The occurrence of Dickinsonia in non-marine facies

Abstract

Dickinsonia in the central Urals occurs in a succession transitional from marginal marine to non-marine. Even within this sequence Dickinsonia appears to be restricted to the least marine facies interpreted as a coastal lagoon surrounded by tidal flats. Another puzzling aspect is the complete absence of other Ediacaran taxa that are usually found together with Dickinsonia in other fossil localities. In fact, the Sinii Kamen Member of the Cherny Kamen Formation yielded an assemblage of Ediacaran macrofossils including aspidellamorph and mawsonitomorph holdfasts, frondomorphs, palaeopascichnids, and concentric ring structures of microbial origin; however, fossils of Dickinsonia have never been found in this association.

Keywords

• dickinsonia
• soft-bodied metazoan
• continental environments
• ediacaran