Ediacaran Sedimentology and Paleoecology of Newfoundland Reconsidered
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Sedimentary Geology 333 (2016) 15–31 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Sedimentary Geology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/sedgeo Ediacaran sedimentology and paleoecology of Newfoundland reconsidered Gregory J. Retallack ⁎ Department of Geological Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA article info abstract Article history: Ediacaran fossils of Mistaken Point and other localities in Newfoundland have been reconstructed as denizens of a Received 23 July 2015 deep, dark ocean, based on a turbidite interpretation of their sedimentary context. Objections to this view include Received in revised form 8 December 2015 geochemical indications of fresh water and volcanological and sedimentological evidence that they lived in soils Accepted 9 December 2015 of coastal plains and tidal flats. Two distinct assemblages of these fossils are recognized: a low-diversity Aspidella– Available online 15 December 2015 Heimalora community on sulfidic grey paleosols (Sulfaquent) and a high diversity Fractofusus–Charniodiscus Editor: J. Knight community on red ferruginous paleosols (Fluvent and Udept). These two assemblages and their paleosols were comparable in habitat with Phanerozoic intertidal salt marsh and coastal woodlands, respectively. Paleosol Keywords: chemical composition is also evidence that Ediacaran communities of Newfoundland lived in humid, cool tem- Ediacaran perate paleoclimates, unlike arid paleoclimates of the classical Ediacaran biota of South Australia. Newfoundland © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Paleosol Paleoecology Vendobiont 1. Introduction preferences of Ediacaran fossils remain problematic (Retallack, 2013b; Retallack, 2014b-d; Antcliffe et al., 2015; Mitchell et al., 2015). Ediacaran fossils of Newfoundland have been considered algae, Shallow-water deposition of the Mistaken Point Formation of New- fungi, or marine invertebrates with photosymbionts in the photic zone foundland is supported by hummocky bedding, oscillation ripples, car- (Fischer, 1965; Seilacher, 1984, 1989; McMenamin, 1986; Peterson bonate nodules, and purple-red color (Misra, 1971; Benus, 1988; et al., 2003). Other plant-like and lichen-like features of these fossils in- Dalrymple et al., 1999). The Mistaken Point Formation also includes clude fractal branching (Cuthill and Conway Morris, 2014), nutrient- spindle bombs, accretionary lapilli, gas-escape structures, and ungraded acquiring root-like systems (Antcliffe et al., 2015), and both sexual crystal tuffs that could only be deposited on land, as well as trace ele- and vegetative reproduction (Mitchell et al., 2015). An alternative ment compositions of tuffs unique to forearc basins (Retallack, 2014a). view of these famous fossils of Mistaken Point and other localities Geochemical indices from the Mistaken Point Formation (Fig. 3), such in Newfoundland (Figs. 1 and 2) is that they were deep marine as high (N2.8) C/S ratios (Canfield et al., 2007), are evidence of low- osmotrophic metazoans, perhaps anemones, jellyfish, or sea pens, be- sulfate, freshwater paleoenvironments (Berner and Raiswell, 1984; cause enclosing beds have been interpreted as turbidites (Anderson Raiswell and Berner, 1986; Canfield et al., 2010). Furthermore low ratios and Misra, 1968; Misra, 1971; Clapham et al., 2003; Narbonne et al., (b0.2: Canfield et al., 2007) of highly reactive iron (FeHR, mainly pyrite 2005; Hofmann et al., 2008; Liu et al., 2015). This study re-examines or hematite iron) over total iron (including iron still within silicates, these divergent hypotheses of deep versus marginal marine habitats FeTOT) are more like soils than modern marine or lacustrine sediments in two ways. First is comparative sedimentology, in which polished (Ku et al., 2008). It could be that Ediacaran oceans and soils were totally slabs of fossiliferous beds in the Mistaken Point Formation are compared unlike modern (Canfield et al., 2007, 2010), but scatter of these indices with polished slabs and outcrops of known Phanerozoic turbidites ver- between freshwater and marine within the Mistaken Point Formation sus intertidal–supratidal paleosols and tsunamites. Second is paleoecol- (Fig. 3) more likely reflects facies changes than repeated whole ocean ogy, in which individual beds with fossils growing in place are evaluated freshenings (Retallack, 2013a). Finally, rates of sediment accumulation as distinct kinds of communities. for the Mistaken Point Formation (0.16 ± 0.08 mm a−1) were much Distinguishing marine from non-marine Precambrian sedimentary higher than observed in distal turbidite fans (0.012–0.026 mm a−1)or rocks is difficult because the biological affinities and thus habitat the deep ocean (0.002–0.009 mm a−1; Retallack, 2014a). To these gen- eral indications, this contribution adds bed-scale sedimentological in- ⁎ Tel.: +1 541 346 4558. terpretations of the Mistaken Point Formation, and their relevance for E-mail address: [email protected]. understanding the paleoecology of fossils which grew in these beds. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2015.12.001 0037-0738/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 16 G.J. Retallack / Sedimentary Geology 333 (2016) 15–31 Fig. 1. Geological maps of study sites in the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland; A, overview of Newfoundland; B, Catalina area, eastern Bonavista Peninsula (Hofmann et al., 2008); C, Spaniards Bay, northwest Avalon Peninsula; D, Trepassey area, southern Avalon Peninsula (King, 1988). 2. Geological background Cambrian (ca. 525 Ma) deformation metamorphosed the Conception Group to prehnite-pumpellyite facies (Papezik, 1974). Paleomagnetic di- The Conception Group of the Avalon Zone of Newfoundland rections of hematite and magnetite in the Conception Group were reset (Fig. 1) is well known for a variety of Ediacaran fossils, but they are by metamorphism (Evans and Raub, 2011), but paleomagnetic directions most diverse in the Mistaken Point Formation (Fig. 2). Four high- of Marystown and Musgravetown Volcanics nearby were less severely af- precision radiometric dates within the Conception Group provide fected and are evidence of peri-Gondwanan midlatitude locations: an age model for the whole sequence, with the Mistaken Point S34.6 ± 8.0°, S23.6 ± 8.3°, S19.1 ± 11.1°, and S24.5 ± 11.9° successively Formation dated at 565 Ma (van Kranendonk et al., 2008; Noble et al., between 570 and 550 Ma (Pisarevsky et al., 2012; Thompson et al., 2012). 2015). All examined localities were within the forearc basin of the Trin- ity Synclinorium on granitic crust, between the Holyrood Granite 3. Materials and methods (Fig. 2) exposed in the Holyrood Horst to the east and the ancient continental calcalkaline volcanic arc exposed to the west (Retallack, To determine the sedimentological context of Ediacaran fossils in 2014a). Newfoundland, this project studied the four most productive fossil G.J. Retallack / Sedimentary Geology 333 (2016) 15–31 17 Fig. 2. Ediacaran geological succession Newfoundland with ranges of selected fossils (Clapham et al., 2003; Narbonnne et al., 2005; Hofmann et al., 2008). localities in the Mistaken Point Formation (Benus, 1988; King, 1988; Newfoundland and Labrador regulation 67/11 of the Historic Resources Narbonne et al., 2005, 2009): (1) Mistaken Point (Fig. 3), (2) St Shotts Act (O.C. 2011–198). (Fig. 4B); (3) Murphy's Cove near Catalina (Fig. 4A), and (4) Green This study distinguishes paleosols, tsunamites, tempestites, and tur- Head near Spaniards Bay (Fig. 4C). Other measured sections were bidites by comprehensive characterization of individual beds. Petro- made of the fossiliferous Drook Formation at Pigeon Cove, Briscal For- graphic thin sections from oriented rock specimens were point counted mation in Bristy Cove, and Trepassey Formation west of Portugal Cove for grain size fractions and mineral content with error (Murphy, 1983) South (Fig. 5). Geographic coordinates of these localities are available of ±2%. Specimens were also analyzed for major elements by x-ray fluo- on request: all are protected from unauthorized fossil collection by rescence, for organic carbon using a Leco combustion infrared analyzer, 18 G.J. Retallack / Sedimentary Geology 333 (2016) 15–31 are curated within the Condon Collection of The Museum of Natural and Cultural History of the University of Oregon, Eugene (G.J. Retallack, director), and archival polished slabs (G149-G176) in collections of The Rooms (provincial museum), St. John's, Newfoundland (N. Djan- Chekar, curator). Newfoundland beds were also compared with known Phanerozoic turbidites studied in the field and by means of polished slabs, from the following localities: middle Ediacaran (584 Ma), upper Mall Bay Forma- tion, St Marys, Newfoundland, Canada (Retallack, 2013a; N46.91933° W53.59828°); Late Ordovician (Sandbian, 455 Ma), Malongulli Forma- tion, Millamolong, New South Wales, Australia (Stevens, 1957; Percival and Glen, 2007; S33.585738° E148.973131°); middle Silurian (Wenlockian, 430 Ma), Trail Creek Formation, 15 km east of Sun Valley, Idaho, USA (Dover et al., 1980; N43.81909° W114.25926°); Early Devo- nian (Lochkovian, 415 Ma), Waterbeach Formation, Crudine, New South Wales, Australia (Jagodzinski and Black, 1999; S33.04409° E149.52856°), and Oligocene (30 Ma) Mehama Formation, Goshen, Oregon, USA (McClaughry et al., 2010; N44.001294° W123.01423°). Also examined in outcrop, but too clayey and friable to take a polish, were turbidites of the early Eocene Tyee Formation, near Drain, Oregon (Snavely et al., 1964; Ryu, 2007; N43.66158° W123.34034°) and early Eocene, Elkton