82 Precambrian Geology (Posters)
THE "LOCHNESS MONSTER" AS AN EXEMPLARY PSEUDOFOSSIL, MANCHURIOPHYCUS
Paper number: 82-11
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Authors
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Theresa M.D. RaubCalifornia Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
Abstract
Transitional braidplain facies of ~1760 Ma Lochness Formation at Seymour River, Northern Territory, Australia expose sinuous sedimentary structures resembling sand-filled burrow casts or redeposited fecal trails, in positive epirelief and negative hyporelief occupying interference ripple troughs. We refer these to the seudofossil, Manchuriophycus, of purported syneresis-crack origin. Subcrop mapping of spatially heterogenous lithologies asssociates Manchuriophycus with normal dessication cracks as well as in situ, trellis-structure syneresis cracks, adjacent to sand-stromatolites on the beach of a playa lake margin. The Lochness outcrops at Seymour River present an unusually good opportunity to track pervasive microbial binding in Precambrian siliciclastics from inference to exposure.