The Sirius Passet Fauna, an Early Cambrian Lagerstätte from North Greenland
The Sirius Passet Fauna of North Greenland is one of the oldest Cambrian lagerstätten from the North American continent. It is known from a single locality in Peary Land (83°N, 40°W), on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, where outer shelf mudstones from the lower part of the Buen Formation (Early Camb...
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1992
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s2475262200007930 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S2475262200007930 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s2475262200007930 2023-05-15T15:18:42+02:00 The Sirius Passet Fauna, an Early Cambrian Lagerstätte from North Greenland Peel, John S. Conway Morris, Simon Ineson, Jon R. 1992 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s2475262200007930 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S2475262200007930 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms The Paleontological Society Special Publications volume 6, page 233-233 ISSN 2475-2622 2475-2681 journal-article 1992 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s2475262200007930 2022-04-07T08:00:48Z The Sirius Passet Fauna of North Greenland is one of the oldest Cambrian lagerstätten from the North American continent. It is known from a single locality in Peary Land (83°N, 40°W), on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, where outer shelf mudstones from the lower part of the Buen Formation (Early Cambrian) yield a rich assemblage of mainly poorly skeletised organisms with preserved soft parts. The steeply-dipping fossiliferous mudstones occur in close proximity to horizontally-bedded platform carbonates of the underlying Portfjeld Formation (Early Cambrian) in a structurally complex terrane. The boundary between the fossiliferous mudstones and the platform carbonates apparently defines the original northern margin of the carbonate platform and is not, as previously suggested, a structural feature, although some minor tectonic modification can not be excluded. Thus, the fossiliferous mudstones were apparently deposited in a transitional slope setting basinward of the shelf edge. As currently known, the Sirius Passet Fauna comprises about 40 species, based on a collection of almost 5,000 slabs collected during brief visits to the isolated locality in 1989 and 1991. Arthropods dominate, with bivalved bradoriids and the trilobite Buenellus higginsi Blaker, 1988 being the numerically most abundant taxa. Weakly skeletised Naraoia -like and Sidneyia -like arthropods often preserve limbs and gills, as do bivalved arthropods similar to Waptia. Choia is the most common of several sponges. Worms include both priapulids and polychaetes, with a large palaeoscolecidan being conspicuous. Fully articulated specimens of halkieriid worms, clad in an armour of hundreds of individual sclerites, are most notable amongst several problematic taxa. Rare specimens of possible onychophorans are also present, while brachiopods, hyoliths and other shelly fossils are rare or absent. The Sirius Passet Fauna seems to show little taxonomic similarity to the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of western Canada or the Chengjiang Fauna from the Lower Cambrian of China at the generic level. Together with the latter fauna, however, it confirms both the general picture of Cambrian life presented by the Burgess Shale, and the existence of this great diversity of weakly skeletised arthropods already in the Early Cambrian. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland North Greenland Peary Land Cambridge University Press (via Crossref) Arctic Arctic Ocean Canada Greenland Peary ENVELOPE(-63.867,-63.867,-65.250,-65.250) Burgess ENVELOPE(76.128,76.128,-69.415,-69.415) Sirius ENVELOPE(163.250,163.250,-84.133,-84.133) Peary Land ENVELOPE(-32.500,-32.500,82.633,82.633) The Paleontological Society Special Publications 6 233 233 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
The Sirius Passet Fauna of North Greenland is one of the oldest Cambrian lagerstätten from the North American continent. It is known from a single locality in Peary Land (83°N, 40°W), on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, where outer shelf mudstones from the lower part of the Buen Formation (Early Cambrian) yield a rich assemblage of mainly poorly skeletised organisms with preserved soft parts. The steeply-dipping fossiliferous mudstones occur in close proximity to horizontally-bedded platform carbonates of the underlying Portfjeld Formation (Early Cambrian) in a structurally complex terrane. The boundary between the fossiliferous mudstones and the platform carbonates apparently defines the original northern margin of the carbonate platform and is not, as previously suggested, a structural feature, although some minor tectonic modification can not be excluded. Thus, the fossiliferous mudstones were apparently deposited in a transitional slope setting basinward of the shelf edge. As currently known, the Sirius Passet Fauna comprises about 40 species, based on a collection of almost 5,000 slabs collected during brief visits to the isolated locality in 1989 and 1991. Arthropods dominate, with bivalved bradoriids and the trilobite Buenellus higginsi Blaker, 1988 being the numerically most abundant taxa. Weakly skeletised Naraoia -like and Sidneyia -like arthropods often preserve limbs and gills, as do bivalved arthropods similar to Waptia. Choia is the most common of several sponges. Worms include both priapulids and polychaetes, with a large palaeoscolecidan being conspicuous. Fully articulated specimens of halkieriid worms, clad in an armour of hundreds of individual sclerites, are most notable amongst several problematic taxa. Rare specimens of possible onychophorans are also present, while brachiopods, hyoliths and other shelly fossils are rare or absent. The Sirius Passet Fauna seems to show little taxonomic similarity to the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of western Canada or the Chengjiang Fauna from the Lower Cambrian of China at the generic level. Together with the latter fauna, however, it confirms both the general picture of Cambrian life presented by the Burgess Shale, and the existence of this great diversity of weakly skeletised arthropods already in the Early Cambrian. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Peel, John S. Conway Morris, Simon Ineson, Jon R. |
spellingShingle |
Peel, John S. Conway Morris, Simon Ineson, Jon R. The Sirius Passet Fauna, an Early Cambrian Lagerstätte from North Greenland |
author_facet |
Peel, John S. Conway Morris, Simon Ineson, Jon R. |
author_sort |
Peel, John S. |
title |
The Sirius Passet Fauna, an Early Cambrian Lagerstätte from North Greenland |
title_short |
The Sirius Passet Fauna, an Early Cambrian Lagerstätte from North Greenland |
title_full |
The Sirius Passet Fauna, an Early Cambrian Lagerstätte from North Greenland |
title_fullStr |
The Sirius Passet Fauna, an Early Cambrian Lagerstätte from North Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Sirius Passet Fauna, an Early Cambrian Lagerstätte from North Greenland |
title_sort |
sirius passet fauna, an early cambrian lagerstätte from north greenland |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
1992 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s2475262200007930 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S2475262200007930 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-63.867,-63.867,-65.250,-65.250) ENVELOPE(76.128,76.128,-69.415,-69.415) ENVELOPE(163.250,163.250,-84.133,-84.133) ENVELOPE(-32.500,-32.500,82.633,82.633) |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Canada Greenland Peary Burgess Sirius Peary Land |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Canada Greenland Peary Burgess Sirius Peary Land |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland North Greenland Peary Land |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland North Greenland Peary Land |
op_source |
The Paleontological Society Special Publications volume 6, page 233-233 ISSN 2475-2622 2475-2681 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s2475262200007930 |
container_title |
The Paleontological Society Special Publications |
container_volume |
6 |
container_start_page |
233 |
op_container_end_page |
233 |
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1766348885643493376 |