Constraints on 87Sr/86Sr of Late Ediacaran seawater: insight from Siberian high-Sr limestones

In SE Siberia, carbonate formations with δ13Ccarb values ranging between −12‰ and −7‰ (V-PDB) and Sr concentrations of up to 2.5% occupy an area of 40 000 km2. Several successions exceed 1000 m in thickness and represent the world's largest known exposures of sedimentary carbonates exhibiting extreme depletion in 13C. The carbonates were deposited on a carbonate platform evolving from a mixed carbonate–siliciclastic ramp to a carbonate ramp, and then from a peritidal rimmed shelf to a deep-water open shelf. All sequences reveal a facies-independent, upward rise in marine δ13Ccarb from −12‰ to −7‰. The trend and magnitude of the values mimic those that are characteristic of the 600–550 Ma Shuram–Wonoka isotope event. A coincident stratigraphic rise in 87Sr/86Sr from 0.70802 to 0.70862 in several sections of limestones, containing 4400 μg g−1 Sr on average, is considered to be by far the best available constraint on a temporal variation of seawater isotopic composition through the Late Ediacaran. If the greatest temporal rate of change in seawater 87Sr/86Sr observed in the Cenozoic is applied to the Siberian sections, the calculated minimum duration for the Suram–Wonoka event is 10 Ma.