New occurrences of Palaeopascichnus from the Stáhpogieddi Formation, Arctic Norway, and their bearing on the age of the Varanger Ice Age Sören Jensen1, Anette E.S. Högström2, Magne Høyberget3, Guido Meinhold4,5, Duncan McIlroy6, Jan Ove R. Ebbestad7, Wendy L. Taylor8, Heda Agić9, and Teodoro Palacios1 1Área de Paleontología, University of Extremadura, E-06006 Badajoz, Spain. 2Tromsø University Museum, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway. 3Rennesveien 14, N-4513 Mandal, Norway. 4Geoscience Center, University of Göttingen, Goldschmidtstr. 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany. 5School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK. 6Department of Earth Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, A1B 3X5, Canada. 7Museum of Evolution, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 16, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden. 8Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa. 9Department of Earth Science, University of California at Santa Barbara, 1006 Webb Hall, CA 93106 Santa Barbara, USA. Corresponding author: Sören Jensen (email:
[email protected]) 1 Abstract: We report on new occurrences of the late Ediacaran problematicum Palaeopascichnus (Protista?) from the Stáhpogieddi Formation, Arctic Norway. The stratigraphically lowest occurrences are in beds transitional between the Lillevannet and Indreelva members: the highest in the second cycle of the Manndrapselva Member, stratigraphically close to the lowest occurrences of Cambrian-type trace fossils. This establishes a long stratigraphical range of Palaeopascichnus on the Digermulen Peninsula, as has been previously documented from Newfoundland, South Australia and elsewhere in Baltica. The age range of Palaeopascichnus in Avalonia and Baltica is ~565 to 541 Ma.