Mistaken Point Long Beach (Ediacaran of Canada)

Also known as Watern Cove; WCE

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; lithified, graded, fine-grained, medium, tuffaceous 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: Fossil 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 89111: authorized by Marc Laflamme, entered by Marc Laflamme on 05.05.2009, edited by Pete Wagner

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
 Arboreomorpha -
Charniodiscus procerus, "Charniodiscus spinosus" = Arborea spinosa
Charniodiscus procerus Laflamme et al. 2004 frond
"Charniodiscus spinosus" = Arborea spinosa Laflamme et al. 2004 Frond
 Rangeomorpha - Charniidae
Charnia masoni4
Charnia masoni4 Ford 1958
 Rangeomorpha -
Hapsidophyllas flexibilis1, Pectinifrons abyssalis2
Hapsidophyllas flexibilis1 Bamforth and Narbonne 2009
Pectinifrons abyssalis2 Bamforth et al. 2008 Pectinate
Thectardis avalonensis
  -
Thectardis avalonensis3
Thectardis avalonensis3 Clapham et al. 2004 triangle
1Bamforth and Narbonne 2009; 2Bamforth et al. 2008; 3Clapham et al. 2004; 4Laflamme et al. 2007