Sandwiched fossils

A little-known mode of fossil preservation-bioimmuration-is responsible for exciting new findings of soft-bodied organisms. Bioimmuration results from organic overgrowth by animals such as serpulid worms and oysters which form natural moulds of the organisms they have overgrown on their undersurfaces or sandwich overgrown organisms between themselves and their substrate. Overgrowth is a routine occurrence among the many marine organisms lacking mobility, and bioimmured fossils can be extremely common. Discoveries of bioimmured ctenostome bryozoans, hydroids and other soft-bodied animals that lived attached to hard surfaces are providing important new palaeontological perspectives, especially in the Mesozoic.     

New insights into the nature of the Late Riphean Eosolenides

Studies of a morphologically diverse population of Eosolenides, organic-walled macrofossils from the Upper Mesoproterozoic (1015–1025 Ma) Lakhanda Group of southeastern Siberia, suggest that these elongate fossils may be remains of soft-bodied organisms having tube-grade organization. The compressed, originally cylindrical fossils, of more or less constant diameter along their length, are subdivided by transverse membranes into a regular series of distinct chamber-like segments. The lateral walls of the segmented tubes are double-layered, the outer sheath- or cuticle-like layer of which was originally flexible and commonly exhibits very fine and closely spaced transverse striations. The presence of structures inferred to be basal attachment disks suggests a benthic habit, whereas the morphological variability of the population can be interpreted as showing that their body shape changed as the organisms grew and increased markedly in length. Reproduction may have been by budding. An important peculiarity exhibited by these tubular fossils is the presence within many specimens of small spherical unicells, interpreted possibly to be algal endosymbionts. Although in some respects these fossils resemble cnidarians, the biological affinities of Eosolenides tubes remain enigmatic.     

Carbonate sediments in a cool‐water macroalgal environment,Kaikoura, New Zealand

Brown and red, and to a lesser extent green, macroalgae are a hallmark of intertidal rocky coasts and adjacent shallow marine environments swept by stormy seas in middle and high latitudes. Such environments produce carbonate sediment but the sediment factory is neither well‐documented nor well‐understood. This study documents the general marine biology and sedimentology of rocky coastal substrates around Kaikoura Peninsula, a setting that typifies many similar cold‐temperate environments with turbid waters and somewhat elevated trophic resources along the eastern coast of South Island, New Zealand. The macroalgal community extends down to 20 m and generally comprises a phaeophyte canopy beneath which is a prolific rhodophyte community and numerous sessile calcareous invertebrates on rocky substrates. The modern biota is strongly depth zoned and controlled by bottom morphology, variable light penetration, hydrodynamic energy and substrate. Most calcareous organisms live on the lithic substrates beneath macroalgae or on algal holdfasts with only a few growing on macroalgal fronds. A live biota of coralline red algae [geniculate, encrusting and nodular (rhodoliths)], bryozoans, barnacles and molluscs (gastropods and epifaunal bivalves), together with spirorbid and serpulid worms, small benthonic foraminifera and echinoids produce sediments that are mixed with terrigenous clastic particles in this overall siliciclastic depositional system. The resultant sediments within macroalgal rocky substrates at Kaikoura contain bioclasts typified by molluscs, corallines and rhodoliths, barnacles and other calcareous invertebrates. In the geological record, however, the occurrence of macroalgal produced sediments is restricted to unconformity‐related early transgressive systems tract stratigraphic intervals and temporally constrained to a Cenozoic age owing to the timing of the evolution of large brown macroalgae.     

重庆开县上二叠统长兴组红花生物礁成礁模式

通过对红花生物礁露头的精细解剖和微相分析,研究了礁的内部构成和成礁模式。红花生物礁发育3期礁体旋回：礁A、礁B和礁C。礁A由生屑泥晶灰岩和骨架岩构成;礁B由生屑泥晶灰岩、粘结岩、骨架岩和生屑灰岩构成;礁C由粘结岩、骨架岩和生屑灰岩构成。红花生物礁造礁生物有钙质海绵、钙藻类、苔藓虫和水螅类,附礁生物为有孔虫、腕足类、双壳类、腹足类和棘皮动物等。单个礁体内,由下往上的生物演化为：腕足类+双壳类+有孔虫组合→钙藻类→钙质海绵+水螅类+钙藻类+苔藓虫组合→生物碎屑;岩性演化为：生屑泥晶灰岩→粘结岩→骨架岩→生屑灰岩。礁B的生屑滩内生屑间为泥晶充填,生屑分选、磨圆较好,是由相邻的高能生屑滩侵蚀搬运到礁B侧翼低能区沉积形成。3期礁都发育在碎屑滩上,礁A为低能环境下形成的礁,礁B和礁C在礁A形成的高地上成礁,为高能环境礁;单个礁体的完整成礁模式为：在浅滩之上,钙藻类大量生长、粘结吸附颗粒固结基底,钙质海绵和钙藻类在硬质基底上繁茂生长,形成具有抗浪格架的生物礁,礁体暴露水面死亡后遭波浪、水流改造形成生屑滩。     

生物化石钙质结构的分类与演化(连载)

绝大部份无脊椎动物和藻类化石由碳酸钙组成。研究生物化石钙质结构是为了对化石进行正确鉴定和合理分类,探索古生物间相互的演化关系。沉积岩,特别是碳酸岩中含有大量的生物组份,研究其结构是确定岩石薄片内生物化石及其碎片类型的必要手段,在研究岩石、岩相和古生态时必需广泛采用。     

新元古代末期高家山生物群的生态多样性

新元古代末期是生命演化的关键转折期,也是以微生物占主导的生态系统向显生宙以后生动物占主导的生态系统的转变期,埃迪卡拉纪大型软躯体生物以固着、底栖、食悬浮为特色,普遍缺乏运动能力。作为这一时期特殊代表的高家山生物群,是目前新元古代唯一一个以黄铁矿化三维保存的管状和锥管状化石为主导,兼有骨骼生物、原生动物、钙化蓝细菌类及遗迹化石的多门类生物组合,是研究埃迪卡拉纪末期生命演化和生态系统演变十分重要的载体。本文通过对高家山生物群古生态学的初步研究,揭示出在前寒武纪—寒武纪之交,生态系统已显示一定的多样性。为适应平底面上(level-bottom)微生物席的发育,高家山生物群的许多生物采取了适应性的生存策略,通过黏附或插入微生物席中,营底栖固着食悬浮(如Cloudina、Conotubus)或化学共生(可能的Shaanxilithes)或平躺(如Gaojiashania和Sinotubulites)食碎屑生活。底内遗迹化石表明存在可能的表栖和半内栖、可自由运动、食碎屑的造迹生物。Conotubus中常见的“回春”或“复苏”现象,Gaojiashania和Sinotubulites的身体扭转或生活姿态调整则是对频繁风暴事件的被动适应。     

贵阳花溪早三叠世遗迹化石及其对二叠纪末生物大绝灭事件后生物复苏的启示?

报道了贵阳花溪下三叠统大冶组中14种遗迹属,它们包括Beaconichnus、Cosmorhaphe、Dendrorhaphe、Gyrochorte、Gordia、Micatuba、Mammillichnis、Megagrapton、Planolites、Palaeophycus、Phycodes、Phycosiphon、Rhizocorallium和Undichna。遗迹化石产出特征为以水平潜穴为主、浅的阶层分布（<4mm）、以觅食迹为主的遗迹组合和小型化的Planolites,这些特征表明经历了P-T事件之后,华南早三叠世浅海生态环境仍处于缺氧异常环境,这种环境直到早三叠世晚期才趋于正常。大冶组遗迹化石发展模式体现出海洋环境群落生态演替特征,造迹生物由早期单一多毛类蠕虫向物种丰富的多毛类发展,再到以甲壳纲动物在沉积物中开辟更大的生态空间和定居。这种绝灭后软躯体动物在崩溃生态系中的发展模式与贵州晚泥盆世弗拉期-法门期之交绝灭界线之上遗迹化石所表现的软躯体动物的演化特征相似。向三度空间开拓发展的复杂遗迹Rhizocorallium,Thalassinoides在绝灭前后世界范围内的分布表明,高纬度区软躯体动物的复苏比低纬度区要快。     

A New Ichnogenus Kailidiscus Produced by Attachment from the Middle Cambrian Kaili Formation in Taijiang, Guizhou Province, China

Over 190 specimens of an attachment ichnofossil Kailidiscus （n. ichnogen.） have been found in the Kaili Bitoa, a Burgess Shale-type biota, from the middle Kaili Formation （early Middle Cambrian） in Taijiang County, Guizhou Province, southern China. Kailidiscus is an epichnia with a circular to oval attachment platform, on which there is a carbonaceous film probably formed by the body of the living organism. Structures such as a marginal furrow, an inner and outer marginal ride, many convex fold-ridges, and a large caved peripheral furrow on the attachment platform may be the result of basal tissues of a sessile organism that wrinkled to increase the attachment＇s surface area. The Kailidiscus organism may have been a sessile cnidarian attached to the muddy seafioor. Kailidiscus organisms lived in relatively quiet water, and were buried by a sudden influx of sediment.     

黄东海浅水区海底钙质结核及其成因的研究

在海图上早就以“砾石”符号表示了南黄海一带钙质结核(下文简称结核)的存在。但1958年全国海洋综合调查之后,它们的分布范围才初步被确定下来,并以明确的符号标於底质图上。不过始终没有人去探索这些结核的特征和成因。近年来,由於海洋调查的广泛展开,它的存在引起了不少海洋地质工作者的兴趣,相继对它进行了多方面的研究。但在它的成因方面,众说纷纭:有的认为是海底自生的,至今仍在不断地生长;有的则认为,除了自生之外,还有一种结核是属于被海水淹没的黄泛区物质,     

Spinning with the dinosaurs: the fossil record of spiders

When most people hear the word 'fossil' they tend to conjure up images of giant dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex or shelled marine invertebrates. Prior to the Hollywood blockbuster movie Jurassic Park , which was based on recreating dinosaurs through extracting their DNA from fossil mosquitoes preserved in amber, few non-palaeontologists would entertain the notion that small, soft-bodied organisms such as insects occur in the fossil record. However, insects and spiders are common as fossils in amber, where they are often preserved with life-like fidelity, and they also occur to a lesser degree in carbonate rocks.     

中国晚前寒武纪至早寒武世生物事件及前寒武系—寒武系界线

<正> 35亿年前,地球上开始有生物存在,主要是兰藻和细菌。距今10亿年左右,开始出现软躯体动物所形成的遗迹化石。9亿年有蠕形动物的实体化石——淮南生物群保存。7亿年软躯体后生动物——埃迪卡拉动物群(西陵峡生物群、高家山生物群)大量繁殖,使晚前寒武纪的生物演化进入一个新阶段。6亿年左右,骨骼化动物——梅树村动物群(或托莫特动物群)的出现,开创了生物发展、演化史上的新纪元。使更多的生物能够以化石     

Anomiid (bivalve) bioerosion on Pleistocene pectinid (bivalve) shells,Rhodes, Greece

A trace fossil, Centrichnus eccentricus, was found beneath a saddle oyster (Anomia ephippium) that was preserved undisturbed on its substratum (a shell of Pecten jacobaeus), at the site of attachment of the calcified byssus.     

Kaili Biota: A Taphonomic Window on Diversification of Metazoans from the Basal Middle Cambrian: Guizhou, China

1 Introduction The Burgess Shale Biota was discovered in the Cambrian strata of western Canada by American paleontologist C. D. Walcott in 1909 (Walcott, 1911). The fauna contains more than 140 metazoan genera (Robison, 1991, Briggs et al., 1994), with a preservational range from hard skeletal parts, non-mineralized remains and internal soft-tissue and soft-body remains. Following that discovery up to 40 similar taphonomic locations have been found globally in Lower and Middle Cambrian …     

Epifauna on ammonites from the Lower Jurassic of the Severn Basin,southern England,and their palaeoenvironmental and taphonomic significance

Ammonites with bivalves or worm tubes attached are relatively rare among the abundant specimens in the Lower Jurassic (Sinemurian) mudstones at Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucestershire, UK, but provide evidence for ammonite taphonomy, environmental conditions and biological interactions between ammonites and epifauna. Epifauna attached only to one side or within the body chambers of ammonites usually indicate post-mortem attachment. Epifauna on both sides of, or overgrown by, ammonites attached in vivo. One large example of Oxynoticeras has at least 51 encrusting bivalves attached exclusively to one side indicating it formed a ‘benthic island’. Four, presumably annual, bivalve cohorts are recognized, with variation in preferred orientation in each cohort suggesting that current direction varied. Both the ammonite and its epifauna were buried by a single sedimentation event. Other informative examples include a Cheltonia that overgrew an epifaunal bivalve, and an example of Bifericeras which bears two clusters of four worm tubes, one of which apparently attached in vivo, the other post-mortem. Other examples bear too few specimens to be certain of the timing of attachment, but most probably attached post-mortem.     

Exceptionally preserved soft-bodied assemblage in Ordovician carbonates of Anticosti Island,eastern Canada

A diverse benthic fauna containing exceptionally preserved soft-bodied organisms is described from the new Vauréal Konservat-Lagerstätte from the Upper Ordovician Vauréal Formation (Katian) of Anticosti Island, Canada. These fossils occur as pyritic (or goethitic, if weathered), calcitic aggregates or sediment-filled voids on micritic bedding planes of a marlstone-limestone alternation originated on a shallow tropical carbonate ramp. Many organisms are preserved in association with their traces (e.g. burrows, trails), whose changing shapes indicate increasing cohesiveness of the substrate. Rapid burial (obrution) under dysoxic bottom conditions must have favoured exceptional preservation. Although anatomical details of the organisms are often lacking due to recrystallization, members of different groups of organisms could be interpreted based on their shape and other characteristic features, including those of which represent their oldest fossil record (i.e. Acoelomorpha, Turbellaria, Nemertea, Nematoda), beside Polychaeta, Sipuncula, Ostracoda and other Arthropoda. In parallel with molecular data, which recently have changed the phylogenetic status of some clades, this soft-bodied fauna and their traces not only record their appearance but add to the understanding of their body plan and behaviour. The new Konservat-Lagerstätte provides important information about a diverse benthic community in the Late Ordovician after the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE), and represents a calibration point for comparison across the Late Ordovician mass extinction. Moreover, comparable Fossil-Lagerstätten are probably more common in shallow-marine carbonates than currently known but might have been simply overlooked.     

富贺钟钨锡多金属矿集区成矿规律及成矿模式

成岩、成矿的时空关系及矿化特征综合研究表明,桂东北富贺钟地区钨锡多金属成矿主要与燕山期姑婆山复式岩体中晚期的细粒花岗岩有关,但成岩与成矿之间存在一定时差。区内矿化具有上锡下钨的垂向分带特征,细粒花岗岩侵入层位的不同制约了矿化类型及成矿元素组合。成矿作用过程中有幔源流体的参与,中泥盆统郁江组砂页岩和东岗岭组灰岩夹白云质灰岩之间的"硅-钙界面"对锡成矿具有重要的控制作用,也是锡矿就位的重要场所。细粒花岗岩体周缘的"硅-钙界面"附近是寻找锡多金属矿的远景地段。     

岩溶区典型石灰土Cd形态指示意义及风险评价——以桂林毛村为例

为了了解岩溶区石灰土中重金属Cd形态分配特征及富集情况,在桂林毛村采集了3种处于不同发育阶段的黑色、棕色和红色石灰土进行研究。通过原子光谱仪测试了Cd质量分数,运用改进的Tessier分析法测定了3种石灰土中Cd的可交换态(EXC)、碳酸盐结合态(CAB)、铁锰氧化物结合态(OXI)、有机结合态(ORG)、残渣态(RES)5种形态,并对其指示意义及风险进行了分析与评价,结果表明,3种石灰土中Cd质量分数从大到小依次为早期黑色石灰土、中期棕色石灰土、晚期红色石灰土。形态测试结果表明:黑色石灰土和棕色石灰土中Cd形态以铁锰氧化态和残渣态为主,占土壤Cd质量分数的63%以上,且5种形态质量分数从大到小顺序均为铁锰氧化态、残渣态、可交换态、碳酸盐结合态、有机结合态;红色石灰土Cd形态以残渣态为主,占土壤Cd质量分数的76%,形态分配特征从大到小为残渣态、铁锰氧化态、可交换态、碳酸盐结合态、有机结合态。Cd稳定度和富集程度评价结果表明:在黑色石灰土、棕色石灰土和红色石灰土中Cd稳定度逐渐减小,环境二次释放风险逐渐降低;富集程度从大到小依次为黑色石灰土、棕色石灰土、红色石灰土,其中Cd在黑色石灰土中呈显著富集状态,在棕色石灰土中呈中度富集状态,在红色石灰土中呈轻微富集状态。潜在生态风险评价和健康风险评价结果表明,由早期黑色石灰土到中期棕色石灰土和晚期红色石灰土,土壤中Cd的生态风险和健康风险均逐渐降低。研究结果可为岩溶区土壤重金属Cd污染修复与治理提供基础数据。     

Morphology and stratigraphic relationships of the Wiluna hardpan in arid Western Australia

Over much of arid Western Australia a red and brown hardpan occurs on broad plains; it may lie either on the surface or buried beneath a shallow mantle of soil. It is proposed that, because of its lithological character and its considerable thickness and extent, it should be given the name of Wiluna Hardpan. The proposed type section is north of Wiluna, near Bulloo Downs homestead, where headward erosion of the Ashburton River is exposing sections 30 m deep. Although both ferruginous and calcareous cement may be present, Wiluna Hardpan is largely indurated with silica. It is younger than laterite, but broadly contemporaneous with calcrete and Robe Pisolite. Initially it was probably geographically restricted by a coincidence of suitable conditions of low relief and a climate resulting in episodic flooding and desiccation. Its present distribution is partly controlled by current erosional and depositional processes.     

Distribution and type of sticky spots at the centre of a deglacial streamlined lobe in northeastern Manitoba,Canada

The distribution of basal drag zones (sticky spots) underneath palaeo‐ice streams or lobes is largely unknown. We investigated the centre of the large (300 km long and up to 400 km wide) deglacial Hayes Lobe in NE Manitoba, Canada, by focusing on surficial till and its composition to get insights into dispersal patterns and their potential relationships to areas of basal drag. Subglacial bed roughness is a good criterion to identify areas of basal drag, but till composition may provide important insights across smoother beds. The onset zone of the Hayes Lobe overlies Palaeozoic Carbonate Platform rocks, whereas the majority of the lobe overlies the low‐lying Canadian Shield. We show that, within a 3500‐km² central area of this lobe, calcareous detritus within the till has been transported over 100 km within subglacial environments of reduced ice‐bed coupling and fast ice flow. Six per cent of samples (n = 782), however, outline 0.2 to 4 km wide spots with a dominantly local composition. The glacial history and composition indicate that the till within these spots contains high inheritance from a pre‐Late Wisconsinan ice‐flow phase, which we suggest was protected beneath sticky spots (low erosion, high strength) during transport of substantial calcareous detritus to the area. Furthermore, our findings show that local till spots are present within streamlined landforms, as well as till blankets or veneers over bedrock. This diverse geomorphology indicates that the process of drumlinization within the deglacial Hayes Lobe does not appear to have been responsible for significant sediment transport or deposition across the study area. The overall record thus indicates potentially complex spatiotemporal shifts between calcareous till deposition, sticky conditions, erosion and drumlinization – which supports the subglacial bed mosaic model.     

中国西北地区第四纪盐湖沉积中钙质超微化石的发现及其古环境意义

报导了中国西北地区的甘肃、青海、新疆等地陆相第四纪盐湖沉积中发现的钙质超微化石,它们主要是：Ｇｅｐｈｙｒｏｃａｐｓａｏｃｅａｎｉｃａ,Ｃｏｃｏｌｉｔｈｕｓｐｅｌａｇｉｃｕｓ,Ｃａｌｃｉｄｉｓｃｕｓｌｅｐｔｏｐｏｒｕｓ,Ｃ．ｍａｃｉｎｔｙｒｅｉ,Ｒｅｔｉｃｕｌｏｆｅｎｅｓｔｒａｍｉｎｕｔｕｌａ等。上述钙质超微化石群具有以下特征：（１）化石丰度中等,属、种分异度低,化石保存差;（２）赋存化石的层位均为富含石膏盐层的微咸水咸水的沉积物,或为盐湖沉积;（３）产出化石地点远距该地质时期时的古海岸线。它们与古海域既无通道相连,亦非残留海。中国西北地区盐湖沉积中钙质超微化石的发现说明了中国东部地区第三纪沙河街组某些层位中的钙质超微化石不能作为“海相生物”的标志,否定了这些化石层位与“海侵”或“海泛”的关联。