Late Ediacaran life on land: desiccated microbial mats and large biofilm streamers
The Ediacaran period witnessed transformational change across the Earth–life system, but life on land during this interval is poorly understood. Non-marine/transitional Ediacaran sediments preserve a variety of probable microbially induced sedimentary structures and fossil matgrounds, and the ecolog...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1875 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2021.1875 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2021.1875 |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2021.1875 2024-06-23T07:54:47+00:00 Late Ediacaran life on land: desiccated microbial mats and large biofilm streamers McMahon, S. Matthews, J. J. Brasier, A. Still, J. NASA Astrobiology Institute Government of Newfoundland and Labrador Geological Society of London Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1875 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2021.1875 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2021.1875 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 288, issue 1962 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 journal-article 2021 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1875 2024-06-10T04:15:08Z The Ediacaran period witnessed transformational change across the Earth–life system, but life on land during this interval is poorly understood. Non-marine/transitional Ediacaran sediments preserve a variety of probable microbially induced sedimentary structures and fossil matgrounds, and the ecology, biogeochemistry and sedimentological impacts of the organisms responsible are now ripe for investigation. Here, we report well-preserved fossils from emergent siliciclastic depositional environments in the Ediacaran of Newfoundland, Canada. These include exquisite, mouldically preserved microbial mats with desiccation cracks and flip-overs, abundant Arumberia -type fossils and, most notably, assemblages of centimetre-to-metre-scale, subparallel, branching, overlapping, gently curving ribbon-like features preserved by aluminosilicate and phosphate minerals, with associated filamentous microfossils. We present morphological, petrographic and taphonomic evidence that the ribbons are best interpreted as fossilized current-induced biofilm streamers, the earliest record of an important mode of life (macroscopic streamer formation) for terrestrial microbial ecosystems today. Their presence shows that late Ediacaran terrestrial environments could produce substantial biomass, and supports recent interpretations of Arumberia as a current-influenced microbial mat fossil, which we here suggest existed on a ‘streamer–arumberiamorph spectrum’. Finally, the absence of classic Ediacaran macrobiota from these rocks despite evidently favourable conditions for soft tissue preservation upholds the consensus that those organisms were exclusively marine. Article in Journal/Newspaper Newfoundland The Royal Society Canada Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 288 1962 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
The Ediacaran period witnessed transformational change across the Earth–life system, but life on land during this interval is poorly understood. Non-marine/transitional Ediacaran sediments preserve a variety of probable microbially induced sedimentary structures and fossil matgrounds, and the ecology, biogeochemistry and sedimentological impacts of the organisms responsible are now ripe for investigation. Here, we report well-preserved fossils from emergent siliciclastic depositional environments in the Ediacaran of Newfoundland, Canada. These include exquisite, mouldically preserved microbial mats with desiccation cracks and flip-overs, abundant Arumberia -type fossils and, most notably, assemblages of centimetre-to-metre-scale, subparallel, branching, overlapping, gently curving ribbon-like features preserved by aluminosilicate and phosphate minerals, with associated filamentous microfossils. We present morphological, petrographic and taphonomic evidence that the ribbons are best interpreted as fossilized current-induced biofilm streamers, the earliest record of an important mode of life (macroscopic streamer formation) for terrestrial microbial ecosystems today. Their presence shows that late Ediacaran terrestrial environments could produce substantial biomass, and supports recent interpretations of Arumberia as a current-influenced microbial mat fossil, which we here suggest existed on a ‘streamer–arumberiamorph spectrum’. Finally, the absence of classic Ediacaran macrobiota from these rocks despite evidently favourable conditions for soft tissue preservation upholds the consensus that those organisms were exclusively marine. |
author2 |
NASA Astrobiology Institute Government of Newfoundland and Labrador Geological Society of London Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McMahon, S. Matthews, J. J. Brasier, A. Still, J. |
spellingShingle |
McMahon, S. Matthews, J. J. Brasier, A. Still, J. Late Ediacaran life on land: desiccated microbial mats and large biofilm streamers |
author_facet |
McMahon, S. Matthews, J. J. Brasier, A. Still, J. |
author_sort |
McMahon, S. |
title |
Late Ediacaran life on land: desiccated microbial mats and large biofilm streamers |
title_short |
Late Ediacaran life on land: desiccated microbial mats and large biofilm streamers |
title_full |
Late Ediacaran life on land: desiccated microbial mats and large biofilm streamers |
title_fullStr |
Late Ediacaran life on land: desiccated microbial mats and large biofilm streamers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Late Ediacaran life on land: desiccated microbial mats and large biofilm streamers |
title_sort |
late ediacaran life on land: desiccated microbial mats and large biofilm streamers |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1875 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2021.1875 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2021.1875 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 288, issue 1962 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1875 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
288 |
container_issue |
1962 |
_version_ |
1802647049633529856 |