Aspects of problematic acid-resistant,organic-walled microfossils (acritarchs) in the upper proterozoic of the north atlantic region

Proterozoic acritarchs are a heterogeneous group of acid-resistant, organic-walled microfossils of obscure biological affinities. The acritarch record is regarded as strongly baised by a combination of mechanisms, such as the character of the original ecosystems, depositional conditions, diagenetic history, and thermal and tectonic events.Three distinctive acritarch assemblages are recognized in Upper Proterozoic sequences in Scandinavia and Greenland. They can be compared with Upper Proterozoic (Upper Riphean and Vendian) assemblages previously reported from the Russian and Siberian platforms, China and elsewhere. Substantial taxonomic changes characterize these assemblages and are usually connected with the existence of major unconformities in the investigated rock sequences. The acritarch assemblages can be traced over vast areas and are considered as constituting a promising tool for the biostratigraphic correlation of the Upper Proterozoic and Lower Cambrian.