An Ordovician age for the Muggort's Bay Lower Palaeozoic inlier,County Waterford,Ireland—the southernmost exposure of the Irish Caledonides

The most southerly exposed Lower Palaeozoic strata in Ireland occur on the southwest coast of County Waterford along a 2.5 km long coastal section at Muggort's Bay where they are surrounded by Devonian rocks. Five formations can be distinguished which, in ascending order, are: the Ballycurreen, Carrickbrean, Rathnameenagh, Moanbrack and Killinoorin formations. The total thickness of the succession is over 1800 m. No macrofossils are present, but the lithologies are largely fine‐grained turbidites and subordinate volcanic rocks which closely resemble the Ribband Group seen elsewhere in southeast Ireland and have previously therefore been classified with it. Palynological analysis was undertaken on 25 samples collected from Muggort's Bay, of which eight were productive. Diagnostic microfossils, comprising acritarchs, chitinozoans and scolecodonts, indicate an Early to Middle Ordovician age for both the Rathnameenagh and the Moanbrack formations. These ages confirm that the strata are part of the Ribband Group which elsewhere has been biostratigraphically dated as ranging from Mid‐Cambrian to Mid‐Ordovician. Reworked mid‐Middle Cambrian acritarchs occur in the Moanbrack Formation and reworked late Middle to early Late Cambrian acritarchs in the Rathnameenagh Formation. Despite generally poor preservation of the organic matter, some 20 acritarch species have been distinguished. Among these, three species belong to the herein revised genus Retisphaeridium for which an emended diagnosis is proposed together with two new combinations, Retisphaeridium capsulatum (Jankauskas, 1976 ) Vanguestaine nov. comb. and Retisphaeridium pusillum (Moczydlowska, 1998 ) Vanguestaine nov. comb. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reappraisal of the ‘Cullenstown Formation’: Implications for the Lower Palaeozoic tectonic history of SE Ireland

The structurally attenuated greenschist facies metasedimentary succession at Cullenstown Strand in south Co. Wexford comprises three formations which in stratigraphic order are (1) the Quartzite Formation, (2) the Greywacke/Quartzite Formation, and (3) the Greywacke Formation. The entire sequence is inverted and lies within the lower limb of a large scale overturned D1 anticlinal structure that closes towards the southeast. The three formations are lithologically and sedimentologically similar to the Shelmaliere Quartzite, the Cullentra Greywacke, and Newtown Greywacke Formations of the Bray Group in the Forth Mountain - Ferrycarrig area that probably lie on the normal limb of the D1 structure. The Cullenstown strata are therefore considered to be part of the Bray Group in southeast Leinster, and hence Cambrian in age. The rocks were affected by three major phases of deformation. D1 produced an overturned anticline containing an important tectonic slide. The D1 structures are modified by upright D2 and D3 structures, but from regional considerations it is argued that D1 is restricted to strata of Cambrian to Lower Ordovician age in southeast Leinster. A model for the tectonic evolution of the southeastern part of the Leinster Basin during Cambro-Ordovician times is presented and discussed. In this model, the southeast margin of the Leinster Basin was delineated by a mylonite zone along the northwest margin of the Precambrian Rosslare Complex. Bray and Ribband Group sediments close to the margin were deformed during the Llanvirn as a consequence of basin inversion which caused shortening and thrusting of the basin fill across the Rosslare block. The D1 compressional structures were subsequently modified during a period of extension, marked by the resumption of sedimentation and outbreak of voluminous volcanicity near the basin margin during the Llandeilo and Caradoc. The D2 and D3 structures in the Bray and Ribband Groups are an expression of later Caledonian deformation.     

多门类化石在内蒙古白云鄂博群中的发现与宽沟群的建立

内蒙古白云鄂博地区具有世界上最大的稀有-稀土铁矿床,关于其时代归属尚存分歧。在都拉哈拉组(H3)与尖山组(H5)发现丰富的早寒武世微古植物化石,在尖山组(H5)硅质岩中发现早寒武世小壳化石,在哈拉霍疙特组(H8)确认了奥陶纪床板珊瑚的存在(包括块状群体与丛状群体),并首次发现大型古钵海绵化石与遗迹化石,在比鲁特组(H10)鲍玛序列中发现遗迹化石。初步确认,内蒙古商都地区三足化石(腕足类、头足类与腹足类)的层位可能为呼吉尔图组(或哈拉霍疙特组)。多门类化石的发现与确认,为重新认识白云鄂博超大型稀有-稀土铁矿床含矿地层时代提供了确凿的古生物化石证据,也为重新认识白云鄂博超大型稀有-稀土铁矿床的成矿地质背景开辟了新的研究思路,具有重要的地层学与大地构造学意义。根据多门类古生物化石组合与时代,将原白云鄂博群下部(H1~5)重新厘定为狭义的白云鄂博群,时代为早寒武世;原白云鄂博群上部(H6~15)重新命名为宽沟群,时代为早—中奥陶世,其间的假整合可能就是吉—黑地区的兴凯运动面。重新厘定的白云鄂博群与宽沟群一并划归天山-兴安地层区内蒙古草原地层分区,它是天山-兴安古生代海槽的一部分,并为海槽最南端的一个加里东褶皱带。     

甘肃中西部龙首山一带“韩母山群”的重新厘定

关于甘肃龙首山一带“韩母山群”的划分和时代归属,前人曾有不同的认识。依据沉积建造、古生物化石、变质变形等资料,对韩母山群进行解体。将该群下部变质变形较强的烧火筒沟组(钙质砾岩、细碎屑岩夹碳酸盐岩建造)厘定为震旦系,上部变质变形较弱的草大坂组(碎屑岩、碳酸盐岩建造)厘定为寒武系,并将后者与鄂尔多斯西缘下、中寒武统对比。     

贵州台江五河剖面灯影组顶部微体动物化石

贵州台江灯影组白云岩中发现了30～70μm的锥形微体动物化石,它们具有典型的锥管状、似几丁质壳壁和平行纤维结构等生物结构,可能分属软体动物Carinachitids、Arthrochites、Punctatus、Spondylotubus和似几丁虫类化石等5种类型。其中建立了一新属、种Spondylotubus taijiangensis Yang(gen.etsp.nov.)。在灯影组白云岩中这一类群的发现对研究前寒武纪寒武纪界线附近生物的多样性和生物地层,以及寒武纪生物大爆发都具有一定的科学意义。     

Provenance and structure of the Yancannia Formation,southern Thomson Orogen: implications for the tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the Cambro-Ordovician western Tasmanides

Abstract

The upper Cambrian Yancannia Formation is a small and isolated basement exposure situated in the southern Thomson Orogen, northwestern New South Wales. Understanding the geology of the Yancannia Formation is important, as it offers a rare glimpse of the composition and structure of the mostly covered basement rocks of the southern Thomson Orogen. It consists of deformed fine-grained, lithic-rich, turbiditic metasediments, suggesting deposition in a proximal, low-energy deep-marine environment. A 497 ± 13 Ma U–Pb detrital zircon date provides its maximum depositional age, the same as previously published for a tuff horizon in a correlative unit. Analysis of sedimentological, geochronological and geophysical data confirms the Yancannia Formation belongs to the Warratta Group. The Warratta Group exhibits many similarities to the Teltawongee Group in the adjacent Delamerian Orogen, including similar provenance, sedimentology and deep-water turbiditic depositional environment. Additionally, there is no sedimentological evidence for deposition of the Warratta Group following the ca 500 Ma Delamerian Orogeny, which suggests that the Warratta Group is syn-Delamerian. However, no geochronological or structural evidence for Delamerian orogenesis was observed in the Warratta Group, suggesting that the group was either unaffected by Delamerian orogenesis, or that no conclusive record remains. The provenance signature of the Warratta Group also bears strong similarities with the upper Cambrian Stawell Zone Saint Arnaud Group in the western Lachlan Orogen. Units east of Yancannia have similar provenance signatures to the Lower Ordovician Girilambone Group of the Lachlan Orogen, suggesting equivalents exist in the southern Thomson Orogen. These are likely to be the Thomson beds, deposited in a deep-marine setting outboard of the Delamerian continental margin. Structural analysis from a ～10 km, semi-continuous, across-strike section indicates a major, kilometre-scale, upright, shallow northwest-trending, doubly plunging anticline dominates the Yancannia region. This D₁ structure was associated with tight-to-isoclinal folding, penetrative cleavage and abundant quartz veining of probable Benambran age. Later dextral transpressional deformation (D₂) produced a sporadic, weak cleavage and dextral faulting, possibly of Bindian age. Major south-directed thrusting (D₃) on the adjacent Olepoloko Fault occurred in the early Carboniferous and appears to pre-date a later deformation event (D₄), which was associated with kink folding.     

甘肃龙首山地区韩母山群研究的新进展

甘肃龙首山地区的韩母山群包括下部的烧火筒沟组和上部的草大坂组。对于草大坂组的时代一直存在争议,一种观点根据其岩性主张置于寒武系,另一种观点是因其下部含冰碛砾岩主张置于震旦系。最近在金川黑沟一带的韩母山群的草大坂组中采到许多海百合茎、海绵骨针及瓶筐石化石,基本可以确定草大坂组是一个寒武纪—早奥陶世的地层单位,而非震旦纪地层。震旦纪的烧火筒沟组的冰碛砾岩沉积特征明显,区域上可与贺兰山一带的正目观组相对比。     

Integrated correlation of the Vendian to Cambrian Arroyo del Soldado and Corumbá Groups (Uruguay and Brazil): palaeogeographic, palaeoclimatic and palaeobiologic implications

The Corumbá Group of SW Brazil and the Arroyo del Soldado Group (ASG) of Uruguay are correlated on the basis of litho-, bio- and chemostratigraphy. Both units represent marine sedimentation with alternating siliciclastics and carbonates developed on a stable continental shelf. In the Corumbá basin, sedimentation began in the Varangerian, represented by the glaciomarine Puga Formation. A series of sea-level fluctuations coupled with climatic changes are recorded up section. While uppermost deposits of the ASG are of lowermost Cambrian age, sedimentation ceased in the latest Vendian in the Corumbá basin. An assemblage of six species of organic-walled microfossils dominated by Bavlinella faveolata and Soldadophycus bossii, three species of vendotaenids and two species of skeletal fossils (Cloudina and Titanotheca) is described from the Corumbá Group. The vendotaenid Eoholynia corumbensis sp. nov is described from siltstones of the Guaicurus Formation. An important diversity of skeletal fossils in the Corumbá, Arroyo del Soldado and Nama groups points to favourable Vendian palaeoclimatic conditions in SW-Gondwana. Preliminary carbon isotopic data show a series of alternating positive and negative excursions, corroborating the upper Vendian age indicated by fossils for both units. Previously reported strontium isotopic data are also consistent with this age. It is postulated that the Corumbá and ASGs were deposited onto the same shelf, which opened to the east. The Rio de la Plata Superterrane (Craton) extends farther to the north than previously expected, or it was already amalgamated with the Amazonian Craton by Vendian times. Collision of the platform with the Paraná Block caused closure of the basin during the Cambrian-Early Ordovician. Finally, models of Neoproterozoic glaciations based on enhanced bioproductivity driven by high nutrient availability are discussed.     

Redefinition and Formation Age of the Tanjianshan Group in Xitieshan Region,Qinghai

The Tanjianshan Group, which was previously divided into a, b, c and d formations, has been controversial for a long time. It mainly distributes in the northern margin of Qaidam Basin and is an important early Paleozoic greenschist facies metamorphic volcanic sedimentary rock formation. Detailed field investigation and zircon LA-ICPMS U-Pb dating of the key strata suggest that the original lower part of a Formation(a-1) versus the original middle upper of d Formation(d-3 and d-4), the original upper part of a Formation(a-2) and b Formation versus the original lower part of d Formation(d-1 and d-2) of Tanjianshan Group are contemporaneous heterotopic facies volcanicclasolite deposit, respectively. The former formations formed during the middle-late Ordovician(463–458 Ma), while the latter ones formed in the late Ordovician(about 445 Ma). The original c formation of Tanjianshan Group, which formed after 430 Ma, is similar to the Maoniushan Formation of Kunlun Mountains and north Qaidam Basin. According to the rules of stratigraphic division and naming, new stratum formations of Tanjianshan Group are re-built and divided into Duancenggou(O1-2td), Zhongjiangou(O2-3tz) and Xitieshan(O3tx) formations. The original c Formation is separated from Tanjianshan Group and is renamed as the Wuminggou Formation(S3-D1w), which shows a discordant contact with underlying Tanjianshan Group and overlying Amunike Formation(D3a). The zircon U-Pb age frequency spectrogram of Tanjianshan Group indicates three prominent peaks of 430 Ma, 460 Ma and 908 Ma, which is consistent with the metamorphic and magmatic crystallization ages obtained from para- and orthogneisses in north Qaidam HP-UHP metamorphic belt, implying that strong Caledonian and Jinningian tectonic and magmatic events have ever happened in North Qaidam.     

论浙江平水群的划分和地质时代

依据实测的浙江省浦江县蒙山剖面,建立二个地层单位层型：蒙山组和陈塘坞组,二组归并为平水群。平水群为岩石地层清理前所用的地层名称,本研究予以恢复并修订了它的含义。平水群下部为蒙山组细碧角斑岩建造,上部为陈塘坞组海相砂泥岩建造,与上覆地层双溪坞群为整合关系;它代表浙江省西北部最古老的基底。通过对层型剖面微古植物化石和同位素年龄的研究对比,提出平水群地质时代归属中-新元古代。      

A middle Cambrian shallow water trilobite fauna from the Comstock Formation,near Queenstown,western Tasmania

A limestone lens within the Comstock Formation, from low in the Tyndall Group near the Lyell Comstock Mine near Queenstown, western Tasmania, contains a small trilobite fauna. The trilobites include Ammagnostus cf. laiwuensis, Kootenia sp., Sudanomocarina? sp. and a possible member of the Monkaspidae. These suggest an age somewhere in the range from the upper Ptychagnostus atavus Zone to the Lejopyge laevigata Zone, with regional stratigraphic correlations suggesting the latter zone. This is only the second Tasmanian Cambrian fossil assemblage described from limestone; almost all previously described Tasmanian Cambrian faunas are found in siltstones and shales.     

Lower and Middle Ordovician conodonts of Laurentian affinity from blocks of limestone in the Rosroe Formation,South Mayo Trough,western Ireland and their palaeogeographic implication

The Middle Ordovician Rosroe Formation consists of some 1350 m of coarse, mainly siliciclastic to volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks, deposited in a submarine fan environment, and is restricted to the southern limb of the South Mayo Trough, western Ireland. Discrete allochthonous blocks, reaching 5 m in size, are present in the formation at several localities. Conodonts recovered from these blocks, collected from two separate locations, are of late Early and mid Mid Ordovician age. The conodonts have high conodont‐alteration indices (CAI 5) indicative of temperatures as high as 300^o to max. 480 °C; some found in the Lough Nafooey area have abnormally high indices (CAI 6), which correspond to temperatures of about 360^o to max. 550 °C. The oldest fauna is dominated by Periodon aff. aculeatus and characterized by Oepikodus evae typical of the Oepikodus evae Zone (Floian Stage; Stage Slices Fl2–3, Lower Ordovician). The younger conodont assemblage, characterized by Periodon macrodentatus associated with Oistodella pulchra, is referred to the P. macrodentatus conodont Biozone (lower Darriwilian; Stage Slices Dw1–2). The Rosroe conodont assemblages are of Laurentian affinity; comparable faunas are well known from several locations along the east to south‐eastern platform margin of Laurentia and the Notre Dame subzone of central Newfoundland, Canada. The faunal composition from the limestone blocks suggests a shelf edge to slope (or fringing carbonate) setting. The faunal assemblages are coeval with, respectively, the Tourmakeady Formation (Floian–Dapingian) and Srah Formation (Darriwilian) in the Tourmakeady Volcanic Group in the eastern part of the South Mayo Trough and probably are derived from the same or similar laterally equivalent short‐lived carbonate successions that accumulated at offshore ‘peri‐Laurentian’ islands, close to and along the Laurentian margin. During collapse of the carbonate system in the late Mid Ordovician, the blocks were transported down a steep slope and into deep‐water by debris flows, mixing with other rock types now found in the coarse polymict clastics of the Rosroe Formation. The faunas fill the stratigraphical ‘gap’ between the Lower Ordovician Lough Nafooey Volcanic Group and the upper Middle Ordovician Rosroe Formation in the South Mayo Trough and represent a brief interval conducive to carbonate accumulation in an otherwise siliciclastic‐ and volcaniclastic‐dominated sedimentary environment. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

西藏南部聂拉木地区前寒武纪结晶基底的组成及其特征

在对肉切村岩群的岩石组合、变质特点以及区域综合对比研究基础上,根据其中锆石U-Pb法年龄值686Ma、黑云母斜长变粒岩全岩Rb-Sr法年龄值796±103Ma,认为其原岩形成于新元古代,时代属震旦纪;前人划分的震旦—寒武系肉切村群,实际上是前寒武纪变质岩地层,聂拉木地区并未出露寒武纪地层。将前寒武纪地层划分为聂拉木岩群和肉切村岩群,并将聂拉木岩群划分为友谊桥岩组、曲乡岩组、康山桥混合岩和江东岩组4个构造岩石地层单元,将肉切村岩群划分为扎西宗混合岩和塔吉岭岩组两个构造岩石地层单元。     

藏北阿木岗群、查桑群和鲁谷组放射虫的发现及有关问题讨论

通常人们一直认为阿木岗(戈木日)群是所谓“羌塘地块”的前寒武纪或前泥盆纪基底,曾发现古生物化石的“中泥盆统”查桑群和“下二叠统”鲁谷组等是其上的晚古生代盖层沉积。本次工作在阿木岗群和鲁谷组中分别发现中-晚三叠世放射虫化石组合;在查桑群中发现二叠纪中-晚期放射虫化石组合。结合野外实际考察和前人研究成果,本文就有关问题作了讨论。     

南秦岭西乡-石泉地区三花石群白勉峡组中泥盆世孢子化石的发现及其地层意义

陕西汉南三花石群和西乡群的时代仍存很大争议。在陕西西乡地区三花石群白勉峡组灰色、灰黑色砂板岩中发现较丰富并具有时代特征的陆生植物孢子（spores）22属40余种。其化石组合大致可与中国华南、西南和西秦岭中泥盆世孢子带比较。亦可以与欧洲、北美老红砂岩大陆及其邻区中泥盆世早期孢子带比较,时代为中泥盆世,并可能为中泥盆世早期,大致相当于西欧中泥盆世早期艾菲尔期。     

南秦岭西乡—石泉地区三花石群白勉峡组中泥盆世孢子化石的发现及其地层意义

陕西汉南三花石群和西乡群的时代仍存很大争议。在陕西西乡地区三花石群白勉峡组灰色、灰黑色砂板岩中发现较丰富并具有时代特征的陆生植物孢子（spores）22属,40余种。其化石组合大致可与中国华南、西南和西秦岭中泥盆世孢子带比较,亦可以与欧洲、北美老红砂岩大陆及其邻区中泥盆世早期孢子带比较,时代为中泥盆世,并可能为中泥盆世早期,大致相当于西欧中泥盆世早期艾菲尔期。     

Distinguishing eustatic and epeirogenic controls on Lower–Middle Cambrian boundary successions in West Gondwana (Morocco and Iberia)

Major eustatic fall has been invoked to explain Lower–Middle Cambrian boundary sandstones and faunal replacements on a number of Cambrian palaeocontinents. This proposal has been tested on the Moroccan and Spanish margins of West Gondwana and found to be inadequate to explain stratigraphical developments. In these regions, sandstone intervals long presumed to be regressive and late Early Cambrian in age are now shown to be early Middle Cambrian, and composed of a lower regressive and an overlying transgressive sandstone separated by a regional unconformity. Only the lower tidalites (i.e. Tazlaft Formation in Morocco and lower Daroca sandstones in Spain) record the Hawke Bay eustatic regression in West Gondwana. The Tazlaft is overlain by a newly recognized, unconformably overlying sandstone (Talelt Formation) that onlapped southern Morocco with reactivation of a pull‐apart or transcurrent regime. Up to 150 m of erosion on uplifted blocks in the High Atlas range and foundering of the Souss Basin to the south preceded onlap and deposition of the volcanic‐rich Tatelt, the correlative and depositional analogue of the upper Daroca and lower Valdemides Formations in northern Spain. With folding and erosion, a type 1 depositional sequence boundary also caps the Tatelt at its contact with an overlying, lower Middle Cambrian mudstone‐dominated succession. This unconformity probably occurs in Spain within the Valdemiedes Formation and corresponds to a faunal discontinuity called the ‘Valdemiedes geoevent’. The Iberian ‘Daroca regression’ and Moroccan ‘Asrir regression’ are misnomers, as the sandstones on which they are based are composite units with a lower regressive interval that records eustatic fall and an upper transgressive unit that records epeirogenically driven onlap.     

Middle to Late Ordovician age for the Jindalee Group of the Lachlan Fold Belt,New South Wales: Conodont evidence and some tectonic implications

The first definitive evidence for a late Middle to early Late Ordovician age for the Jindalee Group comes from identification of conodonts, including Periodon aculeatus, preserved in chert from an exposure northeast of Cootamundra, New South Wales. In the Grenfell area, the Hoskins Chert, a constituent formation of the Jindalee Group, also yields conodonts of the same general age, although no diagnostic species have been recognised. Conodonts found in the Jindalee Group, along with a distinctive fossil flora of probable cyanobacterial filaments, are similar to those of the Mugincoble Chert in the vicinity of Parkes. Age correlation of the Jindalee Group with the Girilambone Group is confirmed by the newly found conodonts, but at a much more precise level than previously inferred. However, the tectonic settings of the Jindalee and Girilambone Groups might have been quite distinct, with the Jindalee Group forming in an intra‐arc rift and the Girilambone Group depositing in the backarc Wagga Marginal Basin.     

On the Lower Cretaceous in Yixian County of Jinzhou City, Western Liaoning, China

Traditionally, the lacustrine deposits in Yixian County of Western Liaoning have been assigned to either “the Dakangpu Bed” of the Yixian Formation or the Jiufotang Formation. However, a 206Pb/238U age of 126.47±0.87 Ma is newly obtained from the tuff sample (06051) of the lacustrine deposits in the Baitaigou fossil site of Potaizi village, Yixian County, indicating that the lacustrine deposits in Potaizi area are approximately equivalent to the Wumingshan volcanics of the Sihetun Bed of the Yixian Formation in Beipiao. From our new dating data have arisen some new problems: Where could we find the Jiufotang Formation in Yixian County? How widely distributed is the Jiufotang Formation in Western Liaoning? Could the traditionally named Jiufotang Formation somewhere in Western Liaoning be the synchronous deposits of other litho-units (e.g. the Yixian Formation) in different facies? Could some lacustrine deposits somewhere in Western Liaoning have been assigned to the Jiufotang Formation?     

Ediacaran in Uruguay: palaeoclimatic and palaeobiological implications

The Ediacaran to lowermost Cambrian successions of south‐eastern Uruguay preserve an unusual and significant record of deposits generated during the Gondwana assembly (ca 590 to 535 Ma). This study presents a review of data obtained through extensive field‐based mapping coupled with detailed sedimentology and stratigraphy of key formations. The geological units within the study area consist of the Maldonado Group (Playa Hermosa, Las Ventanas and San Carlos formations), the Arroyo del Soldado Group (Yerbal, Polanco Limestones, Barriga Negra and Cerro Espuelitas formations) and the Arroyo de la Pedrera Group (Piedras de Afilar and Cerro Victoria formations). The Maldonado Group is characterized by a glacially influenced volcanogenic‐sedimentary sequence with ice‐rafted debris and dropstones in the Playa Hermosa and Las Ventanas formations. The Arroyo del Soldado Group is a mixed siliciclastic‐carbonate succession, mainly represented by an intercalation of basal pink dolostones, banded siltstones, rhythmites of dolostone‐limestone, iron formations, cherts and conglomerates. Carbonates in the Polanco Limestones Formation are characterized by a negative δ¹³C excursion up to ?3·26‰ PeeDeeBelemnite. The Arroyo de la Pedrera Group consists of quartz arenites and stromatolitic/oolitic dolostones. Preliminary data indicate that the Precambrian–Cambrian could be contained within or at the base of this group. The entire succession is almost 6000 m thick, and contains a rich fossil assemblage composed of organic‐walled microfossils and small shelly fauna, including the index fossil Cloudina riemkeae. The stratigraphic and chemostratigraphic features are suggestive of a Gaskier age (ca 580 Ma) for the basal glacial‐related units. In this scenario, the results show the importance of lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic data of these Ediacaran units in the global correlation of terminal Proterozoic sedimentary rocks.