small wavelength/amplitude ratio of these sinuous structures within the burrow systems justify assignment of these traces as Sinusichnus sinuosus, a trace possibly produced by decapod crustaceans. Close association ofS. sinuosus with Rhizocorallium commune suggests a deposit-feeding strategy of these trace makers. The newly reported Anisian material from the Guanling Formation in Luoping represents first report of Sinusichnus from South China. The global record of Sinusichnus occurrence suggests that these burrows might have an older history than Early Middle Triassic.

Microbially Induced Carbonate Precipitation in a Middle Triassic Microbial Mat Deposit from Southwestern China:New Implications for the Formational Process of Micrite

Lime mud(i.e.,micrite)is a major component of carbonate deposits.Various mechanisms(biotic versus abiotic)have been proposed for the formation of lime mud in Earth’s history.However,the detailed role that microbes play in the nucleation and subsequent precipitation of micrites remains to be resolved.Herein we undertook a detailed geobiological characterization of laminated lime mudstone from the Middle Triassic Guanling Formation in Yunnan Province,southwestern China.Morphological features,together with previous geobiological investigations,suggest that the laminated lime mudstones represent the former presence of microbial mats.These lime mudstones consist mainly of calcite,dolomite and quartz,with clay minerals and pyrites as subordinate components.In particular,micro-analysis shows copious nano-globules(65–878 nm)and capsule-shaped nano-rods in laminations.These low-Mg calcite nano-globule aggregates are closely associated with mucilaginous biofilms resembling extracellular polymeric substances(EPS).Nano-sized globules coalesce to form semi-euhedral micrite crystals.We suggest that a decaying hydrolytic destruction of the EPS by microbial communities within microbial mat leads to the precipitation of the nano-globules by enhancing alkalinity in local micro-environment.As an intermediate,these nano-globules further aggregate to form micrite crystals possibly through a dissolution-reprecipitation process.