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Silicified tubular microfossils from the Upper Doushantuo Formation (Ediacaran) in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Pengju Liu ,
Shuhai Xiao ,
Chongyu Yin ,
Feng Tang  and
Linzhi Gao
Pengju Liu
Affiliation:
1Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Science, Beijing 100037, China,
Shuhai Xiao
Affiliation:
2Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA
Chongyu Yin
Affiliation:
1Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Science, Beijing 100037, China,
Feng Tang
Affiliation:
1Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Science, Beijing 100037, China,
Linzhi Gao
Affiliation:
1Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Science, Beijing 100037, China,
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Extract

The ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area (Fig. 1.2) contains abundant silicified cyanobacterial coccoids and filaments (Y. Zhang et al., 1998), acanthomorphic acritarchs (Zhou et al., 2007), multicellular algae (Xiao, 2004), and possible animal embryos (L. Yin et al., 2007). These silicified fossils are taxonomically similar to the phosphatized fossils in the Doushantuo Formation of the Weng'an area, South China (Y. Zhang et al., 1998). However, the Weng'an assemblage contains tubular microfossils that have not been previously documented in the Yangtze Gorges area. Here we report the occurrence of secondarily silicified tubular microfossils—Sinocyclocyclicus guizhouensis (Xue et al., 1992) and Yangtzitubus semiteres new genus and species—from lenticular cherts in the upper Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area. Of the two named taxa, Sinocyclocyclicus guizhouensis was previously known from the Weng'an area (Liu et al., 2008). The new data extend the geographic, taphonomic, and environmental distribution of Doushantuo tubular microfossils. A fuller documentation of the Doushantuo biodiversity is also important to the evaluation of possible taphonomic or environmental biases among the three exceptional taphonomic windows—carbonaceous compression (Xiao et al., 2002), phosphatization (Xiao and Knoll, 1999), and silicification (Y. Zhang et al., 1998)—in Doushantuo black shales, phosphorites, and cherts, respectively.

Type
Paleontological Notes
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 83 , Issue 4 , July 2009 , pp. 630 - 633
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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