Hao Yang 杨 浩

• PhD in Geological Sciences
• Lecturer at China University of Geosciences

Gastropods, as one of the most common invertebrates in shallow marine environments, were heavily impacted by the Permian–Triassic mass extinction (PTME), with severe loss of diversity and remarkable dwarfism of body size. Here, we report a new gastropod fauna from the Permian–Triassic carbonates of Zuodeng, Guangxi Province, South China. Five speci...

The invisible microbes are the main components of the biosphere and proliferated in many mass extinctions of animals. Whether the proliferation of microbes was an accomplice or a savior of the mass extinction remains uncertain. Future work has to quantify the dual effects of microbes on the environment.

The Permian–Triassic mass extinction has been considered the largest bio-crisis of the Phanerozoic, with more than 90% of marine species extinct. Previous studies showed that ostracods suffered various extinction patterns in different localities and were relatively enriched in the lowermost Triassic shallow marine microbialites. Multiple hypotheses...

The Shennongjia Group on the northern margin of the Yangtze Platform consists of thick marine carbonate and clastic rocks of the middle and late Mesoproterozoic Era. The middle part of the Shennongjia Group, i.e., the Taizi Formation, consists of sandstone and silty shale in the lower part and fine-crystalline limestone in the upper part. According...

Procambarus clarkii was harvested in different months (April, May, and June) and classified to different groups based on weight (small, 10–20 g; medium, 20–30 g; and large, 30–40 g). The head shells (HS) and tail shells (TS) were obtained and chemical proximate components, microstructure and texture of crayfish shell were investigated, and the prin...

The late Mesoproterozoic Era (1300–1000 Ma) was a critical period that witnessed the origin and early evolution of multicellular eukaryotes. Multiple studies have reported observations that the carbon isotope composition of carbonate (δ¹³Ccarb) underwent a substantial increase after ca. 1250 Ma. The high δ¹³Ccarb values suggest that the fraction of...

The Permian-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) strongly devastated marine ecosystems, and, consequently, sponges, especially the reef-building clades, suffered dramatic losses in biodiversity. The Early Triassic therefore was believed to be an evolutionary gap for sponges. Microbialites spread over shallow marine carbonate settings across the entire l...

Stromatolites have been widely reported from the Archean and Paleoproterozoic successions worldwide, and they could represent one of oldest life forms on Earth. Of these, a group of small stromatolites occur as microdigitate low-relief columns, and are also conspicuous in the field. However, biogenicity of these microdigitate stromatolites (MDSs) h...

As a new type of pollutants in the marine environment, microplastics have attracted increasing attention from scientific researchers and environmental protection workers in China and abroad. However, for the microplastic pollution in sea areas in China, there are a very limited number of studies on its current status and few reviews of research on...

The destruction of both terrestrial and marine ecosystems generally shows a process of rapid extinction followed by the wipe out of the Permian-type relics in the Permian–Triassic mass extinction, but the relationship between the terrestrial and marine ecosystem collapses is not clear until now. The terrestrial input from the land to marine system...

Microconchids are small spiral worm tubes convergent with spirorbin polychaetes, and they are not a well‐known fossil group in terms of taxonomy and spatiotemporal distributions. Here, we report for the first time microconchid species Microconchus cf. utahensis from the Lower Triassic borehole sections in the Perth Basin, Western Australia, which w...

The Permian–Triassic mass extinction (PTME), the most devastating extinction event in Phanerozoic history, has witnessed the demise of almost 80% of marine gastropod genera. Despite the vast scale of the extinction event, the recovery of some groups of marine gastropods has been curiously fast, contrasting with the delayed recovery of many other ma...

This paper reported the distribution of phytoplankton biomarkers in surface sediments of Liaodong Bay, Bohai Sea. The primary productivity indicated by biomarkers is consistent with the results from modern water column phytoplankton surveys, indicating that the biomarkers can be used to reconstruct the primary productivity. The productivity in the...

After the end-Permian mass extinction (EPME), the marine environment was considered extremely toxic, mainly due to anoxic and high-temperature conditions and ocean acidification; consequently, the ecosystem contained few organisms. This paper describes a new ostracod fauna from the microbialite-bearing Permian-Triassic (P-Tr) strata at Zuodeng, Gua...

Biotic activities are involved in almost all sedimentation processes throughout the evolutionary history of life on our planet. However, deep-time organism-induced sedimentation and biosedimentary records remain unclear in terms of lithologic types, strata stacking patterns and possible controlling factors. We document biosedimentary features of ma...

Previous studies suggested that anoxia was a causal factor in the end-Permian mass extinction (EPME), marked by abrupt enrichment of pyrite framboids in the post-EPME microbialites of the earliest Triassic on shallow platforms, and that this dysoxic–anoxic phase followed a time of well-oxygenated seafloors. Here, we report persistent dysoxia throug...

We report small microbialites from the calcareous mudstone slightly above the Permian–Triassic boundary (PTB) in the Tieshikou section, southern Jiangxi Province, South China. The newly found microbialite is a bowl-like structure, which contrasts with the surrounding calcareous mudstone. The small microbialite is composed of columnar forms and fan-...

Like microbialites, microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISSs) are commonly observed in siliciclastic and mixed carbonate siliciclastic settings in the Lower Triassic, and are represented by several morphological types including wrinkle structures. However, their origin and their role in the Early Triassic ecosystem recovery is currently a...

A Permian-Triassic (P-Tr) boundary microbialite (PTB-microbialite) deposit occurs near Xiushui on the southern margin of the eastern Yangtze Platform, South China. This 2-m-thick microbialite overlies uppermost Permian bioclastic limestone with a 5-cm-thick oolite-like grainstone layer at the contact. This PTB-microbialite consists of lower thrombo...

A previously unknown microbialite bed in the Permian–Triassic (P–Tr) boundary beds of Zuodeng section, Tiandong County, Guangxi, South China comprises a thin (5 cm maximum thickness) stromatolite in the lower part and the remaining 6 m is thrombolite. The Zuodeng microbialite has a pronounced irregular contact between the latest Permian bioclastic...

Research on the dynamics of body-size changes in varied water depths can provide important insights into the evolution of palaeoenvironments through time. This paper attempts to investigate how the body sizes of two most commonly found chonetid brachiopod species in the uppermost Permian in South China varied with palaeo-bathymetry. The result show...

Water column oxygen deficiency has been considered as a potent driver of the extinction of marine benthos, and is a main feature of marine environments in the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction. The record of Permian-Triassic anoxia is more complex than previously thought, and is seen to vary between different palaeogeographic settings, b...

Widespread stromatolites and other microbialite deposits characterize Lower Triassic marine successions worldwide. This study documents a stromatolite deposit, 1.1. m thick, from the upper Spathian (Lower Triassic) of the Susong area, South China. The stromatolite comprises distinct laminated domes in the basal part and columns at the upper part. D...

The present study documents abundant exceptionally preserved microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS) from the 1.64 Ga Chuanlinggou Formation of the Jixian area, North China Craton. The Chuanlinggou Formation is dominated by black silty shale/mudstone with fine sandstone of the lower part and was likely deposited in a relatively restricted...

Abundant microconchid worm tubes were extracted from the microbialites deposit near the Permian-Triassic boundary at the Zuodeng Section, Baise area, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, South China. These calcareous worm tubes were studied in both petrographic thin sections and isolated specimens using optical microscope and sensitive electronic micr...

Abundant isolated specimens of microconchid tubes have been extracted from a microbialite deposit near the Permian–Triassic boundary (PTB) in the Dajiang section, southern Guizhou Province, South China. They are assignable to Microconchus aff. utahensis, M. aff. aberrans and Helicoconchus aff. elongatus, all of which possess micro-lamellar tube wal...

An early Middle Triassic stromatolite deposit is documented from the Guanling Formation of the Luoping area, Yunnan, SW China. The Luoping stromatolite shows five types of constructional microbial forms in various magnifications: 1) typical stratified columnar structures, up to 20 cm high, with crinkled laminae. Dark coloured laminae, 1 mm thick, a...

The Meishan section, South China is the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB), and also is well known for the best record demonstrating the Permian-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) all over the world. This section has also been studied using multidisciplinary approaches to reveal the possible causes for t...

Microbialites flourished globally immediately following the latest Permian mass extinction. In this study, lipid biomarker records were analyzed in the Cili section (Hunan Province, South China) in order to determine the types of microbes involved in microbialite formation and their response to contemporaneous environmental changes. Various biomark...

Abundant calcareous tubeworms have been found in both shallow platform and deep basin deposits after the end-Permian mass extinction in the Cili area, South China. Tubeworms from the microbialites deposited on the shallow platform appear to be cone-shaped tubes with diameters ranging from 0.5 to 1.8 mm (mean 1.1 mm), while those attached to Claraia...

High-resolution sampling of more than 10,000 microfossils from seven Late Permian-Middle Triassic paleoequatorial sections in south China refutes claims for a 5 m.y. recovery delay after the end-Permian mass extinction. We show that level-bottom seafloor diversity began to recover in the early Smithian, little more than 1 m.y. after the mass extinc...

By using gas chromatograph (GC) and GC–mass spectrometry, a series of biomarkers were identified in the aliphatic fractions of extracts from microbialites following the end-Permian faunal mass extinction in Chongyang section, Hubei Province, South China. The dominance of lower-molecular-weight n-alkanes in the samples from the section suggests that...

The carbon (delta C-13(org)) and nitrogen (delta N-15) isotopic compositions of bulk organic matter were analyzed in two high-resolution Permian-Triassic transitional sections containing microbialite in south China. The results from these shallow-marine sections show that an abrupt negative shift in delta N-15, from similar to+3% to similar to 0%,...

Late Permian reefs developed widely on shallow marine carbonate platforms in South China but disappeared far below the main mass extinction level of the latest Permian. The collapse of reef ecosystem may be related to the enhanced volcanism at the end of Late Permian. Notably, some colony corals and reef-building sponges were found to occur near th...

Large perturbations to the global carbon cycle occurred during the Permian–Triassic boundary mass extinction, the largest extinction event of the Phanerozoic Eon (542Ma to present). Controversy concerning the pattern and mechanism of variations in the marine carbonate carbon isotope record of the Permian–Triassic crisis interval (PTCI) and their re...

The cataclysmic end-Permian mass extinction was immediately followed by a global expansion of microbial ecosystems, as demonstrated by widespread microbialite sequences (disaster facies) in shallow water settings. Here we present high-resolution carbonate carbon (δ13Ccarb) and carbonate-associated sulfate–sulfur isotope (δ34SCAS) records from the m...

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 extin...

Widespread but episodic deposition of cyanobacterial mats occurred during the 5 m.y. Permo-Triassic biotic crisis, providing a critical record to decipher the long-term stressful environmental conditions and thus a linkage with the killer. Here we document the timing and duration of these blooms, indicated by lipid biomarkers and microbialites, thr...

We studied the clay rocks around the Permian-Triassic boundary at the Daxiakou (大峡口) Section in Xingshan (兴山), Hubei (湖北) Province, China. All clay rocks are predominated by illitemontmorillonite (I/M) mixed-layer minerals, and high-temperature hexagonal bipyramid (HB) quartz and pyrite are contained in different abundances. Clay microspheres are e...

Newly obtained foraminifer faunas from the Permian-Triassic (P-Tr) transition at the Dajiang and Bianyang sections in the Nanpanjiang Basin, South China, comprise 61 species in 40 genera. They belong to the Palaeofusulina sinensis Zone, the youngest Permian foraminifer zone in South China. Quantitative analysis reveals that the last occurrences of...

The Huangzhishan section, 40 km from the well-known Meishan section, Zhejiang Province, South China, records a carbonate–siliciclastic Permian/Triassic (P/Tr) boundary succession. The P/Tr boundary sequences in both sections correlate well with one another, although the succession is much thicker at Huangzhishan than its equivalent at Meishan. The...

The stratigraphic sequence of calcimicrobialite facies at the Permian-Triassic (P/Tr) boundary has well recorded the biotic and environmental transition across the end-Permian catastrophic events. The biostratigraphy, microfacies, carbon isotopes, and fossil records across the P/Tr boundary have been studied at the Kangjiaping Section in Cili Count...

Calcimicrobialites across the Permian-Triassic boundary in Huayingshan region were investigated using the fluorescence microscopic measurements to understand the occurrence of organic matter. The microbialites are composed of micrite matrix and coarse spar cement. Abundant rhombic or magnetic needle-like carbonate minerals were observed adrift with...

The calci-mircobialite is a special carbonate buildup, which is formed due to the activities of different kinds of microbes. Abundant microfossils preserved in the microbialite show the high-level productivity during deposition, while characteristic sedimentary minerals and geochemical compositions suggest an anoxic marine environment for organic b...

Such instruments as D/max-3B mineral powder diffractometer, Quanta-200 environmental scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer were used to study the mudstones around the Permian-Triassic boundary at the Daxiakou Section, Xingshan, Hubei Province China. It is showed that all the mudstones were characterized by predominant illi...

The calimicrobialites of Chongyang (), Hubei () Province, occur above the mass extinction line in the Late Permian reef facies. Below the boundary are the sponge reef limestone, crinoid limestone and algae-foraminifer bioclastic limestone of the Changxing () Formation. The calimicrobialites are generally composed of mid-coarse grains and microlite...

Three regions can easily be identified in the study area according to the Middle Permian palaeobiogeographic distribution of biota, they are the southern slope of East Kunlun, A’nyêmaqên and Bayan Har. Biotic constitution and ecology in the southern slope of East Kunlun and Bayan Har are very similar. Both the diversity and abundance of organisms i...