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First finds of problematic Ediacaran fossil Gaojiashania in Siberia and its origin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2009

ANDREY YU. ZHURAVLEV ,
JOSÉ ANTONIO GÁMEZ VINTANED  and
ANDREY YU. IVANTSOV
ANDREY YU. ZHURAVLEV*
Affiliation:
Área y Museo de Paleontología, Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, c/Pedro Cerbuna, 12, E-50009, Zaragoza, Spain
JOSÉ ANTONIO GÁMEZ VINTANED
Affiliation:
Área y Museo de Paleontología, Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, c/Pedro Cerbuna, 12, E-50009, Zaragoza, Spain
ANDREY YU. IVANTSOV
Affiliation:
Palaeontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Profsoyuznaya 123, Moscow 117997, Russia
*
†Author for correspondence: ayzhur@mail.ru
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Abstract

We describe the first occurrence of the problematic fossil Gaojiashania outside China, in the Ediacaran Yudoma Group of the Siberian Platform. In both areas, Gaojiashania characterizes the lower upper Ediacaran strata and precedes the appearance of Cloudina and other skeletal fossils, which highlights its significance for the Ediacaran subdivision and correlation. Features of this fossil such as indeterminate length, the absence of a distinct growth pattern, and self-avoiding behaviour indicate its trace fossil origin but do not necessarily imply metazoan affinities for its producers. Several organisms including stem-group social amoebozoans and unicellular protists may have been Proterozoic trace fossil producers.

Keywords

Ediacaran PeriodSiberian PlatformGaojiashanianon-metazoan trace fossils
Type
Rapid Communication
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 146 , Issue 5 , September 2009 , pp. 775 - 780
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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