7 Undergraduate Research, Part I (Posters)

Session showcases undergraduate research. Topics include geoscience-related fields (e.g., resources, hydrology, oceanography, climate, environmental science, geospatial, informatics, health, policy, & education). Undergraduate student/s must be the lead author/s presenters with faculty mentor/s as co-author/s. This session welcomes both poster and oral presentation submissions.

Monday, 9 March 2026
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
RCC, Lower Level Hall

Reexamining the northern Flinders Uratanna Formation sediments to constrain the early evolution of animals

Paper number: 7-1
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:00 AM – 9:00 AM

Authors

Abstract

Terminal Ediacaran to early Cambrian sediments record the early evolution of animals, as well as a critical step-change in the diversity - and intensity - of ecosystem engineering processes. The trace fossil record during this interval provides excellent documentation of this escalation. South Australia’s Flinders Ranges expose rare outcrops of Uratanna Formation sediments that are thought to be basal Cambrian. These deposits are one of the few places in the world that preserve putative 'survivors' of the iconic Ediacaran fauna following enigmatic biotic turnover events in the latest Neoproterozoic. In this project, we explore little-studied outcrops around Castle Rock and Mt. Telford areas of the northern Flinders that expose siliciclastic sediments belonging the Uratanna through Parachilna Formations that unconformably overlie the Ediacaran-aged Rawnsley Quartzite. We present new log sections through these sediments that characterize the lithology, bedding, sedimentary structures, and ichnotaxa distribution through this interval. In ongoing work, we hope to reconstruct the ecosystem engineering impacts associated with these traces and use these to test hypotheses for the drivers of Ediacaran extinction and explosive radiation of animals that followed.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 1

doi: 10.1130/abs/2026SE-411877

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