Contributions to Palaeontology and Stratigraphic Correlation of the Late
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!ER lr The University of Adelaide Department of Geology and Geophysics CONTRIBUTIONS TO PALAEONTOLOGY AND STR.{TIGRAPIIIC CORRELATION OF THE LATE PRECAMBRIAN IN CTIINA AND AUSTRALIA by Sun Weiguo (W.G. Sun) December, 1985 A thesis submil,ted to the tlniversity of Adelaide in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosoPhY ilr*rtËi-lr Ll lr{n ijilor'', -'' i);' Front tþper: Searchlng for fosslls of lhe Late Precambrian Edlacara metazoan assemblage at the Edlacara Range, South Aust¡alia. Lower: tes randell.ensfs Sun, a new scyphozoan medusa of the Ediacara r¡etazoan assenblage, frcrn the Ediacara Range' I CONTENTS SLÌ"tMARY vil ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xi xiv INTRODUCTTON CHAFTER 1 PAGE Subdivisions and correlations of the þper Precambrian in China and Australia : a brief review L (1) Brief history of stratigraphic subdivision and I cLassification of the Upper Precambrian ("Sinian") in China (2) Ccrnments on the Late Precambrian stratigraphÍc 6 sca.Ies of China (3) Stratigraphic subdivision and cl-assification of the l4 Upper Þrecambrian (AdeLaidean) in Australia (4) Probl-ems of estabLishing a terminal Precambrian 20 system (5) CorreLations of the tþper Precambrian between 24 China and AustraLia References 77 CHAPTER 2 Macroscopic worm-like body fossifs from the tþper Precambrian 49 (900-7OO Ma), Huainan district, North China Platform Abstract 49 (1) Introduction 51 (2) Geologic setting and stratigraphy 55 (3) Macroscopic worm-like body fossils 58 (r+) Time range and stratigraphic correlation 72 (5) Significance of the Huainan macroscopic fossiL 77 assemblage References B] l_r CHAPTER ' PAGE palaeontology and biostratigraphy of Late Precambrian 88 rã"tot.opic-ôolonial algae : Chuaria f'lal-cott and Tawuia Hofmann Abstract 88 (f) Introduction 90 (2) Research historY 90 93 (3) Occurtences and stratigraPhY (4) Material- 98 (5) Research techniques 99 LO2 (6) Systematic PaJ-aeontologY (7) Biostratigraphic significance I32 140 (8) Concl-usions 14r (9) Appendix References I44 CHAPTER 4 156 Precambrian medusoids : the Cvclomedusa pJ'exus and Cvcl-omedusa - like pseudofossils Abstract L56 (f) Introduction I57 L59 (2) Cvclomedusa plexus L87 (3) CycLome dusa - Iike pseudofossils L96 (4) þpendix 197 References l_ l_ l_ CHAPTER 5 PAGE Late Precambrian scYPhozoan medusa Mawsoni tes randelLensis 205 sp. nov. and its significance in the Ediacara metazoan assemblage, South AustraLia Abstract 205 (1) Introduction 206 (2) Systematic palaeontologY 207 (3) Discussion 2L8 References 226 CHAPTER 6 Late Precambrian pennatulids (sea pens) from the 229 Eastern Yangtze Gorge, China : Paracharnia gen. nov' Abstract 229 (1) Introduction 230 (2) SystematÍc pal-aeontologY 23L (3) Biostratigraphy and correlation 239 (4) Geochronology 242 (5) Conclusions 243 References 245 PLATES I-21 250 l_v LIST OF PLATES PLATE PAGE 1. Dropstone structures, Fengtai Formation, Huainan 25L district, North China Pl.atflorm 253 2 Late Precambrian macroscopic worm-like body fossils, Huainan district 255 3 sabellidites cambriensis, Lower cambrian Baltic stage' Leningrad district, Russlan Hratlorm 257 4 pararenicola huainanensis, Late Precambrian Feishui ffiþ,-nuainañ-ffit- 5. Chuaria circul-aris Upper Precambrian, North China 259 P 26r 6 Detaited structures of Chuaria 267 7 Nostoc, spheroidal colonies of a living filamentous Eiti-green alga, South Australia I Chuaria - TawuÍa macrofossil assemblage from the 265 up p-er e r e cãñ-brian, Hu ai nan d i s t ri ct 267 9 Iomedusa plexus, Late Precambrian Rawnsley Quartzite, , Flinders Ranges, South Australia 269 10. CvcLomedusa davidi, Rawnsley Quartzite, Flinders Ranges 11. Spriqqia wadeae, Rawnsley Quartzite, Flinders Ranges 27I 12. Cyclomedusa-tike Pseudofossils from the Late 273 Precambrian Wuhangshan GrouPt Fuxian district, southern Liaoning, China 13. Cyclomedusa-like pseudofossils from southern 275 Liaoning, China 14. Gas-escape features, Goolwa, South Australia 277 15. Mawsonites randellensis. Rawnsl ey Quartzitet 279 nge 16. Mawsonites spriggi, RawnsJ-ey Quartzitet 28I Ediacara Range 17. Brachina del-icata, RawnsleY Quartzite, 283 Flinders Ranges 285 IB. Paracharnia d S1S Late Precambrian DengYing ormat ze , China 19. Charniodiscus Longus, Rawnsley Quartzite, Flinders 287 Ranges 20. Vendotaenia sp. and Sinotubul-ites baimatuoensis 289 Dengying Forma tion, E. Yangtze Gorge 21. Basal Cambrian trace fossils, Didymaulichnus and 29L Plaqioqmus. from China and Australia v LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE I Distribution of the Upper Precambrian in China 2 2. Geological settings and geographical Location of Late 3 Precambrian (Sinian) reference sections on the North China Pl-atform and Yangtze Platform 4 3 Precambrian time scale recommended by the Geological Society of China (1982) 4. Late Precambrian stratigraphic scales of China 4 15 5 Location of major Precambrian sedimentary basins, basement blocks and provinces in Australia. 6 Subdivision and Correlation of the þper Precambrian I6 (Adelaidean) in the Adel-aide Geosyncline, south Austral-ia L7 7 Late Precambrian stratigraphic scales of Austral-ia I Difference in stratigraphic scope between the Ediacaran 2I System (Jenkins, 198I) and Ediacarian System (-ClouO and Glaessner' I9B2) 22 9 precambrian time scaLes proposed by Harland et aI. (L982) 10. China-AustraLia correlations : Upper Precambrian and 25 Lower Cambrian r1. Index map and regional- geology of the Huainan district' 52 Anhui Province, China L2. Generalized stratigraphic coLumn of the Upper 53 precambrian in the Huainan district, Anhui Province, china 13. Measu rements of Sinosabe ILidites huainanensis and Tawuia 62 s].nensls 14. Corretation chart of the Upper Precambrian in China 74 15. Distribution of Chuaria circularis on the North 94 China Platform 16. Correlation chart of Chuaria - bearing sections 95 a in China L7. Size distribution of Chuaria specimens from the 108 Liulaobei Formation, Htlainarl Group, Huainan district 18. Size distribution of Chuaria specimens from the 108 Nanfen Formation, Xihã Group, Fuxian district 19. fVorldwide distribution of chuaria clrqtllgl-is walcott L33 20. International stratigraphic correlation based on 134 occurrences of Chuaria and Tawuia vl_ PAGE FIGURE 2I. Distribution of the Late Precambrian Ediacara metazoan 160 assemblage in South Australia L69 22. Cvclomedusa davidi, diagranunatic sketches' ffi comparison with living Aequorea 27. Diagrammatic sketch of SpriggÍa annulata L74 24. Size distribution of Spriggia wadeae L74 I8l 25. Diagrammatic sketches of Sprigqia wadeae 26. porpita porpita, a J.iving chondrophore (Hydroida) 18r 27. Diagrammatic sketch of Mawsonites randel-l-ensis 209 215 28. Nausithoe Dunctata, a tiving scyphozoan medusa (Coronat scyphozoan medusa 2L9 D +Pelagia fl-aveo1a, a living (Semaeostomeae) (coronatae) 2I9 30 Atolta bairdii, a living scyphozoan medusa 221 3L Morphological diversification of medusae in the Late ÞrebamOrían Ediacara metazoan assemblage, South Australia 232 32 Diagrammatic reconstruction and terminology of Paracharnia denqvinqensis (sinian) 240 33 Diagrammatic section of the Late Precambrian in the E. Yangtze Gorge, China vl_ r- SUIIIMARY This thesis, consisting of six chapters, is based on an investigation key of Late Precambrian (Proterozoic) reference sequences in sel-ected regions of China and AustraLia and on detailed studies of various from the macroscopic organic remains including not only new fossil-s and algae famous Ediacara metazoan assemblage but also primitive animals years before from different l-evels of strata dating from ca. 1000 million the present (Ma) to the beginning of the cambrian Period. chapter l, a general introduction, presents a progless review of recent achj.evements and existing problems in Late Precambrian research of China and Austral-ia. The historical problem of the Late Precambrian correlation between the North China Platflorm and the Yangtze Platlorm is now solved to a certain degree by estab.ì.ishing a third reference section in the Huainan district on the southern margin of the North china PÌatform. Chapter 2 deal-s with the pal-aeontological. and chronostratigraphic significance of Late Precambrian macloscopic worm-like organisms found in the Huainan district. The Huainan and Feishui Groups are bracketed within the time range of ca. 900-700 Ma and the weathered top of the Feishui Group is covered by the Fengtai Formation, an equival-ent of the l-atest Precambrian gJ-acia1 deposits (Luoquan Tiltite). Apart from the stiLl enigmatic Sinosabellidites Zheng in the Liulaobei Formation of the Huainan Group, the metazoan worm-like organisms represented by Pararenicola Wang and Protoareni.coLa l.lang in the Jiuliqiao Formation of the FeÍshui Group are further studied and claimed to be the oldest multicel-lular animals so far discovered in the worLd and the first possible evidence for the pre-Ediacarian evolutionary history of metazoan life. vl-].t- Chapter j shows that knowledge ofl the previously enigmatic Chuaria v,lalcott and Tawuia Hofmann has progressed from morphological description and preJ-iminary speculations to-discovery of their component fil-amentous celLul-ar structures. The Late Precambrian discoidal remains of Chuaria are now interpreted as comparable to the spherical colonies of the living filamentous bluegreen alga Nostoc in shape, size langer general configuration and perhaps living habit. Using Chuaria as an index fossi] is possible but difficult in practice. However, the distinctive Chuaria - Tawuia macrofossiL assemblage, with its recently known occurrences in Canada, China, Svalbard