Early Paleozoic whole-rock Ce anomalies and secular eustatic changes in the Upper Yangtze region

The 65 whole-rock REE samples studied come from the classic sections of Early Cambrian to Early Silurian in the Yichang area, Hubei Province. REE concentrations tested on ICP-AES are normalized to the North American Shale Composite (NASC), and Ce anomaly values are calculated based on log[3Cen/(2Lan+Ndn)]. With the whole-rock Ce anomaly used as a quantitative index of sea-level changes, 5 prominent eustatic circles are recognized, and a good corresponding relationship is observed between the black shale episodes and the transgressive events. On account of the global distributions of coeval black shales and the specified paleogeographic background of South China, a genetic hypothesis based on the model of O2-minimum zone expansion is suggested for the Early Paleozoic multi-episode black shales in South China.