T53 Ichnology as a Global Proxy Multitool to Reconstruct Biodiversity, Ecology, Hydrology, and Climate in Continental to Marine Settings I

Tuesday, 27 October 2020
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Meeting Rooms

ICHNOLOGY OF THE LATE EDIACARAN NASEP-HUNS TRANSITION (NAMA GROUP, SOUTHERN NAMIBIA)

Paper number: T53-2
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 10:15 AM – 10:30 AM

Authors

Abstract

The Late Ediacaran Nasep-Huns transition (Urusis Formation, Nama Group) of southern Namibia preserves an unusually dense assemblage of shallow marine trace fossils, including multiple ichnotaxa on bedding planes, and what likely represent the oldest ‘complex’ trace fossils known from the fossil record. However, the true ichnofaunal diversity of this transgressive sequence remains largely undescribed. Here, we present a comprehensive description and identification of trace fossils in these members, and integrate them within meter-scale log sections and a broader paleoenvironmental analysis. We discuss how these trace fossil assemblages may offer important new data on patterns of bilaterian evolution, an intensification of ecosystem engineering behaviors, as well as facies-based and taphonomic controls on the late Neoproterozoic rise of animals.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 52, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2020AM-355063

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