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Science 2 September 1977:
Vol. 197. no. 4307, pp. 980 - 983
DOI: 10.1126/science.197.4307.980-a
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Articles

The Oldest Macroborers: Lower Cambrian of Labrador

N. P. JAMES 1, D. R. KOBLUK 1, and S. G. PEMBERTON 2

1 Department of Geology, Memorial University, St. Johns, Newfoundland
2 Department of Geology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario

We have discovered numerous borings of Trypanites penetrating skeletons and synsedimentary cemented limestones in archaeocyathid reefs of the Forteau formation in southern Labrador. These are, to date, the oldest known macroborings. The discovery of these structures extends the record of large endolithic organisms 100 million years from the Lower Ordovician to the Lower Cambrian. This immediately postdates the appearance of metazoans with hard parts and confirms that endoliths have played a role in reef formation since the early Cambrian.

Submitted on April 1, 1977


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Macroborings (Gastrochaenolites) in Lower Ordovician Hardgrounds of Utah: Sedimentologic, Paleoecologic, and Evolutionary Implications.
J. S. BENNER, A.A. EKDALE, and J. M. DE GIBERT (2004)
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Environmental and Substrate Control on Paleozoic Bioerosion in Corals and Stromatoporoids, Anticosti Island, Eastern Canada.
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Palaios 19, 292-306
A stratigraphy of marine bioerosion.
R. G. Bromley (2004)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 228, 455-479
   Abstract »    PDF »


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