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  • Systematic paleontology, acritarch biostratigraphy, and δ 13 C chemostratigraphy of the early Ediacaran Krol A Formation, Lesser Himalaya, northern India
Title: Systematic paleontology, acritarch biostratigraphy, and δ 13 C chemostratigraphy of the early Ediacaran Krol A Formation, Lesser Himalaya, northern India
Abstract Acritarch biostratigraphic and δ 13 C chemostratigraphic data from the Krol A Formation in the Solan area (Lesser Himalaya, northern India) are integrated to aid inter-basinal correlation of early–middle Ediacaran strata. We identified a prominent negative δ 13 C excursion (likely equivalent to EN2 in the lower Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area of South China), over a dozen species of acanthomorphs (including two new species— Cavaspina tiwariae Xiao n. sp., Dictyotidium grazhdankinii Xiao n. sp.), and numerous other microfossils from an interval in the Krol A Formation. Most microfossil taxa from the Krol A and the underlying Infra-Krol formations are also present in the Doushantuo Formation. Infra-Krol acanthomorphs support a correlation with the earliest Doushantuo biozone: the Appendisphaera grandis - Weissiella grandistella - Tianzhushania spinosa Assemblage Zone. Krol A microfossils indicate a correlation with the second or (more likely, when δ 13 C data are considered) the third biozone in the lower Doushantuo Formation (i.e., the Tanarium tuberosum - Schizofusa zangwenlongii or Tanarium conoideum - Cavaspina basiconica Assemblage Zone). The association of acanthomorphs with EN2 in the Krol Formation fills a critical gap in South China where chert nodules, and thus acanthomorphs, are rare in the EN2 interval. Like many other Ediacaran acanthomorphs assemblages, Krol A and Doushantuo acanthomorphs are distributed in low paleolatitudes, and they may represent a distinct paleobiogeographic province in east Gondwana. The Indian data affirm the stratigraphic significance of acanthomorphs and δ 13 C, clarify key issues of lower Ediacaran bio- and chemostratigraphic correlation, and strengthen the basis for the study of Ediacaran eukaryote evolution and paleobiogeography. UUID: http://zoobank.org/5289fdb2-0e49-4b3b-880f-f5b21acab371 .  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2021207
PAR ID:
10349510
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Paleontology
ISSN:
0022-3360
Page Range / eLocation ID:
1 to 62
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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