ORIGINALARTICLEDistributionandgeochemicalsignificanceoftraceelementsinkerogensfromEdiacaran–LowerCambrianstratainSouthChinaQianDeng1,2•GuanyuZhao1,2,3•HaozheWang1,2,3•BinCheng1,2•ZewenLiao1,2Received:2July2022/Revised:12September2022/Accepted:16September2022/Publishedonline:17October2022©TheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicencetoSciencePressandInstituteofGeochemistry,CASandSpringer-VerlagGmbHGermany,partofSpringerNature2022AbstractSometraceelements(TEs),bothbio-essentialandredox-sensitive,arepromisingtracersofEarth’ssur-faceprocesses.Asanessentialsedimentaryorganicmatter,kerogenmayhaveinheritedandretainedthekeyTEsfromorganisms.Inthisstudy,thedistributionofTEsinkero-gensfromtwosections(DongkanshangandFengtan)inSouthChinawasanalyzedtoexploreitsbiogeochemicalsignificanceduringEdiacaran–LowerCambrian.Com-paredwithVandZn,therelativeconcentrationsofCo,Ni,Cu,andMoweregenerallyhigherinkerogensthaninthewholerocks.EnrichmentofTEsinthekerogenwasinvolvedintheselectiveutilizationofTEsbydifferentorganicprecursorsandthecompetitionofsulfideinthedepositionalenvironment.ThesignificantcontentofTEsinthekerogensfromdeep-waterfaciescorrespondedtoamorenegatived13Ckerasaresultofthedominanttaxaofchemoautotrophswithtremendousbioaccumulationpotentialfortracemetalsandthereductionconditionsfavorablefororganicmatterpreservation.Furthermore,thecontentvariationsoftraceelementsinthekerogenscoin-cidedwiththeriseandfalloftheEdiacaranbiota,implyingthatthetraceelementsmighthaveplayedanimportantroleinearlylifeevolution.KeywordsTraceelements·Kerogen·Ediacaran–EarlyCambrian·Biogeochemicalsignificance·SouthChina1IntroductionTraceelements(TEs)canexistinsedimentaryrockscombinedwithorganicmatterinadditiontooccurringinoradsorbedonminerals(WuandChu2001;Hanetal2011).Sometransitiontracemetals,suchasnickel(Ni),copper(Cu),zinc(Zn),andmolybdenum(Mo),areessentialforthegrowthoforganismsandaresensitivetotheredoxconditionsofthesedimentaryenvironment.Thesetwofeaturesmakethemcriticalcomponentsofbiogeochemicalcyc...
