The Sirius Passet Lagerstätte of North Greenland: a remote window on the Cambrian Explosion

The lower Cambrian Lagerstätte of Sirius Passet, Nansen Land, North Greenland, is one of the oldest of the Phanerozoic, exceptionally preserved biotas. The Lagerstätte evidences the escalation of numbers of new body plans and life modes that formed the basis for a modern, functionally tiered ecosyst...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Geological Society
Main Authors: Harper, D, Hammarlund, E, Topper, T, Nielsen, A, Rasmussen, J, Park, T, Smith, M
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Geological Society of London 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2019-043
https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:adb2c94e-1dec-492a-8d8d-177b1df5ec8b
Description
Summary:The lower Cambrian Lagerstätte of Sirius Passet, Nansen Land, North Greenland, is one of the oldest of the Phanerozoic, exceptionally preserved biotas. The Lagerstätte evidences the escalation of numbers of new body plans and life modes that formed the basis for a modern, functionally tiered ecosystem. The fauna is dominated by predators – infaunal, benthic and pelagic – and the presence of abundant nekton, including large sweep-net feeders, suggests an ecosystem rich in nutrients. Recent discoveries have helped reconstruct digestive systems and their contents; muscle fibres; and visual and nervous systems, for a number of taxa. New collections have confirmed the complex combination of taphonomic pathways associated with the biota and its potentially substantial biodiversity. These complex animal-based communities within the Buen Formation were associated with microbial matgrounds, now preserved in black mudstones deposited below storm-wave base that provide insight to the shift from late Neoproterozoic (Ediacaran) to Cambrian substrates and communities. Moreover, the encasing sediment holds important data on the palaeoenvironment and the water-column chemistry, suggesting that these animal-based communities developed in conditions with very low oxygen concentrations.