Mistaken Point Formation
Mistaken Point Formation | |
---|---|
Ma (Ediacaran) | |
Formation | |
Unit of | Conception Group[1] |
Underlies | Trepassey Formation[2] |
Overlies | Drook Formation[2] |
Location | |
Region | Newfoundland |
Country | Canada |
Outcrop occurrence of the Mistaken Point formation in southeast Newfoundland |
The Mistaken Point Formation
Geology
Mistaken Point Formation includes many fine ash-beds, which are a good source of
These fine-grained volcanic ash beds also preserve finely detailed fossils.[4][5]
Fossils
Mistaken Point contains some of the oldest
Some of the forms here appear to survive until the extinction of the Ediacaran biota at the base of the Cambrian. The evolutionary history of these forms is unknown, though hypotheses exist.[6]
Discovery of Ediacaran fossils in the Avalon Peninsula
In the summer of 1967,
These unusual impressions of previously unknown soft-bodied sea animals on the surfaces of
The description of the fossil assemblage together with their mode of occurrence, the cause of sudden death, ecological conditions and chronological position form part of Misra's detailed thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Science. The discovery was reported in a 1968 letter to Nature.[9] Misra described the Mistaken Point fauna in detail in 1969, in a paper published in the Bulletin of the Geological Society of America.[10] He sorted the fossil assemblage into five groups, namely spindle-shaped, leaf-shaped, round lobate, dendrite like, and radiating. Each group was defined in terms of distribution and form, sub-categories and biological affinity.[7]
The geological environment of the fossil-bearing rocks and the ecology of the animals that lived and died in the Conception Sea were described by Misra in two of his subsequent papers published in the Bulletin of the Geological Society of America in 1971[11] and in the Journal of the Geological Society of India in 1981.[4] Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve is a 5.7-square kilometer area of the coast that protects the fossils.[8]
The sudden appearance of Ediacaran soft bodied organisms in the Mistaken Point assemblage has been called the 'Ediacaran Explosion' or 'Avalon Explosion' [12]
See also
References
- Various Contributors to the Paleobiology Database. "Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database". Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ A.G. Liu; D. McIlroy (September 2014). "Horizontal Surface Traces from the Fermeuse Formation, Ferryland (Newfoundland, Canada), and their Place within the Late Ediacaran Ichnological Revolution" (PDF). Geological Association of Canada - Special Paper (9).[dead link]
- ^ a b http://geoatlas.gov.nl.ca/Default.htm
- ^ Williams, H.; King, A.F (1979). Trepassey map area, Newfoundland (Report). Geological Survey of Canada.
- ^ Misra, S.B. (August 1981). "Depositional Environment of the Late Precambrian Fossil-Bearing rocks of Southeastern Newfoundland, Canada". Journal of Geological Society of India. 22 (8).
- S2CID 205674433.
- ^ Misra, S.B. (2010). "ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE EDIACARAN FAUNA AT MISTAKEN POINT, NEWFOUNDLAND, CANADA: A HYPOTHESIS". Journal of the Palaeontological Society of India. 55 (2): 177–182.
- ^ a b "Mistaken Point, Newfoundland". www.ucmp.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2017-07-16.
- ^ a b c "Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve". Newfoundland and Labrador, Dept. of Environment and Conservation.
- S2CID 4170629.
- .
- .
- S2CID 206509488.