Stratigraphy and paleogeography of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation (ca. 635-551Ma) in South China

Burgess Shale-type fossil assemblages provide a unique record of animal life in the immediate aftermath of the so-called “Cambrian explosion.” While most soft-bodied faunas in the rock record were conserved by mineral replication of soft tissues, Burgess Shale-type preservation involved the conservation of whole assemblages of soft-bodied animals as primary carbonaceous remains, often preserved in extraordinary anatomical detail. Burgess Shale-type preservation resulted from a combination of influences operating at both local and global scales that acted to drastically slow microbial degradation in the early burial environment, resulting in incomplete decomposition and the conservation of soft-bodied animals, many of which are otherwise unknown from the fossil record. While Burgess Shale-type fossil assemblages are primarily restricted to early and middle Cambrian strata (Series 2–3), their anomalous preservation is a pervasive phenomenon that occurs widely in mudstone successions deposited on multiple paleocontinents. Herein, circumstances that led to the preservation of Burgess Shale-type fossils in Cambrian strata worldwide are reviewed. A three-tiered rank classification of the more than 50 Burgess Shale-type deposits now known is proposed and is used to consider the hierarchy of controls that regulated the operation of Burgess Shale-type preservation in space and time, ultimately determining the total number of preserved taxa and the fidelity of preservation in each deposit. While Burgess Shale-type preservation is a unique taphonomic mode that ultimately was regulated by the influence of global seawater chemistry upon the early diagenetic environment, physical depositional (biostratinomic) controls are shown to have been critical in determining the total number of taxa preserved in fossil assemblages, and hence, in regulating many of the important differences among Burgess Shale-type deposits.

Burgess Shale-type Preservation and its Distribution in Space and Time

The Lower Ordovician Fezouata Konservat-Lagerstätte from Morocco: Age, environment and evolutionary perspectives

The Cambrian Explosion is arguably the most extreme example of a biological radiation preserved in the fossil record, and studies of Cambrian Lagerstatten have facilitated the exploration of many facets of this key evolutionary event. As predation was a major ecological driver behind the Explosion – particularly the radiation of biomineralising metazoans – the evidence for shell crushing (durophagy), drilling and puncturing predation in the Cambrian (and possibly the Ediacaran) is considered. Examples of durophagous predation on biomineralised taxa other than trilobites are apparently rare, reflecting predator preference, taphonomic and sampling biases, or simply lack of documentation. The oldest known example of durophagy is shell damage on the problematic taxon Mobergella holsti from the early Cambrian (possibly Terreneuvian) of Sweden. Using functional morphology to identify (or perhaps misidentify) durophagous predators is discussed, with emphasis on the toolkit used by Cambrian arthropods, specifically the radiodontan oral cone and the frontal and gnathobasic appendages of various taxa. Records of drill holes and possible puncture holes in Cambrian shells are mostly on brachiopods, but the lack of prey diversity may represent either a true biological signal or a result of various biases. The oldest drilled Cambrian shells occur in a variety of Terreneuvian-aged taxa, but specimens of the ubiquitous Ediacaran shelly fossil Cloudina also show putative drilling traces. Knowledge on Cambrian shell drillers is sorely lacking and there is little evidence or consensus concerning the taxonomic groups that made the holes, which often leads to the suggestion of an unknown ‘soft bodied driller’. Useful methodologies for deciphering the identities and capabilities of shell drillers are outlined. Evidence for puncture holes in Cambrian shelly taxa is rare. Such holes are more jagged than drill holes and possibly made by a Cambrian ‘puncher’. The Cambrian arthropod Yohoia may have used its frontal appendages in a jack-knifing manner, similar to Recent stomatopod crustaceans, to strike and puncture shells rapidly. Finally, Cambrian durophagous and shell-drilling predation is considered in the context of escalation – an evolutionary process that, amongst other scenarios, involves predators (and other ‘enemies’) as the predominant agents of natural selection. The rapid increase in diversity and abundance of biomineralised shells during the early Cambrian is often attributed to escalation: enemies placed selective pressure on prey, forcing phenotypic responses in prey and, by extension, in predator groups over time. Unfortunately, few case studies illustrate long-term patterns in shelly fossil morphologies that may reflect the influence of predation throughout the Cambrian. More studies on phenotypic change in hard-shelled lineages are needed to convincingly illustrate escalation and the responses of prey during the Cambrian.

Reappraising the early evidence of durophagy and drilling predation in the fossil record: implications for escalation and the Cambrian Explosion.

A new Burgess Shale–type assemblage, from the Stephen Formation of the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains, is described herein. It occurs near Stanley Glacier in Kootenay National Park, 40 km southeast of the type area near Field, British Columbia. While at least a dozen Burgess Shale localities are known from the “thick” Stephen Formation, the Stanley Glacier locality represents the first discovery of Burgess Shale–type fossils from the “thin” Stephen Formation. The Cathedral Escarpment, an important regional paleotopographic feature, has been considered important to the paleoecologic set- ting and the preservation of the Burgess Shale biota. However, the Stanley Glacier assemblage was preserved in a distal ramp setting in a region where no evidence of an escarpment is present. The low- diversity assemblage contains eight new soft-bodied taxa, including the anomalocaridid Stanleycaris hirpex n. gen., n. sp. (new genus, new species). Pelagic or nektobenthic predators represent the most diverse group, whereas in relative abundance, the assemblage is dominated by typical Cambrian shelly benthic taxa. The low diversity of both the benthic taxa and the ichnofauna, which includes diminutive trace fossils associated with carapaces of soft-bodied arthropods, suggests a paleoenvironment with restrictive conditions. The Stanley Glacier assemblage expands the temporal and geographic range of the Burgess Shale biota in the southern Canadian Rockies, and suggests that Burgess Shale–type assemblages may be common in the “thin” Ste- phen Formation, which is regionally widespread.

/pdf/a-new-burgess-shale-type-assemblage-from-the-thin-stephen-4eauefa49t.pdf

A new Burgess Shale–type assemblage from the “thin” Stephen Formation of the southern Canadian Rockies

A Burgess Shale-type biota is, in part, characterized by a wide diversity of taxa and soft-part preservation. Each provides unique historical insights into early metazoan evolution. Among the more than 40 globally distributed biotas, the early Cambrian Chengjiang and Middle Cambrian Burgess-type biotas are the largest. The Kaili Biota, from the earliest Middle Cambrian of Guizhou, China, contains representatives of 110 metazoan genera belonging to 10 phyla. It contains many well-persevered soft-bodied specimens. This Chinese biota has become the third most taxonomically diverse Burgess Shale-type fauna. Because the Kaili Biota formed in an outer-shelf environment, its main faunal character is large numbers of eocrinoids and planktoic trilobites. The Kaili is younger than the Chengjiang Biota but older than the Canadian Burgess Shale Biota; it shares 30 genera with the Chengjiang and 38 genera with the Burgess Biota. The Kaili Biota displays a taphonomic window to the diversification and evolution of marine offshore organisms covering 5.13 million years between the Early and Middle Cambrian.

Kaili Biota: A Taphonomic Window on Diversification of Metazoans from the Basal Middle Cambrian: Guizhou, China

Most macro-organisms were found in carbonaceous and siliceous mudstones of the upper part of the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation in Jiangkou County, Guizhou Province. They are considered to live on the sea floor by their holdfasts. The appearance and preserved mode of the holdfasts may provide some information about the living and burial environment of macrobiota. This study shows that the Doushantuo macrobiota in northeastern Guizhou Province lived in a relative quiet environment with clear water; the ground that the macroalgae were living on could be a porridgelike one; and the macroalgal holdfasts could be pulled out from the porridgelike ground and the foliates of megascopic algae could be folded by the current events related to ocean currents. After the current event, the macroalgal corpses were covered in a reductive environment by deposits. Then the new community including new and surviving macroalgae continues to live on the new depositional surface.

The holdfasts of macroalgae in the neoproterozoic doushantuo formation in Northeastern Guizhou province and their environmental significance

:Wenghuiia jiangkouensis gen. et sp. nov., characterized by modern annelid taxonomy in morphology and functional biology, is found in black carbonaceous shale from the Neoproterozoic Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation (about 555 Ma) near Wenghui, Jiangkou, northeastern Guizhou Province. The elongate, cylindrical body is composed of many homologous metameres with a true coelom and coelomic pouches. The mouth is at the front of the first segment and the anus at the end of body. A long 11th or 12th segment is probably functionally for procreation, being a clitellum. There are parapodia on the venter of the segments from the rear of the second segment to the front of the clitellum. The setae on all metameres, on the parapodia, and around the anus, differ. In the centre of body, a line probably represents the alimentary canal passing through the body from mouth to anus. A closed vascular system consists of a dorsal vessel at least. W. jiankouensis might represent the oldest discovered ‘modern’ annelid but it is not a primitive type. It lived on the depositional surface of a shallow sea with an environment of calm-water and abundant light.

Annelid from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation in Northeastern Guizhou, China

Balang section, Guizhou China: Stratotype, sectron for the Taijiangian stage and Candidate for GSSP of an unnamed Cambrian series

Introduction to the type section of the Kaili Formation Danzhai Guizhou province, China

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

Wang Yue

Author Tools

Chat about Author