Paleoprotoerozoic δ13Ccarb positive excursion event: Research progress on 2.3 Ga catastrophe

Abstract

δ13 Ccarb positive excursion event between 2.33 Ga∼2.06 Ga has been identified as a global event, which confirms the view that an environmental catastrophe in earth's surficial system occurred at about 2.3 Ga. To probe the cause of this global event, scientists have proposed several possibilities such as " snowball earth", super-mantle plume and/or supercontinent breakup, and extraterrestrial impact. Clearly, these hypotheses should be verified by more data in future studies. Therefore, we consider that δ13Ccarb positive excursion phenomenon will be found in more regions, changes in other aspects around 2.3 Ga boundary will be revealed, and new indicators will be used to trace the 2.3 Ga event.