The Open Paleontology Journal




(Discontinued)

ISSN: 1874-4257 ― Volume 5, 2014

Nano-Scale Spheroids and Fossils from the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in China



Tenger Borjigin1, Leiming Yin2, *, Lizeng Bian3, Xunlai Yuan2, Chuanming Zhou2, Fanwei Meng2, Xiaomin Xie1, Fang Bao1
1 Key Laboratory of Petroleum Accumulation Mechanisms, Wuxi Research Institute of Petroleum Geology, SINOPEC, Wuxi 214151, Jiangsu, China
2 State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, Jiangsu, China
3 School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, Jiangsu, China

Abstract

Exceptionally preserved nano-scale spheroids derived from microbial processes and nano-scale fossils have been discovered from the black shales of the Jijiawan section of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorge area of Hubei Province, southern China. The numerous soccer ball-like spheroids are pyritized. Their morphology and abundant preservation may suggest that they could possibly be related to larger spheroids, regardless of the tremendous dimensional gap found in the phosphorite and cherts of the Doushantuo Formation, including those recognized as ‘embryos’. The colony-like spheroids preserved in situ and obtained by acid maceration are compared with known Neoproterozoic microfossils—Bavlinella faveolata (or Sphaerocongregus variabilis). Additionally, nano-scale fossil bodies, characterized by morphological features comparable to living cyanobacteria, fungi and possible unicellular heterotrophic protists were observed in different minor laminae of the black shale samples. This study aims to reveal the aspects of nano-scale biota preserved in the black shale of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation, and highlight the taphonomy of microorganisms during the key transition from the anoxic deeper oceans to the oxygenated oceans of the early Ediacaran interval.

Keywords: : Nano-scale spheroids and fossils, Ediacaran, Doushantuo Formation.


Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2014
Volume: 5
First Page: 1
Last Page: 9
Publisher Id: TOPALOJ-5-1
DOI: 10.2174/1874425701405010001

Article History:

Received Date: 19/11/2013
Revision Received Date: 20/12/2013
Acceptance Date: 2/1/2014
Electronic publication date: 24/1/2014
Collection year: 2014

© Borjigin et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.


* Address correspondence to this author at the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, Jiangsu, China; Tel: 0086-025-83282240; E-mail: lmyin2012@gmail.com



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