Ostracod fauna across the Permian-Triassic boundary at Chongyang, Hubei Province, and its implication for the process of the mass extinction

Thirty species of 10 ostracod genera were identified from 440 fossil specimens isolated through the hot acetolysis of the rock samples collected across the Permian-Triassic boundary at Chongyang section. Twenty species of 6 genera are found to occur in the limestone of Changxing Formation, and 11 species of 7 genera above the main faunal mass extinction horizon. The ostracod assemblages identified at the Chongyang section are obviously different from those previously reported in the contemporaneous microbialites in Guangxi and Chongqing regions, not only in the ostracod components but also in the abundance of filter-feeding ostracods relative to the deposit-feeding ostracods, an indicator of the oxygen level of the seawater. This spatial difference in ostracod assemblages might reflect the diversity of oceanic environmental conditions after the end-Permian mass extinction. Ostracods disappear at 200 cm below and near the main mass extinction horizon, and on the top of the microbialites, respectively, showing an episodic and gradual collapse process at the Chongyang section. The carbon isotope composition is found to appear at 200 cm below the main mass extinction horizon, indicating the initial deterioration of oceanic environment. Fluctuation of the carbon isotope composition is obviously related with the episodic evolution of ostracod species, but not with the abundance of ostracods.