Geological significance of a Middle Cambrian fauna from Antarctica

• Published in: Nature
• Main Authors: Clarkson, P.D., Hughes, C.P., Thomson, M.R.A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1979
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; Shackleton; Shackleton Range; Blaiklock; Provender; Blaiklock Glacier; Mount Provender; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/525140/; https://doi.org/10.1038/279791a0

A NEW collection of a Cambrian fauna, occurring as erratics in a Quaternary moraine near Mount Provender (80°23′S, 29°55′W), western Shackleton Range (Fig. 1, inset) is reported here. It includes inarticulate brachiopods and trilobites, together with the first hyolithids and primitive molluscs from the area. Because of the isolation of the Shackleton Range, data on this fauna have accumulated only slowly1–4. It is important because it is located at a geographical extreme of the known extent of the Cambrian in Antarctica, and because is represents a contribution to our knowledge of world Cambrian faunas. Although the provenance of the fossiliferous erratics is problematical, it has important stratigraphical implications concerning the controversial age of the Blaiklock Glacier Group, for which ages as far apart as Cambro-Ordovician2,3 and Permian1 have been considered.