Carbon isotope and element geochemical investigations of Lower Palaeozoic sediments as means for the study of facial and stratigraphic developments

In the frame of a more complex sedimentological and geochemical investigation the carbon isotopic composition of dispersed organic matter was studied in regard to δ13C development during the Lower Palaeozoic in Thuringia. There is a first order trend of generally increasing 13C abundance. An abrupt increase of δ13C at the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary suggests a phylogenetic reason of more than local significance. Other shifts are caused by changing environments under tectonic control. (author)