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

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

THE SHIBANTAN LAGERSTÄTTE AND TERMINAL EDIACARAN ANIMAL EVOLUTION

Paper number: T51-3
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 10:30 AM – 10:45 AM

Authors

  • Shuhai Xiao Presenting Author
    Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
  • Ke Pang
    Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Nanjing
  • Chuanming Zhou
    Nanjing Institute of Geology, Palaeontology, and Center for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing
  • Xiaopeng Wang
    Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Nanjing
  • Bin Wan
    Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Nanjing
  • Xunlai Yuan
    Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Nanjing

Abstract

The terminal Ediacaran stage (ca. 550–539 Ma) sits at the joint between the Proterozoic and Phanerozoic eons, and is pivotal in deciphering the animal evolutionary history across the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transition. Our knowledge about terminal Ediacaran marine ecosystems mostly comes from a handful of fossil assemblages hosted in siliciclastic sediments in Namibia, western United States, and South America. The Shibantan Lagerstätte (551–543 Ma) in the Yangtze Gorges area in South China is one of the few terminal Ediacaran fossil assemblages hosted in marine carbonate rocks. Thus, it offers a distinct perspective on terminal Ediacaran marine ecosystems and provides key data to test hypotheses about the evolutionary dynamics of animals vs. Ediacara-type organisms. The Shibantan Lagerstätte is taxonomically dominated by sessile and mobile benthic organisms, including rangeomorphs, arboreomorphs, erniettomorphs, palaeopascichnids, possible dickinsoniomorphs, tubular fossils, bilaterians, as well as abundant and diverse ichnofossils. Shibantan fossils preserve evidence for ecological interactions among mobile bilaterians, sessile benthic Ediacara-type organisms, and microbial mats, thus providing new insights into the decline of the Ediacara biota and the concurrent rise of macroscopic bilaterian animals across the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transition.

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

doi: 10.1130/abs/2020AM-358856

© Copyright 2020 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.