Perturbation of the Earth System at the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transition and the resilience of the biosphere
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Earth Sciences
Abstract
Charles Darwin's great dilemma was why complex life in the form of fossil animals appear so abruptly in rocks around 520 million years ago (Ma), in what is widely known as the Cambrian explosion. During recent decades, exceptionally preserved animal fossils have been found throughout the Cambrian Period, which began 20 million years earlier, and arguably even through the entire, preceding Ediacaran Period, which directly followed the worldwide 'Snowball Earth' glaciations (~715 - 635 Ma). Most of these exceptional deposits were discovered in South China, which possesses the best preserved and dated geological record of the marine environment for this time. In this genuinely collaborative UK-China project, we propose to use the South China rock archives to construct a much higher resolution, four-dimensional (temporal-spatial) picture of the evolutionary history of the earliest animals and their environment. Towards this endeavour, our group combines complementary expertise on both the UK and Chinese research teams in: 1) geochronology - the dating of rocks; 2) geochemistry - for reconstructing nutrient and the coupled biogeochemical cycle (O and C); 3) phylogenomics - for making a genetically-based tree of life to compare with, and fill gaps in the fossil records; and finally 4) mathematical modelling, which will enable us to capture geological information, in such a way as to test key hypotheses about the effects of animal evolution on environmental stability. Our project aims to address three central scientific questions: 1) How did the coupled biogeochemical cycles of C, O, N, P and S change during these evolutionary radiations?; 2) Did environmental factors, such as oxygen levels, rather than biological drivers, such as the emergence of specific animal traits, determine the trajectory of evolutionary change?; and 3) Did the rise of animals increase the biosphere's resilience against perturbations? This last question has relevance to today's biosphere, as the modern Earth system and its stabilising feedbacks arose during this key interval. By studying it in more detail, and establishing temporal relationships and causality between key events, we can find out how the modern Earth system is structured, including which biological traits are key to its continued climatic and ecosystem stability. One further goal of this project is to strengthen existing and establish new, and genuinely meaningful collaborations between the UK and Chinese investigators. We will achieve this by working jointly in four research teams, by integrating all existing and new data into an international database, called the Geobiodiversity Database, sharing a joint modelling framework, and by providing collaborative training for the early career researchers involved in this project each year of the project.
Planned Impact
The nature of the research topic means that much of the direct benefit will be for the academic community (see Academic Beneficiaries), however as it tackles the emergence of complex life on Earth there will be significant public interest in the research topic, approach, progress and outputs. Going beyond the topic itself, our approach is non-traditional in that it is highly integrative and seeks to develop and exploit a step change to develop inter-operable multi-parameter datasets and models, impacting how others research similar 'Earth System' topics.
Beyond the academic community (see Academic Beneficiaries) we expect the general public, in UK and China, will be beneficiaries of the research. The 'Cambrian explosion' and the origin of complex life on our planet was listed in an Economist article 'Life, the multiverse and everything, Science has remade the world, but scientists are not finished yet' (6th August 2015) as one of Science's six unsolved mysteries. This highlights that the research topic covered by this proposal is one of the big ones that captures the public's interest. We will develop novel web, using Quick Response (QR) codes and MediaWIKI infrastructure to communicate project science at sites where the rocks outcrop, and museums. We expect this to generate interest in the Earth and Biological Sciences, highlighting how the Earth system has evolved and operated prior to becoming our familiar world, will allow us to engage with the public and get them to think about complexity, feedbacks, and how systems evolve. Whilst the current changes facing the planet are operating at different timescales there are parallels to be made and lessons to be learnt from studying the 'Cambrian explosion'.
The focus on 'data mining and management' within this project allows us to identify those organisations and professional scientific bodies who are invested in developing geoscience 'data management' tools. In the case of this project, such organisations would include the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), the Interdisciplinary Earth Data Alliance (IEDA), and the EARTHTIME Initiative. These organisations will benefit from our engagement with such systems and using this project to accelerate development in identified key areas. These will include aiding the federation of data from the GEOCHRON databased with the stratigraphic data in the GeoBiodiversity Database, and the development of 'age-model' tools within the later.
A third group of beneficiaries represent the industries that are engaged with exploring the resource potential of late Precambrian and earliest Phanerozoic sedimentary successions. The resources in question are primarily hydrocarbons although economic sulphide and phosphorite deposits occur within these successions. With respect to hydrocarbons the late Precambrian is considered a frontier for exploration, and significant accumulations of Precambrian occur in basins such as the South Oman Salt Basin. The primary research we will generate will include information about the geochemistry of specific successions of the South China Platform, information about their palaeogeographic history and information about basin development. Companies and industry funded research consortia will benefit from the approach developed in this research programme. Furthermore, the data generated, placed within the developing global 4D framework will allow us to export information to other basins which may have an economic potential (e.g., Oman, Brazil).
Beyond the academic community (see Academic Beneficiaries) we expect the general public, in UK and China, will be beneficiaries of the research. The 'Cambrian explosion' and the origin of complex life on our planet was listed in an Economist article 'Life, the multiverse and everything, Science has remade the world, but scientists are not finished yet' (6th August 2015) as one of Science's six unsolved mysteries. This highlights that the research topic covered by this proposal is one of the big ones that captures the public's interest. We will develop novel web, using Quick Response (QR) codes and MediaWIKI infrastructure to communicate project science at sites where the rocks outcrop, and museums. We expect this to generate interest in the Earth and Biological Sciences, highlighting how the Earth system has evolved and operated prior to becoming our familiar world, will allow us to engage with the public and get them to think about complexity, feedbacks, and how systems evolve. Whilst the current changes facing the planet are operating at different timescales there are parallels to be made and lessons to be learnt from studying the 'Cambrian explosion'.
The focus on 'data mining and management' within this project allows us to identify those organisations and professional scientific bodies who are invested in developing geoscience 'data management' tools. In the case of this project, such organisations would include the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), the Interdisciplinary Earth Data Alliance (IEDA), and the EARTHTIME Initiative. These organisations will benefit from our engagement with such systems and using this project to accelerate development in identified key areas. These will include aiding the federation of data from the GEOCHRON databased with the stratigraphic data in the GeoBiodiversity Database, and the development of 'age-model' tools within the later.
A third group of beneficiaries represent the industries that are engaged with exploring the resource potential of late Precambrian and earliest Phanerozoic sedimentary successions. The resources in question are primarily hydrocarbons although economic sulphide and phosphorite deposits occur within these successions. With respect to hydrocarbons the late Precambrian is considered a frontier for exploration, and significant accumulations of Precambrian occur in basins such as the South Oman Salt Basin. The primary research we will generate will include information about the geochemistry of specific successions of the South China Platform, information about their palaeogeographic history and information about basin development. Companies and industry funded research consortia will benefit from the approach developed in this research programme. Furthermore, the data generated, placed within the developing global 4D framework will allow us to export information to other basins which may have an economic potential (e.g., Oman, Brazil).
Organisations
Publications
Bowyer F
(2022)
Calibrating the temporal and spatial dynamics of the Ediacaran - Cambrian radiation of animals
in Earth-Science Reviews
Bowyer FT
(2020)
Regional nutrient decrease drove redox stabilisation and metazoan diversification in the late Ediacaran Nama Group, Namibia.
in Scientific reports
Bridger P
(2021)
The Ediacaran 'Miaohe Member' of South China: new insights from palaeoredox proxies and stable isotope data
in Geological Magazine
Chen B
(2022)
A short-lived oxidation event during the early Ediacaran and delayed oxygenation of the Proterozoic ocean
in Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Chen X
(2022)
Progress towards an improved Precambrian seawater 87Sr/86Sr curve
in Earth-Science Reviews
Chen X
(2023)
Effective Leaching of Argillaceous and Dolomitic Carbonate Rocks for Strontium Isotope Stratigraphy
in Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research
Curtis A
(2020)
Modelling Ediacaran metazoan-microbial reef growth
in Sedimentology
Feuda R
(2017)
Improved Modeling of Compositional Heterogeneity Supports Sponges as Sister to All Other Animals
in Current Biology
He T
(2019)
Possible links between extreme oxygen perturbations and the Cambrian radiation of animals.
in Nature geoscience
Hu S
(2023)
A new Cambrian frondose organism: 'Ediacaran survivor' or convergent evolution?
in Journal of the Geological Society
Krause A
(2024)
Modelling sulfate concentrations in the global ocean through Phanerozoic time
in Journal of the Geological Society
Lozano-Fernandez J
(2017)
RelTime Rates Collapse to a Strict Clock When Estimating the Timeline of Animal Diversification.
in Genome biology and evolution
Lu W
(2018)
Late inception of a resiliently oxygenated upper ocean.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Mills B
(2019)
Modelling the long-term carbon cycle, atmospheric CO2, and Earth surface temperature from late Neoproterozoic to present day
in Gondwana Research
Mills BJW
(2017)
Elevated CO2 degassing rates prevented the return of Snowball Earth during the Phanerozoic.
in Nature communications
Peng X
(2019)
A deep marine organic carbon reservoir in the non-glacial Cryogenian ocean (Nanhua Basin, South China) revealed by organic carbon isotopes
in Precambrian Research
Shi W
(2022)
Decoupled oxygenation of the Ediacaran ocean and atmosphere during the rise of early animals
in Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Shields G
(2019)
Unique Neoproterozoic carbon isotope excursions sustained by coupled evaporite dissolution and pyrite burial
in Nature Geoscience
Shields G
(2020)
Evaporite weathering and deposition as a long-term climate forcing mechanism
in Geology
Shields G
(2018)
Descent into the Cryogenian
in Precambrian Research
Shields GA
(2017)
Tectonic controls on the long-term carbon isotope mass balance.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Sánchez-Baracaldo P
(2017)
Reply to Nakov et al.: Model choice requires biological insight when studying the ancestral habitat of photosynthetic eukaryotes.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Sánchez-Baracaldo P
(2017)
Early photosynthetic eukaryotes inhabited low-salinity habitats.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Tanner AR
(2017)
Molecular clocks indicate turnover and diversification of modern coleoid cephalopods during the Mesozoic Marine Revolution.
in Proceedings. Biological sciences
Tostevin R
(2017)
Constraints on the late Ediacaran sulfur cycle from carbonate associated sulfate
in Precambrian Research
Tostevin R
(2019)
Uranium isotope evidence for an expansion of anoxia in terminal Ediacaran oceans
in Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Wang D
(2018)
Coupling of ocean redox and animal evolution during the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition.
in Nature communications
Wang D
(2018)
Publisher Correction: Coupling of ocean redox and animal evolution during the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition.
in Nature communications
Wang Z
(2020)
Mercury anomalies within the lower Cambrian (stage 2-3) in South China: Links between volcanic events and paleoecology
in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Wang Z
(2020)
Evaluating episodic hydrothermal activity in South China during the early Cambrian: Implications for biotic evolution
in Marine and Petroleum Geology
Wei G
(2020)
Highly dynamic marine redox state through the Cambrian explosion highlighted by authigenic d238U records
in Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Wei G
(2020)
Enhanced chemical weathering triggered an expansion of euxinic seawater in the aftermath of the Sturtian glaciation
in Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Wei G
(2021)
Revisiting stepwise ocean oxygenation with authigenic barium enrichments in marine mudrocks
in Geology
Williams JJ
(2019)
A tectonically driven Ediacaran oxygenation event.
in Nature communications
Wörheide G
(2019)
The Role of Homology and Orthology in the Phylogenomic Analysis of Metazoan Gene Content
in Molecular Biology and Evolution
Yang C
(2023)
New U-Pb age from the Shuijingtuo Formation (Yangtze Gorges area) and its implications for the Cambrian timescale
in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Zhang K
(2022)
Sedimentary Ce anomalies: Secular change and implications for paleoenvironmental evolution
in Earth-Science Reviews
Description | Our goal is to understand how the Earth system (or the biosphere) evolved towards its modern state during the initial emergence of animal life on Earth. Our recent studies have married geochemical data and modelling to establish that early animal radiations were accompanied by episodic fluctuations in oxygen, suggesting that positive feedbacks (runaway climate change) dominated over negative feedbacks (climate regulation) during key junctures of Earth history, including the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition when the earliest animal ecosystems developed. We are currently exploring the role of global sulfur cycle imbalance in producing environmental instability (lowering biosphere resilience). |
Exploitation Route | Our findings so far help to establish a baseline for Earth system models that can in future be used to better constrain the causes and consequence of climate change, and its impact on biosphere resilience. |
Sectors | Environment |
Description | ARC Discovery Project |
Amount | $400,000 (AUD) |
Funding ID | DP210100462 |
Organisation | University of Adelaide |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | Australia |
Start | 01/2021 |
End | 01/2024 |
Description | Cohort Program (Agency, Directionality and Function) |
Amount | $998,557 (USD) |
Funding ID | 2021-8064 |
Organisation | The John Templeton Foundation |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United States |
Start | 01/2022 |
End | 01/2025 |
Title | Data from: Molecular clocks indicate turnover and diversification of modern coleoid cephalopods during the Mesozoic Marine Revolution |
Description | Coleoid cephalopod molluscs comprise squid, cuttlefish and octopuses, and represent nearly the entire diversity of modern cephalopods. Sophisticated adaptations such as the use of colour for camouflage and communication, jet propulsion and the ink sac highlight the unique nature of the group. Despite these striking adaptations, there are clear parallels in ecology between coleoids and bony fishes. The coleoid fossil record is limited, however, hindering confident analysis of the tempo and pattern of their evolution. Here we use a molecular dataset (180 genes, approx. 36 000 amino acids) of 26 cephalopod species to explore the phylogeny and timing of cephalopod evolution. We show that crown cephalopods diverged in the Silurian-Devonian, while crown coleoids had origins in the latest Palaeozoic. While the deep-sea vampire squid and dumbo octopuses have ancient origins extending to the Early Mesozoic Era, 242 ± 38 Ma, incirrate octopuses and the decabrachian coleoids (10-armed squid) diversified in the Jurassic Period. These divergence estimates highlight the modern diversity of coleoid cephalopods emerging in the Mesozoic Marine Revolution, a period that also witnessed the radiation of most ray-finned fish groups in addition to several other marine vertebrates. This suggests that that the origin of modern cephalopod biodiversity was contingent on ecological competition with marine vertebrates. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.180nh |
Title | Precambrian strontium isotope database Version 2021 |
Description | This is an updated compilation of Sr isotope data pertaining to the evolution of seawater composition over Earth history |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | too early to say but the relevant chapter of the international Geologic Timescale has been cited more than 550 times since 2012 so it will be widely used in future studies. |
URL | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825221003706#s0070 |
Description | Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing |
Organisation | Chinese Academy of Sciences |
Country | China |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Research collaboration; running of joint summer schools in China; geochemical analystical support |
Collaborator Contribution | Fieldwork expenses; some lab expenses; accomodation expenses for self and UK collaborators |
Impact | Collaborative publications; Co-editing of special issue in Precambrian Research; 2 x Sino-UK summer schools (2012 and 2014) |
Start Year | 2006 |
Description | Deep-Time Earth and Life Transnational Alliance (DELTA) |
Organisation | Nanjing University (NJU) |
Country | China |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | DELTA stems directly from collaborations established within the NERC-NSFC co-funded BETR programme. Founding members and steering committee members include Professor Michael Benton (Bristol), Professors Roger Benson and Erin Saupe (Oxford), Professor Hugo Bucher (Zurich) and Nanjing University staff led by Professor Junxuan Fan who was a BETR project partner. My role in the DELTA is to co-lead development of the chemostratigraphic interface of the Onestratigraphy database together with Professor Weiqiang Li (Nanjing University). My research group at UCL is currently compiling geochemical datasets that can be used to test the interface. |
Collaborator Contribution | Nanjing University partners have successfully applied for two grants to fund the cooperation: 1) 'CSC International Cooperative Training Programme for Innovative talents' to fund China to UK science exchange; and a 2) 'Nanjing University Global Engagement for Strategic Partnership' award to fund exchanges to Nanjing from cooperation partners within DELTA worth about 300-400 RMB (£50K). The Onestratigraphy database in Nanjing evolved from the previous GBDB, and includes funding for 20 data compilers and database developers that can be put at the disposal of the cooperation partners. |
Impact | This is an international multidisciplinary partnership covering Geochemistry, Paleobiology, Stratigraphy, Supercomputing, Artificial Intelligence, Database (Big Data) |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Nanjing University |
Organisation | Nanjing University (NJU) |
Country | China |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Research collaboration; Cosupervision of PhD students |
Collaborator Contribution | Isotopic analyses; Fieldwork expenses; Accomodation whilst in China |
Impact | Joint publications |
Start Year | 2006 |
Description | Modelling workshop (Wuhan) - July 10, 2017 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Launch workshop for BETR programme |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Popular science talk at Cardiff University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Snowball Earth: Global Catastrophe or the origin of life as we know it? |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Time Tower activity for GeoBus |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Based on research done during BETR, we created a new interactive activity for school children (Time Tower) which is now used in schools throughout the country, either independently or guided in person or virtually. A worksheet was created as well that matches the schools' A level curricula, and uses the Time Tower activity on a deeper level to focus on the Evolution of the Atmosphere specifically. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.geobus-london.org.uk/secondary-workshops |