Paper Number: 1291
New Discoveries in the late Neoproterozoic of Namibia: New Material-New Analysis
Vickers-Rich, P.1, Trusler, P.W.2, Narbonne, G.M.3, Sharp, A.4, Ivantsov, A.Yu. 5, Linnemann, U.6, Hofmann, M.7, Kriesfeld, L.8, Kaufman, A.J.9, Cui, H.10, Smith, J.11, Hoffmann, K.H.12, Schneider, G.13, Elliott, D.1, Fedonkin, M.A.15, Hall, M. 16,& Rich, T.H.17
School of EAE, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic, Australia, pat.rich@monash.edu
School of EAE, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic 3800, Australia
Queens University, Dept Geol Sci & Geol Eng, Kingston, On, Canada
4. School of Sci & Tech, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia
5. Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
6. Senckenberg Naturhist Samml, Dresden, Geochron, Dresden, Germany
7. Senckenberg Naturhist Samml, Dresden, Geochron, Dresden, Germany
8. School of EAE, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic 3800, Australia
9. Dept of Geol, University of Maryland, College Park, Md, USA
10. Dept of Geol and NASA Astrobio Instit, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA
11. School of EAE, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
12. Namibian Geol Survey, Windhoek, Namibia
13. Namibian Geol Survey, Windhoek, Namibia
14. School of EAE, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic 3800, Australia
15. Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
16. School of EAE, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic 3800, Australia
17. Mus Victoria,P. O. Box 666, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
Over the past 15 years UNESCO Projects IGCP493 /587 have concentrated efforts by a consortium of researchers from around the world on the detailed field documentation and exploration of the Nama Group in southern Nambia, an important sequence recording how life so changed from 600 to 530 million years ago – across the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary. An impressive collection of material from the area around Aus has increased the up until then known fossil material [1] many fold in those years [2-6]. New scanning and analytic techniques, involving facilities such as the Australian synchrotron, and in depth reconstruction art and use of new graphic programs, along with a detailed sedimentology of deposits preserving these new discoveries have led to a marked improvement in the understanding of both the morphology and relationships of the organisms, the environments they inhabited and the effects imposed by how they were preserved.
References
[1] Narbonne et al (1997) Jour Paleo 71:953-967. Figures 1-8. 1-2, Stratigraphy and location [2] Ivantsov A et al. (2015) Lethaia DOI 10.1111/let.12164 of new material; 3, preservations style
[3] Elliott D et al (2016) Jour Paleo (in press) common in Nama Group; 4, first complete
[4] Elliott D et al (2011) Acta Palaeo Polonica 56:641-650. Ernietta description; 5-6, internal structure
[5] Hall M et al. (2013) Precamb Res 238:214-232. determined by micro-CT scanning of new
[6] Vickers-Rich (2007) Jour Paleo 87:1-15 Rangea; 7, new Rangea material; 8, channel which yielded abundant new material
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