The Shuram excursion, or Shuram-Wonoka excursion, is a change in δ13C, or in the ratio of carbon-13 to carbon-12, taking place during the Ediacaran Period. The exact time period of the excursion is debated among scholars, beginning around 573 Ma and ending around 562[1] or 551[2] Ma. It was first noticed in the Wonoka Formation in South Australia in 1990 and later in the Clemente Formation of Mexico in 1992 [3] and the Shuram Formation in Oman in 1993.[4] It is the largest negative δ13C excursion in Earth history, and recovery took 50 million years,[5] although the apparent magnitude of the excursion may be distorted due to meteoric water diagenesis.[6]
It is not known what caused the excursion.[7] The Shuram excursion may have played a role in sparking the rise of animals that resulted later in the Cambrian explosion.[8] The oxygen-consuming Ediacara biota experienced a radiation during the isotopic excursion as a response to the transient surplus of oxidants.[9]Microbial blooms of oxygenic phototrophs regulated the recovery of the carbon cycle from the isotopic excursion.[10]
^McMenamin, M.A.S; Rowland, S.M.; Corsetti, F.; Dix, A.M.; Nance, R.P. (1992). "Vendian body fossils (?) and isotope stratigraphy from the Caborca area, Sonora, Mexico". Fifth North American Paleontological Convention Abstracts and Program, Paleontological Society Special Publication. 5: 206.