title: Global microbial carbonate proliferation after the end-Devonian mass extinction: Mainly controlled by demise of skeletal bioconstructors.
abstract: Microbial carbonates commonly flourished following mass extinction events. The end-Devonian (Hangenberg) mass extinction event is a first-order mass extinction on the scale of the 'Big Five' extinctions. However, to date, it is still unclear whether global microbial carbonate proliferation occurred after the Hangenberg event. The earliest known Carboniferous stromatolites on tidal flats are described from intertidal environments of the lowermost Tournaisian (Qianheishan Formation) in northwestern China. With other early Tournaisian microbe-dominated bioconstructions extensively distributed on shelves, the Qianheishan stromatolites support microbial carbonate proliferation after the Hangenberg extinction. Additional support comes from quantitative analysis of the abundance of microbe-dominated bioconstructions through the Famennian and early Tournaisian, which shows that they were globally distributed (between 40° latitude on both sides of the palaeoequator) and that their abundance increased distinctly in the early Tournaisian compared to the latest Devonian (Strunian). Comparison of variations in the relative abundance of skeleton- versus microbe-dominated bioconstructions across the Hangenberg and 'Big Five' extinctions suggests that changes in abundance of skeletal bioconstructors may play a first-order control on microbial carbonate proliferation during extinction transitions but that microbial proliferation is not a general necessary feature after mass extinctions.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.|Université de Toulouse, UPS (OMP), GET, 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, Toulouse F-31400, France.
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Université de Toulouse, UPS (OMP), GET, 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, Toulouse F-31400, France.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aretz
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
authors.forename: Jitao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Earth Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Gregory E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Webb
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
authors.forename: Xiangdong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa; D001105:Archaea / Q000737:chemistry*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry*; D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002254:Carbonates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002681:China; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D005580:Fossils; D005843:Geography; D010802:Phylogeny; D011161:Porifera
chemical_list: D002254:Carbonates