Geological Society of America

T51 Trends and Patterns in Neoproterozoic–Cambrian Biodiversity and Evolutionary Originations I

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

LATE EDIACARAN DIVERSITY AND PALEOECOLOGY FROM CENTRAL IRAN

Paper number: T51-5
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 11:00 AM – 11:15 AM

Authors

Marc Laflamme Presenting Author
University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON
Seyed Hamid Vaziri
University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON
Mahmoud Reza Majidifard
Geological Survey of Iran, Tehran, N/A
Simon Darroch
Earth & Environmental Sci. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

Abstract

The Kushk and Chahmir areas of Central Iran preserve a diverse community of late-Ediacaran (Nama Assemblage) fossils, including both soft-bodied Ediacara biota, and tubular ‘Wormworld’ fauna thought to represent metazoans. We report the occurrence of several biostratigraphically- and biogeographically-important taxa (including kimberellomorphs, cloudinomorphs, Chuaria, and Corumbella), including a new organic-walled tubular taxon. Rudimentary paleoecological analysis reveals both that the Kushk assemblage is significantly more diverse than other Nama-aged assemblages, and that this assemblage is likely undersampled; ongoing field investigations in the area will thus likely reveal additional species. This work demonstrates the need for continued investigations into the late Ediacaran of Iran, and suggests a biosphere in transition, with a shift in diversity and abundance from large Ediacara biota to organic-walled and skeletonized tubular organisms shortly before the Cambrian.

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

doi: 10.1130/abs/2020AM-357475

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