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Trace fossils and biofabrics at the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary interval in western Mongolia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

R. Goldring  and
S. Jensen
R. Goldring
Affiliation:
Postgraduate Research Institute for Sedimentology, University of Reading, P.O. Box 227, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 2AB, UK
S. Jensen
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
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Abstract

A small suite of trace fossils from the Zavkhan Basin (Govi-Altay) includes many of the ichnotaxa typical of the Nemakit-Daldynian, Tommotian and younger Cambrian stages, and other indeterminate forms. The traces are almost entirely from the sandstone intervals of the large-scale alternations of carbonate and siliciclastic sediments, thus emphasizing the facies and taphonomic controls on trace fossil distribution, and hence the inherent difficulties in using trace fossils in detailed global correlation, especially in using first appearances. The assemblage of traces and biofabrics is seen as resulting from the partly non-uniformitarian (non-actualistic) sedimentary environments that pertained over the boundary interval, rather than as evolutionary failures and subsequently vacated environments.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 133 , Issue 4 , July 1996 , pp. 403 - 415
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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