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Science 27 July 1979:
Vol. 205. no. 4404, pp. 388 - 390
DOI: 10.1126/science.205.4404.388
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Articles

Algal Fossils from a Late Precambrian, Hypersaline Lagoon

DOROTHY Z. OEHLER 1, JOHN H. OEHLER 1, and ALASTAIR J. STEWART 2

1 Exploration Research Division, Continental Oil Company, Ponca City, Oklahoma 74601
2 Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics, Canberra City, A.C.T. 2601, Australia

Organically preserved algal microfossils from the Ringwood evaporite deposit in the Gillen Member of the Bitter Springs Formation (late Precambrian of central Australia) are of small size, low diversity, and probable prokaryotic affinities. These rather primitive characteristics appear to reflect the stressful conditions that prevailed in a periodically stagnant, hypersaline lagoon. This assemblage (especially in comparison with the much more diverse assemblages preserved in the Loves Creek Member of the same formation) illustrates the potential utility of Proterozoic microbiotas for basin analysis and local stratigraphic correlation and demonstrates the need to base evolutionary considerations and Precambrian intercontinental biostratigraphy on biotas that inhabited less restricted environments.

Submitted on April 17, 1979


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Ferruginous Conditions Dominated Later Neoproterozoic Deep-Water Chemistry.
D. E. Canfield, S. W. Poulton, A. H. Knoll, G. M. Narbonne, G. Ross, T. Goldberg, and H. Strauss (2008)
Science 321, 949-952
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Secular change in the Precambrian silica cycle: Insights from chert petrology.
R. G. Maliva, A. H. Knoll, and B. M. Simonson (2005)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 117, 835-845
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)