High positive carbonate carbon isotope excursion identified in the North China Craton: Implications for the Lomagundi–Jatuli Event

Abstract

AbstractRecords of the Lomagundi–Jatuli Event (LJE) are well preserved globally, but high δ13Ccarb carbonates have not been identified in the North China Craton (NCC). Our results on ~3–4 km thick carbonates from the newly confirmed Palaeoproterozoic successions in Fanhe Basin in the northeastern NCC show that the ~2.20–2.06 Ga carbonates have positive carbon isotope excursion and those deposited after 2.06 Ga have normal carbon isotope. Specially, carbonates from the Daposhan Formation have δ13Ccarb values of 10.2‰–11.8‰, which is the largest positive carbon isotope excursion in the NCC. The ~2.20–2.06 Ga carbonates in Fanhe Basin have similar δ13Ccarb values as those contemporaneously deposited in other cratons and their δ13Ccarb values exhibit a decreasing trend from ~2.20 Ga to 2.06 Ga. Our identification of carbonates with high positive δ13Ccarb values in Fanhe Basin not only casts new lights on records of the LJE in the NCC, but also provides important constraints on global significance of the positive δ13Ccarb excursion of LJE.