Metamorphism obscures primary taphonomic pathways in the early Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, North Greenland
Correct interpretation of soft-bodied fossils relies on a thorough understanding of their taphonomy. While the focus has often been on the primary roles of decay and early diagenesis, the impacts of deeper burial and metamorphism on fossil preservation are less well understood. We document a sequenc...
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Language: | English |
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Geological Society of America
2022
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Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/531611/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/531611/1/g48906.1.pdf https://doi.org/10.1130/G48906.1 |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:531611 2023-05-15T16:28:06+02:00 Metamorphism obscures primary taphonomic pathways in the early Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, North Greenland Nielsen, Morten Lunde Lee, Mirinae Ng, Hong Chin Rushton, Jeremy C. Hendry, Katharine R. Kihm, Ji-Hoon Nielsen, Arne T. Park, Tae-Yoon S. Vinther, Jakob Wilby, Philip R. 2022-01 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/531611/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/531611/1/g48906.1.pdf https://doi.org/10.1130/G48906.1 en eng Geological Society of America https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/531611/1/g48906.1.pdf Nielsen, Morten Lunde; Lee, Mirinae; Ng, Hong Chin; Rushton, Jeremy C. orcid:0000-0001-5931-7537 Hendry, Katharine R.; Kihm, Ji-Hoon; Nielsen, Arne T.; Park, Tae-Yoon S.; Vinther, Jakob; Wilby, Philip R. 2022 Metamorphism obscures primary taphonomic pathways in the early Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, North Greenland. Geology, 50 (1). 4-9. https://doi.org/10.1130/G48906.1 <https://doi.org/10.1130/G48906.1> cc_by_4 CC-BY Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2022 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1130/G48906.1 2023-02-04T19:52:51Z Correct interpretation of soft-bodied fossils relies on a thorough understanding of their taphonomy. While the focus has often been on the primary roles of decay and early diagenesis, the impacts of deeper burial and metamorphism on fossil preservation are less well understood. We document a sequence of late-stage mineral replacements in panarthropod fossils from the Sirius Passet Lagerstätte (North Greenland), an important early Cambrian Burgess Shale–type (BST) biota. Muscle and gut diverticula were initially stabilized by early diagenetic apatite, prior to being pervasively replaced by quartz and then subordinate chlorite, muscovite, and chloritoid during very low- to low-grade metamorphism. Each new mineral replicates the soft tissues with different precision and occurs in particular anatomical regions, imposing strong biases on the biological information retained. Muscovite and chloritoid largely obliterate the tissues’ original detail, suggesting that aluminum-rich protoliths may have least potential for conserving mineralized soft tissues in metamorphism. Overall, the fossils exhibit a marked shift toward mineralogical equilibration with the matrix, obscuring primary taphonomic modes. Sequential replacement of the phosphatized soft tissues released phosphorus to form new accessory monazite (and apatite and xenotime), whose presence in other BST biotas might signal the prior, more widespread, occurrence of this primary mode of preservation. Our results provide critical context for interpreting the Sirius Passet biota and for identifying late-stage overprints in other biotas. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland North Greenland Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Greenland Burgess ENVELOPE(76.128,76.128,-69.415,-69.415) Sirius ENVELOPE(163.250,163.250,-84.133,-84.133) Geology 50 1 4 9 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
Correct interpretation of soft-bodied fossils relies on a thorough understanding of their taphonomy. While the focus has often been on the primary roles of decay and early diagenesis, the impacts of deeper burial and metamorphism on fossil preservation are less well understood. We document a sequence of late-stage mineral replacements in panarthropod fossils from the Sirius Passet Lagerstätte (North Greenland), an important early Cambrian Burgess Shale–type (BST) biota. Muscle and gut diverticula were initially stabilized by early diagenetic apatite, prior to being pervasively replaced by quartz and then subordinate chlorite, muscovite, and chloritoid during very low- to low-grade metamorphism. Each new mineral replicates the soft tissues with different precision and occurs in particular anatomical regions, imposing strong biases on the biological information retained. Muscovite and chloritoid largely obliterate the tissues’ original detail, suggesting that aluminum-rich protoliths may have least potential for conserving mineralized soft tissues in metamorphism. Overall, the fossils exhibit a marked shift toward mineralogical equilibration with the matrix, obscuring primary taphonomic modes. Sequential replacement of the phosphatized soft tissues released phosphorus to form new accessory monazite (and apatite and xenotime), whose presence in other BST biotas might signal the prior, more widespread, occurrence of this primary mode of preservation. Our results provide critical context for interpreting the Sirius Passet biota and for identifying late-stage overprints in other biotas. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Nielsen, Morten Lunde Lee, Mirinae Ng, Hong Chin Rushton, Jeremy C. Hendry, Katharine R. Kihm, Ji-Hoon Nielsen, Arne T. Park, Tae-Yoon S. Vinther, Jakob Wilby, Philip R. |
spellingShingle |
Nielsen, Morten Lunde Lee, Mirinae Ng, Hong Chin Rushton, Jeremy C. Hendry, Katharine R. Kihm, Ji-Hoon Nielsen, Arne T. Park, Tae-Yoon S. Vinther, Jakob Wilby, Philip R. Metamorphism obscures primary taphonomic pathways in the early Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, North Greenland |
author_facet |
Nielsen, Morten Lunde Lee, Mirinae Ng, Hong Chin Rushton, Jeremy C. Hendry, Katharine R. Kihm, Ji-Hoon Nielsen, Arne T. Park, Tae-Yoon S. Vinther, Jakob Wilby, Philip R. |
author_sort |
Nielsen, Morten Lunde |
title |
Metamorphism obscures primary taphonomic pathways in the early Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, North Greenland |
title_short |
Metamorphism obscures primary taphonomic pathways in the early Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, North Greenland |
title_full |
Metamorphism obscures primary taphonomic pathways in the early Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, North Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Metamorphism obscures primary taphonomic pathways in the early Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, North Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Metamorphism obscures primary taphonomic pathways in the early Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, North Greenland |
title_sort |
metamorphism obscures primary taphonomic pathways in the early cambrian sirius passet lagerstätte, north greenland |
publisher |
Geological Society of America |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/531611/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/531611/1/g48906.1.pdf https://doi.org/10.1130/G48906.1 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(76.128,76.128,-69.415,-69.415) ENVELOPE(163.250,163.250,-84.133,-84.133) |
geographic |
Greenland Burgess Sirius |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Burgess Sirius |
genre |
Greenland North Greenland |
genre_facet |
Greenland North Greenland |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/531611/1/g48906.1.pdf Nielsen, Morten Lunde; Lee, Mirinae; Ng, Hong Chin; Rushton, Jeremy C. orcid:0000-0001-5931-7537 Hendry, Katharine R.; Kihm, Ji-Hoon; Nielsen, Arne T.; Park, Tae-Yoon S.; Vinther, Jakob; Wilby, Philip R. 2022 Metamorphism obscures primary taphonomic pathways in the early Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, North Greenland. Geology, 50 (1). 4-9. https://doi.org/10.1130/G48906.1 <https://doi.org/10.1130/G48906.1> |
op_rights |
cc_by_4 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1130/G48906.1 |
container_title |
Geology |
container_volume |
50 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
4 |
op_container_end_page |
9 |
_version_ |
1766017732646535168 |