Geological Society of America

T52 New Insights into the History of Life from Novel Techniques

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

TWO NOVEL BIOMINERALIZED TUBULAR FOSSILS FROM THE TERMINAL EDIACARAN, CENTRAL IRAN

Paper number: T52-7
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 11:30 AM – 11:40 AM

Authors

Amelia Lindsay-kaufman Presenting Author
University of Maryland, College Park, MD
James Schiffbauer
University of MissouriGeological Sciences, Columbia, MO
Seyed Hamid Vaziri
University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON
Mahmoud Reza Majidifard
Geological Survey of Iran, Tehran, N/A
Stephanie Rosbach
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
Tara Selly
Columbia, MO
Marc Laflamme
University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON

Abstract

Fossil deposits from the terminal Ediacaran are commonly characterized by enigmatic millimeter-scale tubular forms, the best known of which is the genus Cloudina. Samples consisting of hundreds of fragments of previously unidentified tubular fossils, outwardly appearing most similar to Cloudina shell hash, were collected from the Kushk Series in the Bafq and Behabad regions of central Iran along with numerous other late Ediacaran fossils (Vaziri et al, 2018, Scientific Reports). These samples were analyzed using Gigamacro photomosaicing, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray tomographic microscopy, with the goal of investigating the morphological and taxonomic characteristics of the tubular fossils and their preservational history. Statistical analysis of morphometric measurements of the tubes has revealed that these samples contain populations of two distinct tubular organisms. Elemental composition data suggest that the fossils have a complex preservational history consisting of a phase of calcium carbonate infilling of the inside of the tube, along with mineral replacement of the tube itself with calcium phosphate. Through these investigations, we further our understanding of the ecology of the earliest shelly animals and continue to shed light on the one of the most intriguing periods of animal evolution.

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

doi: 10.1130/abs/2020AM-358511

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