Dickinsonia from the Ediacaran Dengying Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China

• Published in: Palaeoworld
• Main Authors: Wang, Xiao-Peng, Chen, Zhe, Pang, Ke, Zhou, Chuan-Ming, Xiao, Shuhai, Wan, Bin, Yuan, Xun-Lai
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: ELSEVIER 2021
• Subjects: Dickinsonia; Shibantan biota; Ediacaran; Yangtze Gorges area; South China; MICROBIAL MATS; TRACE FOSSIL; EVOLUTION; OXYGEN; BIOTA; AGE; PRESERVATION; COMPLEXITY; AFFINITY; ANIMALS; Paleontology; White Sea
• Online Access: http://ir.nigpas.ac.cn/handle/332004/40096; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palwor.2021.01.002

Dickinsonia is an iconic fossil of the Ediacara biota (similar to 575-539 Ma). It was previously known from siliciclastic successions of the White Sea assemblage in Australia, Baltica, and possibly India. Here we describe Dickinsonia sp. from the terminal Ediacaran Shibantan Member limestone (ca. 551-543 Ma) of the Dengying Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area of South China. The stratigraphic distribution of Ediacara-type fossils in the Shibantan Member indicates that this biota uniquely preserves both the White Sea and Nama assemblages in stratigraphic succession. The new data presented here suggests that Dickinsonia had wider paleogeographic and paleoenvironmental distributions, implying its strong dispersal capability and environmental tolerance. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. and Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS. All rights reserved.