Terrestrial-marine carbon cycle coupling in ~500-m.y.-old phosphatic brachiopods

Carbon isotope Compositions (??13C) of inarticulate brachiopod shells from Upper Cambrian sandstone in the cratonic interior of Laurentia record a 5??? positive excursion that correlates biostratigraphically with the global Steptoean positive isotopic carbon excursion. A consistent 6??? negative displacement in brachiopod ??13C relative to carbonate values is interpreted to represent an onshore-offshore gradient in the isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic carbon in Cambrian seawater. Thus, these ???500-m.y.-old chitinophosphatic brachiopod shells preserve evidence for carbon cycle coupling between the ancient atmospheric, oceanic, and terrestrial reservoirs in the time before embryophytic land plants. ?? 2005 Geological Society of America.