Open AccessTrace fossils from the Lower Cambrian Bastion Formation of North-East Greenland
Author(s) -
Ron K. Pickerill,
John S. Peel
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
rapport
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2597-2944
pISSN - 0418-6559
DOI - 10.34194/rapggu.v147.8105
Subject(s) - trace fossil , paleontology , geology , siliciclastic , ordovician , assemblage (archaeology) , paleozoic , sedimentary depositional environment , structural basin
New trace fossil collections are described from Lower Cambrian siliciclastic shallow marine shelf deposits of the Bastion Formation of North-East Greenland, together with a taxonomic re-assessment of previously reported material. The entire assemblage comprises 19 ichnogenera, 25 ichnospecies, as well as two vernacular ichnotaxa. Although no new ichnotaxa are present the material reveals new information on the 3-dimensional structure of two of the contained ichnogenera, namely Plagiogmus Roedel and Psammichnites TorelI. The stratigraphic range of a single ichnospecies, Rusophycus latus Webby, is formally extended from the Lower Ordovician to the Lower Cambrian. The assemblage compares favourably with Lower Cambrian ichnocoenoses described from other continents, particularly at the ichnogeneric level. Comparison with similar sequences suggests that the sub-trilobitic Lower Bastion Formation is late Tommotian to early Atdabanian in age, possibly entirely Atdabanian.