Back to Search
Start Over
Late Ediacaran organic microfossils from Finland.
- Source :
-
Geological Magazine . Dec2021, Vol. 158 Issue 12, p2231-2244. 14p. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Here we present a detailed accounting of organic microfossils from late Ediacaran sediments of Finland, from the island of Hailuoto (northwest Finnish coast), and the Saarijärvi meteorite impact structure (~170 km northeast of Hailuoto, mainland Finland). Fossils were recovered from fine-grained thermally immature mudstones and siltstones and are preserved in exquisite detail. The majority of recovered forms are sourced from filamentous prokaryotic and protistan-grade organisms forming interwoven microbial mats. Flattened Nostoc-ball-like masses of bundled Siphonophycus filaments are abundant, alongside Rugosoopsis and Palaeolyngbya of probable cyanobacterial origin. Acritarchs include Chuaria, Leiosphaeridia, Symplassosphaeridium and Synsphaeridium. Significantly, rare spine-shaped sclerites of bilaterian origin were recovered, providing new evidence for a nascent bilaterian fauna in the terminal Ediacaran. These findings offer a direct body-fossil insight into Ediacaran mat-forming microbial communities, and demonstrate that alongside trace fossils, detection of a bilaterian fauna prior to the Cambrian might also be sought among the emerging record of small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00167568
- Volume :
- 158
- Issue :
- 12
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Geological Magazine
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 153577599
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756821000753