Aluminosilicate haloes preserve complex life approximately 800 million years ago
Mudstone-hosted microfossils are a major component of the Proterozoic fossil record, particularly dominating the record of early eukaryotic life. Early organisms possessed no biomineralized parts to resist decay and controls on their fossilization in mudstones are poorly understood. Consequently, th...
Published in: | Interface Focus |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Royal Society
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2020.0011 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d246efea-f15d-4f60-aa51-ee32188d8f95 |
id |
ftuloxford:oai:ora.ox.ac.uk:uuid:d246efea-f15d-4f60-aa51-ee32188d8f95 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftuloxford:oai:ora.ox.ac.uk:uuid:d246efea-f15d-4f60-aa51-ee32188d8f95 2023-05-15T15:07:46+02:00 Aluminosilicate haloes preserve complex life approximately 800 million years ago Anderson, RP Tosca, NJ Cinque, G Frogley, MD Lekkas, I Akey, A Hughes, GM Bergmann, KD Knoll, AH Briggs, DEG 2020-04-24 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2020.0011 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d246efea-f15d-4f60-aa51-ee32188d8f95 eng eng Royal Society doi:10.1098/rsfs.2020.0011 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d246efea-f15d-4f60-aa51-ee32188d8f95 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2020.0011 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Journal article 2020 ftuloxford https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2020.0011 2022-06-28T20:24:41Z Mudstone-hosted microfossils are a major component of the Proterozoic fossil record, particularly dominating the record of early eukaryotic life. Early organisms possessed no biomineralized parts to resist decay and controls on their fossilization in mudstones are poorly understood. Consequently, the Proterozoic fossil record is compromised—we do not know whether changing temporal/spatial patterns of microfossil occurrences reflect evolution or the distribution of favourable fossilization conditions. We investigated fossilization within the approximately 1000 Ma Lakhanda Group (Russia) and the approximately 800 Ma Svanbergfjellet and Wynniatt formations (Svalbard and Arctic Canada). Vertical sections of microfossils and surrounding matrices were extracted from thin sections by focused ion beam milling. Elemental mapping and synchrotron-based infrared microspectroscopy revealed that microfossils are surrounded by haloes rich in aluminium, probably hosted in kaolinite. Kaolinite has been implicated in Cambrian Burgess Shale-type (BST) fossilization and is known to slow the growth of degraders. The Neoproterozoic mudstone microfossil record may be biased to tropical settings conducive to kaolinite formation. These deposits lack metazoan fossils even though they share fossilization conditions with younger BST deposits that are capable of preserving non-mineralizing metazoans. Thus metazoans, at least those typically preserved in BST deposits, were probably absent from sedimentary environments before approximately 800 Ma. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Svalbard ORA - Oxford University Research Archive Arctic Burgess ENVELOPE(76.128,76.128,-69.415,-69.415) Canada Svalbard Svanbergfjellet ENVELOPE(18.194,18.194,78.682,78.682) Interface Focus 10 4 20200011 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
ORA - Oxford University Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftuloxford |
language |
English |
description |
Mudstone-hosted microfossils are a major component of the Proterozoic fossil record, particularly dominating the record of early eukaryotic life. Early organisms possessed no biomineralized parts to resist decay and controls on their fossilization in mudstones are poorly understood. Consequently, the Proterozoic fossil record is compromised—we do not know whether changing temporal/spatial patterns of microfossil occurrences reflect evolution or the distribution of favourable fossilization conditions. We investigated fossilization within the approximately 1000 Ma Lakhanda Group (Russia) and the approximately 800 Ma Svanbergfjellet and Wynniatt formations (Svalbard and Arctic Canada). Vertical sections of microfossils and surrounding matrices were extracted from thin sections by focused ion beam milling. Elemental mapping and synchrotron-based infrared microspectroscopy revealed that microfossils are surrounded by haloes rich in aluminium, probably hosted in kaolinite. Kaolinite has been implicated in Cambrian Burgess Shale-type (BST) fossilization and is known to slow the growth of degraders. The Neoproterozoic mudstone microfossil record may be biased to tropical settings conducive to kaolinite formation. These deposits lack metazoan fossils even though they share fossilization conditions with younger BST deposits that are capable of preserving non-mineralizing metazoans. Thus metazoans, at least those typically preserved in BST deposits, were probably absent from sedimentary environments before approximately 800 Ma. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Anderson, RP Tosca, NJ Cinque, G Frogley, MD Lekkas, I Akey, A Hughes, GM Bergmann, KD Knoll, AH Briggs, DEG |
spellingShingle |
Anderson, RP Tosca, NJ Cinque, G Frogley, MD Lekkas, I Akey, A Hughes, GM Bergmann, KD Knoll, AH Briggs, DEG Aluminosilicate haloes preserve complex life approximately 800 million years ago |
author_facet |
Anderson, RP Tosca, NJ Cinque, G Frogley, MD Lekkas, I Akey, A Hughes, GM Bergmann, KD Knoll, AH Briggs, DEG |
author_sort |
Anderson, RP |
title |
Aluminosilicate haloes preserve complex life approximately 800 million years ago |
title_short |
Aluminosilicate haloes preserve complex life approximately 800 million years ago |
title_full |
Aluminosilicate haloes preserve complex life approximately 800 million years ago |
title_fullStr |
Aluminosilicate haloes preserve complex life approximately 800 million years ago |
title_full_unstemmed |
Aluminosilicate haloes preserve complex life approximately 800 million years ago |
title_sort |
aluminosilicate haloes preserve complex life approximately 800 million years ago |
publisher |
Royal Society |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2020.0011 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d246efea-f15d-4f60-aa51-ee32188d8f95 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(76.128,76.128,-69.415,-69.415) ENVELOPE(18.194,18.194,78.682,78.682) |
geographic |
Arctic Burgess Canada Svalbard Svanbergfjellet |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Burgess Canada Svalbard Svanbergfjellet |
genre |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
op_relation |
doi:10.1098/rsfs.2020.0011 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d246efea-f15d-4f60-aa51-ee32188d8f95 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2020.0011 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2020.0011 |
container_title |
Interface Focus |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
20200011 |
_version_ |
1766339191049814016 |