Insights into the palaeobiology of Ediacara-type fossils from South Africa and Arctic Norway: Investigating rare internal structures with po ...

• Main Authors: Ebbestad, Jan Ove, Högström, Anette, Mataboge, Bontle, Taylor, Wendy
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: European Synchrotron Radiation Facility 2027
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; ES-1459; BM05; Arctic; Norway; Vestertana; Finnmark; Northern Norway
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.15151/esrf-es-1560208783; https://doi.esrf.fr/10.15151/ESRF-ES-1560208783

The Ediacara biota is an assemblage of soft-bodied, multicellular animals present as fossils in rocks from the Ediacaran Period (635-541 Ma). Nearly all are preserved as casts and moulds in course-grained siliciclastic rocks. The study of well-preserved specimens can help unravel their palaeobiology and provide keys to their relationships with modern taxa. Synchrotron microtomography offers a non-destructive method to study the remnants of important internal morphology present in Ediacara-type fossils from deposits in South Africa and Arctic Norway. Fossils from the Nama Group in the Northern Cape of South Africa and the Vestertana Group in Finnmark, northern Norway are important assemblages that have been relatively understudied. The specimens chosen for analysis represent the best preserved Ediacara-type fossils that have been found to date in both countries. We hypothesize that the internal features present in several of our specimens indicate affinities with early sponges. ...