Lower Mistaken Point (Ediacaran of Canada)

Also known as Gull Rock Cove

Where: Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada (46.6° N, 53.2° W: paleocoordinates 74.5° S, 95.2° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Avalon other zone, Mistaken Point Formation (Conception Group), Ediacaran (635.0 - 541.0 Ma)

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: slope; metamorphosed, graded, fine-grained, medium, volcaniclastic, silty siltstone

• Sedimentological studies imply that the Mistaken Point biota lived in a deepwater environment well below storm wave-base. See WOOD, D. A., R. W. DALRYMPLE, G. M. NARBONNE, J. G. GEHLING, AND M. E. CLAPHAM. 2003. Paleoenvironmental analysis of the late Neoproterozoic Mistaken Point and Trepassey formations, southeastern Newfoundland. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 40:1375–1391.
• The Mistaken Point Formation is dominated by fine to medium-grained turbidites interspersed with thin interturbidite siltstone beds that contain the fossil horizons (Narbonne et al., 2001; Wood et al., 2003). These fossil beds are

•covered by a veneer of volcanic ash, which smothered the frondose organisms and accelerated the lithification process, thereby allowing for the preservation of high-relief fossil fronds on upper bedding plane surfaces

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: mold/impression

Collection methods: surface (in situ),

• The occurrence within an ecological reserve prohibits collection

Primary reference: M. Laflamme, G. M. Narbonne, and M. M. Anderson. 2004. Morphometric analysis of the Ediacaran frond Charniodiscus from the Mistaken Point Formation, Newfoundland. Journal of Paleontology 78(5):827-837 [M. Laflamme/M. Laflamme]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 89096: authorized by Marc Laflamme, entered by Marc Laflamme on 04.05.2009

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
 Arboreomorpha -
"Charniodiscus spinosus" = Arborea spinosa
"Charniodiscus spinosus" = Arborea spinosa Laflamme et al. 2004 Frond
Eumetazoa
 Rangeomorpha -
"Charnia wardi" = Trepassia wardae2, "Trepassia wardae" = Trepassia wardae3, Beothukis mistakensis3, Charnia masoni2, Fractofusus andersoni1
"Charnia wardi" = Trepassia wardae2 Narbonne and Gehling 2003
small specimens
"Trepassia wardae" = Trepassia wardae3 Narbonne and Gehling 2003
Beothukis mistakensis3 Brasier and Antcliffe 2009
Charnia masoni2 Ford 1958
Fractofusus andersoni1 Gehling and Narbonne 2007 Spindle
1Gehling and Narbonne 2007; 2Laflamme et al. 2007; 3Narbonne et al. 2009