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
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
Open Peer Review Details |
Manuscript submitted on 19-11-2013 |
Original Manuscript |
Nano-Scale Spheroids and Fossils from the Ediacaran Doushantuo
Formation in China |