A review of temporal constraints for the Palaeoproterozoic large, positive carbonate carbon isotope excursion (the Lomagundi-Jatuli Event)

The Palaeoproterozoic Lomagundi-Jatuli Event is one of the largest magnitude and earliest known positive carbonate carbon isotope excursions, preserving delta C-13 values between + 5 and + 16% and even higher. It is recorded in sedimentary rocks on all continents bar Antarctica and spans stratigraphic thicknesses ranging from several to many tens of metres. This unique positive delta C-13 interval signals fundamental changes in the global carbon cycle and is a key event in Earth system evolution following oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere. Here we present a comprehensive review of the age constraints on the Lomagundi-Jatuli Event, the first such effort in two decades. This new chronology compilation focuses on the U-Pb and Re-Os chronometers and demonstrates that global synchronicity of the Lomagundi-Jatuli Event is permissible, an interpretation supported by the apparent wide dispersion of Lomagundi-Jatuli Event-bearing successions in the most recent Palaeoproterozoic plate reconstructions. Assuming the Lomagundi-Jatuli Event is synchronous worldwide, then the bounds on its duration range from a maximum of 249 +/- 9 Myr (2306 +/- 9 Ma to 2057 +/- 1 Ma) to a minimum of 128 +/- 9.4 Myr (2221 +/- 5 Ma to 2106 +/- 8 Ma). (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.