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Reconstructing the Cambrian explosion using Small Carbonaceous Fossils: Ediacaran to Cambrian SCFs in the Baltic Basin

使用小型碳质化石重建寒武纪爆发：波罗的海盆地埃迪卡拉纪到寒武纪 SCF

基本信息

批准号：
NE/K005251/1
负责人：
Nicholas James Butterfield
金额：
$ 43.23万
依托单位：
University of Cambridge
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2013
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2013 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FK005251%2F1
关键词：
Reconstructing Cambrian explosion using Small

项目摘要

The Cambrian 'explosion' of early animal life was one of the most transformative events in Earth history, but the underlying patterns and players are difficult to resolve. The conventional shelly fossil record represents only a fraction of ancient diversity, while contemporaneous 'Burgess Shale-type' fossils are too rare and unrepresentative to track evolutionary trajectories. We have, however, identified a new and largely overlooked source of palaeontological data that promises to fill in many of the gaps. 'Small Carbonaceous Fossils' (SCFs) are organic-walled fossils that are too small to be identified on bedding surfaces, but too large and delicate to be recovered by conventional micropalaeontological techniques. Although mostly represented by disarticulated sclerites and cuticle fragments, SCFs are fundamentally more common and widely distributed than their articulated counterparts. Most significantly, the SCF record from shallow marine environments is revealing an unprecedented, and surprisingly modern, diversity of early animals, Our recent SCF work has been extraordinarily successful, but limited to 'post-explosion' phases of the Cambrian record. Here we propose to extend the study of SCFs back in time, with an eye to tracking evolutionary patterns through the Cambrian explosion and into the preceding Ediacaran Period. By far the most promising place to carry out such a study is in well-documented Precambrian-Cambrian boundary sections of the Baltic Basin. These shallow water successions are exceptionally well preserved, richly fossiliferous and easy to access - primarily through drillcore archives at the geological surveys of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden, along with a unique research collection at the Tallinn University. Our primary focus in the Baltic Basin will be in documenting the diversity and distribution of SCFs from the late Ediacaran through to the late Cambrian. We are particularly interested in using the SCF record to test macroevolutionary patterns derived from alternative datasets, including 'small shelly fossils' and execeptionally preseved arthropod biotas in the late Cambrian of Sweden. Microstructural analysis of problematic SCFs have the potential to identify unambiguous bilaterian animals in the Ediacaran, with major phylogenetic and macroevolutionary implications. Combined with geochemical analysis of associated palaeoenvironments, and a search for fossil biomarker molecules, these novel paleontological data will shed fundamental new light on the origin of the modern biosphere.

寒武纪早期动物生命的“爆炸”是地球历史上最具变革性的事件之一，但其潜在模式和参与者很难解决。传统的贝壳化石记录只代表了古代多样性的一小部分，而同期的“伯吉斯页岩型”化石太罕见，不具有代表性，无法追踪进化轨迹。然而，我们已经确定了一个新的、在很大程度上被忽视的古生物学数据来源，它有望填补许多空白。“小型碳质化石”（SCFs）是有机壁化石，它们太小而无法在层面上识别，但太大而脆弱，无法通过传统的微体古生物学技术恢复。虽然主要是由脱节的骨片和角质层碎片，SCF是从根本上更常见和广泛分布比他们的关节对应。最重要的是，来自浅海环境的SCF记录揭示了早期动物前所未有的，令人惊讶的现代多样性，我们最近的SCF工作非常成功，但仅限于寒武纪记录的“后爆炸”阶段。在这里，我们建议将SCF的研究时间向后延伸，着眼于通过寒武纪大爆发跟踪进化模式，并进入前埃迪卡拉纪时期。到目前为止，进行这种研究最有希望的地方是在波罗的海盆地有充分记录的前寒武纪-寒武纪边界部分。这些浅水层保存得非常好，富含矿物，易于获取--主要是通过爱沙尼亚、拉脱维亚、立陶宛和瑞典地质调查局的岩心档案，以及沿着塔林大学的独特研究收藏。我们在波罗的海盆地的主要重点将是记录从埃迪卡拉纪晚期到寒武纪晚期SCF的多样性和分布。我们特别感兴趣的是使用SCF记录测试macroevolutionary模式来自替代数据集，包括“小壳化石”和execeptionally preseved节肢动物biodiesin寒武纪晚期的瑞典。有问题的SCF的显微结构分析有可能确定明确的两侧动物在埃迪卡拉纪，具有重大的系统发育和宏观进化的影响。结合相关古环境的地球化学分析和对化石生物标志物分子的研究，这些新的古生物学数据将为现代生物圈的起源提供新的基础。