Cryptic disc structures resembling ediacaran discoidal fossils from the lower Silurian Hellefjord Schist, Arctic Norway
dc.contributor.author | Kirkland, Chris | |
dc.contributor.author | Macgabhann, B. | |
dc.contributor.author | Kirkland, B. | |
dc.contributor.author | Daly, J. | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2017-01-30T12:16:50Z | |
dc.date.available | 2017-01-30T12:16:50Z | |
dc.date.created | 2016-11-23T19:30:26Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2016 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Kirkland, C. and Macgabhann, B. and Kirkland, B. and Daly, J. 2016. Cryptic disc structures resembling ediacaran discoidal fossils from the lower Silurian Hellefjord Schist, Arctic Norway. PLoS One. 11 (10): 0164071. | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19994 | |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1371/journal.pone.0164071 | |
dc.description.abstract |
The Hellefjord Schist, a volcaniclastic psammite-pelite formation in the Caledonides of Arctic Norway contains discoidal impressions and apparent tube casts that share morphological and taphonomic similarities to Neoproterozoic stem-holdfast forms. U-Pb zircon geochronology on the host metasediment indicates it was deposited between 437 ± 2 and 439 ± 3 Ma, but also indicates that an inferred basal conglomerate to this formation must be part of an older stratigraphic element, as it is cross-cut by a 546 ± 4 Ma pegmatite. These results confirm that the Hellefjord Schist is separated from underlying older Proterozoic rocks by a thrust. It has previously been argued that the Cambrian Substrate Revolution destroyed the ecological niches that the Neoproterozoic frond-holdfasts organisms occupied. However, the discovery of these fossils in Silurian rocks demonstrates that the environment and substrate must have been similar enough to Neoproterozoic settings that frond-holdfast bodyplans were still ecologically viable some hundred million years later. © 2016 Kirkland et al. | |
dc.publisher | Public Library of Science | |
dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |
dc.title | Cryptic disc structures resembling ediacaran discoidal fossils from the lower Silurian Hellefjord Schist, Arctic Norway | |
dc.type | Journal Article | |
dcterms.source.volume | 11 | |
dcterms.source.number | 10 | |
dcterms.source.title | PLoS One | |
curtin.department | Department of Applied Geology | |
curtin.accessStatus | Open access |