Geobiological Processes and the Formation of Hydrocarbon Source Rocks in the Carboniferous-Early Permian Glacial Period in South China

From Carboniferous to Early Permian, the glaciation of Gondwanaland played a crucial role in controlling changes of the sea level, the biohabitat types and the productivity, in particular in South China. Four global regression events identified during this period were attributed to the glaciation of Gondwanaland. In South China, the regression event occurred between the latest Tournasian and early Visean led to an obvious change of the biohabitat types. In the intraplatform basin, the biohabitat types shifted from Ⅴ₁ to Ⅳ₁. In the isolated carbonate platform, the biohabitat types shifted from Ⅲ₁-Ⅲ₂ to Ⅱ₁-Ⅱ₂. In the carbonate platform connected with the land, the biohabitat types shifted from Ⅱ₁ and Ⅱ₂ to terrestrial or marine-continental sedimentary environment. Analyses of the biohabit at types, paleocommunities and redox conditions, enable us to investigate the paleocommunity evolution, the productivity of marine organisms and the changes of organic burial conditions in the glacial and postglacial period, and thus to explore the control of Carboniferous glaciation on the generation and distribution of hydrocarbon source rocks.