When life got hard: An environmental driver for metazoan biomineralization
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/egeol.43597.556Keywords:
Biomineralization, Cloudina, Ediacaran, NamibiaAbstract
The sudden appearance of biomineralized metazoans in limestone facies of the Pockenbank Member (Namibia) appears to reflect a rapid change of redox state, calcium concentration and alkalinity of the ocean. The coupling of a major biological innovation with the end of a profound carbon isotope excursion supports the view that the Shuram was a tectonic and oceanographic phenomenon, as opposed to a global diagenetic conspiracy. The temporal concordance of these profound events as preserved in strata from southern Namibia may thus be considered as exceptional geological markers for the base of the terminal Ediacaran.
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