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In the study of the phosphate-bearing stratum at the bottom of the Cambrian system, the authors found that there occurred carbon isotope negative anomalies in the Taozichong section phosphate-bearing stratum in Qingzhen, Guizhou Province; they can be correspondingly compared with other synsedimentary carbon isotope negative anomalies both at home and abroad. The results showed that there occurred three negative anomalies of carbon isotopes in the Neoproterozoic-Early Cambrian Taozichong Formation, indicating that the temporal pa- laeo-oceanographical environment changed significantly, in which there happened two times of intensive carbon isotope variation, corresponding to creature extinction. Meanwhile, it is believed that the carbon isotope negative anomalies in phosphorites were caused by the ascending water mass of ocean current with the negative carbon iso- topic composition of deep-ocean hydrothermal deposits.

The early Early Cambrian strata within the bounds of Guizhou Province are almost predominated by black shale deposition. Recently, however, the authors have found a section consisting of a set of mudstones interbedded with limestones at the basement of the Cambrian at Yingping, Fuquan County, Guizhou Province, which provides favorable conditions for the study of marine geochemical characteristics of the early Early Cambrian. The characteristics of intense negative carbon isotopic anomalies near the Precambrian/Cambrian boundary at Yingping, Fuquan County, Guizhou Province, can be correlated with those of global carbon isotopic anomalies at the same time on a global scale, corresponding to the intense negative carbon isotopic anomalies near the Neoproterozoic/Cambrian boundaries at the bottom of the Xiaowaitoushan Member, Huize, Yunnan Province, at the top of the Tsagaan Oloom Formation of Mongolia and at the top of the Salarmy Gol Formation of Siberia, as well as those observed in southwestern United States, Iran, Amman, Poland, Newfoundland, the Great Britain, Canada, etc. Negative carbon isotopic anomalies can be used as the important basis for the division of the Precambrian/Cambrian boundaries. There have been found 8 m-thick black shales and cherts below the intense negative carbon isotopic anomalies in this profile. In the black shales there have been found large amounts of fossils such asBradorida, gernusArchotuba, indicating that during the period of sedimentation of black shales under anaerobic conditions there would be large quantities of organic species living in the sea. But in the section of grayish-green mudstones interbedded with limestones with intense negative carbon isotopic anomalies almost no organic fossil has been found. This may imply that the anaerobic event seems to have little bearing on the mass extinction near the Precambrian/Cambrian boundary, whereas the intense negative carbon isotopic anomaly event appears to be more closely related to the mass extinction occurring near the Precambrian/Cambrian boundary.

A global-scale glaciation occurred at about 600 Ma ago. As a result, the Earth became the “Snowball Earth”. The glaciation came to the end abruptly when atmospheric carbon dioxide increased to such an extent as to be about 350 times the modern level because of subaerial volcanic degassing. The rapid termination of glaciation would have led to warming of the Snowball Earth and extreme greenhouse conditions would have been created. The transfer of atmospheric carbon dioxide to oceans would give rise to the rapid precipitation of calcium carbonate in warm surface seawaters, thus forming the cap carbonate rocks as observed worldwide today.

The stratigraphic division and correlation of the Lower/Middle Cambrian boundary is a global problem that has not yet been perfectly solved up to now. That is because there existed two global biogeographic regions during the period from Early Cambrian to Middle Cambrian. Although much work has been done from the angle of paleontology and great achievements have been acquired in this aspect, no biological assemblage has yet been established for global stratigraphic correlations due to the coexistence of the two global biogeographic regions——the Atlantic biogeographic region and the Indian-Pacific biogeographic region during the Early-Middle Cambrian. So, to develop and establish other approaches to the stratigraphic division and correlation of the Lower/Middle Cambrian on a global scale is a possible way to solve the puzzling problem. This work systematically studied acritarch fossils from the Early-Middle Cambrian Kaili Formation at Taijiang County, Guizhou Province. The Lower/Middle Cambrian boundary was divided in terms of acritarch fossil assemblage. The divided boundary is generally consistent with what was divided by trilobite and can be correlated with the Lower/Middle Cambrian boundaries divided by acritarch assemblage in Siberia and Europe. On this basis, the Lower/Middle Cambrian boundary is divided in terms of an obvious carbon isotopic excursion on a global scale during the transitional period from Early Cambrian to Middle Cambrian boundaries in Siberia and North America. The method for the stratigraphic division and correlation of the Lower/Middle Cambrian boundary in terms of carbon isotopic oscillations is helpful to solving the global problem on the division and correlation of the Lower/Middle Cambrian boundary. It is also evidenced that the extinction of a lot of trilobites at the end of Early Cambrian is closely related with this event of carbon isotopic excursion.