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The cataclysmic end-Permian mass extinction was immediately followed by a global expansion of microbial ecosystems, as demonstrated by widespread microbialite sequences (disaster facies) in shallow water settings. Here we present high-resolution carbonate carbon (δ¹³C_carb) and carbonate-associated sulfate–sulfur isotope (δ³⁴S_CAS) records from the microbialite in the Cili Permian–Triassic (P–Tr) section in South China. A stepwise decline in δ¹³C_carb begins in the underlying skeletal limestone, predating the main oceanic mass extinction and the first appearance of microbialite, and reaches its nadir in the upper part of the microbialite layer. The corresponding δ³⁴S_CAS, in the range of 17.4‰ to 27.4‰, is relatively stable in the underlying skeletal limestone, and increases gradually from 2m below the microbialite rising to a peak at the base of the microbialite. Two episodes of positive and negative shifts …