Biostratinomy of the Ediacara Member (Rawnsley Quartzite, South Australia): implications for depositional environments, ecology and biology of Ediacara organisms.

ABSTRACT: The Precambrian Ediacara Biota-Earth's earliest fossil record of communities of macroscopic, multicellular organisms-provides critical insights into the emergence of complex life on our planet. Excavation and reconstruction of nearly 300 m² of fossiliferous bedding planes in the Ediacara Member of the Rawnsley Quartzite, at the National Heritage Ediacara fossil site Nilpena in South Australia, have permitted detailed study of the sedimentology, taphonomy and palaeoecology of Ediacara fossil assemblages. Characterization of Ediacara macrofossils and textured organic surfaces at the scale of facies, bedding planes and individual specimens has yielded unprecedented insight into the manner in which the palaeoenvironmental settings inhabited by Ediacara communities-particularly hydro

SUBMITTER: Droser ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7333909 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature