Mistaken Point D (Ediacaran of Canada)

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

• coordinate estimated from map

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

• The Mistaken Point ‘D’ (MPD) surface (of Landing et al., 1988) is located approximately 77 m below the top of the Mistaken Point Formation (Wood et al., 2003) and is one of the most prominent fossil surfaces on the southern Avalon.

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: slope; lithified, graded, fine-grained, medium, tuffaceous, silty mudstone

• Sedimentary analysis of the interturbidite mudstones at all four localities (Wood et al., 2003; Ichaso et al., 2007) records the presence of a persistent contour current within the slope environment which presumably delivered food and oxygen to the benthic communities.
• Fossiliferous horizons in both the Mistaken Point and Trepassey formations are found beneath beds of solidified volcanic ash on top of silicified mudstones, and are located within abundant fine- to medium-grained turbidite deposits

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: mold/impression

Collection methods: Due to its status as an ecological reserve and a candidate World Heritage site, it is now prohibited by law to collect specimens from Mistaken Point.

Primary reference: E. L. Bamforth, G. M. Narbonne, and M. M. Anderson. 2008. Growth and ecology of a multi-branched Ediacaran rangeomorph from the Mistaken Point Assemblage, Newfoundland. Journal of Paleontology 82(4):763-777 [M. Laflamme/M. Laflamme]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 89116: 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
 Rangeomorpha -
Fractofusus misrai4, Bradgatia linfordensis3, Pectinifrons abyssalis, Hapsidophyllas sp.2, Hapsidophyllas flexibilis1
Fractofusus misrai4 Gehling and Narbonne 2007 Spindle
Bradgatia linfordensis3 Boynton and Ford 1995
Pectinifrons abyssalis Bamforth et al. 2008 Pectinate
Hapsidophyllas sp.2 Bamforth and Narbonne 2009
Hapsidophyllas flexibilis1 Bamforth and Narbonne 2009
1Bamforth and Narbonne 2009; 2Darroch et al. 2015; 3Flude and Narbonne 2008; 4Gehling and Narbonne 2007