Framboidal pyrite shroud confirms the 'death mask' model for moldic preservation of ediacaran soft-bodied organisms ...
Copyright © 2016, SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology). The mechanisms by which soft-bodied organisms were preserved in late Ediacaran deep-marine environments are revealed by petrographic and geochemical investigation of fossil-bearing surfaces from the Conception and St. John's groups (Newf...
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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Society for Sedimentary Geology
2016
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.36555 https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/289306 |
| Summary: | Copyright © 2016, SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology). The mechanisms by which soft-bodied organisms were preserved in late Ediacaran deep-marine environments are revealed by petrographic and geochemical investigation of fossil-bearing surfaces from the Conception and St. John's groups (Newfoundland, Canada). Framboidal pyrite veneers are documented on fossilbearing horizons at multiple localities. The pyrite is interpreted to have formed via microbial processes in the hours to weeks following burial of benthic communities. This finding extends the 'death mask' model for Ediacaran soft-tissue preservation to deep-marine settings. Remineralization of pyrite to iron oxides and oxyhydroxides is recognized to result from recent oxidation by meteoric fluids in the shallow subsurface. Consideration of other global Ediacaran macrofossil occurrences reveals that pyrite is observed in association with Ediacaran macrofossils preserved in all four previously described styles of moldic preservation (Flinders-, ... |
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