盘状印记和类似痕迹的化石超过1.2亿年前
Birger Rasmussen1, Stefan Bengtson, Ian R Fletcher
1Centre for Global Metallogeny, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. brasmussen@geol.uwa.edu.au
概括
澳大利亚的化石.
科学领域:
- 古生物学的古生物学
- 地质时间学 (Geochronology)
- 沉积地质学的地质学
背景情况:
- 澳大利亚西南部的斯特林山脉形成中含有盘状印记和类似痕迹的化石.
- 这些化石以前被归因于埃迪亚卡拉生物群 (年龄小于6亿年).
研究的目的:
- 用地质年代学方法准确地测定斯特林山脉形成的日期.
- 重新评估盘状印记和痕迹化石的生物起源和年龄.
主要方法:
- 在detrital和monazite上进行了U-Th-Pb地质年代学.
- 此外,还分析了低等级的变形金石.
主要成果:
- 地质年代学限制了形成的沉积年龄在2016 ± 6和1215 ± 20百万年之间.
- 痕迹化石表明存在生物,产生粘液和运动生物的存在.
结论:
- 这些光盘形印记比以前认为的要古老得多,早于埃迪亚卡拉生物群.
- 虽然印记的非生物起源是可能的,但痕迹化石证实了古代形生物的生物活动.
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