| Title | Psammichnites gigas from the lower Cambrian of the Mackenzie Mountains, northwest Canada, and their biostratigraphic implications |
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| Author | MacNaughton, R B ;
Fallas, K M; Finley, T D |
| Source | Ichnos: An International Journal For Plant and Animal Traces 2021 p. 1-12, https://doi.org/10.1080/10420940.2021.1932491 |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2021 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20190329 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Northwest Territories |
| NTS | 106B/09; 106B/10; 106B/15; 106B/16 |
| Area | Mackenzie Mountains |
| Lat/Long WENS | -130.8333 -130.0000 64.9167 64.5500 |
| Subjects | paleontology; stratigraphy; Nature and Environment; Science and Technology; systematic paleontology; taxonomy; biostratigraphy; trace fossils; ichnology; ichnofossils; bedrock geology; lithology;
sedimentary rocks; structural features; faults; stratigraphic correlations; Lower Cambrian; Psammichnites gigas; Canadian Cordillera; Backbone Ranges Formation; Plateau Fault; Sekwi Formation; Laurentia; Plagiogmus arcuatus; Taphrelminthopsis
circularis; Trilobites; Terreneuvian; Neoproterozoic; Ediacaran; Phanerozoic; Paleozoic; Cambrian; Precambrian; Proterozoic |
| Illustrations | location maps; geoscientific sketch maps; stratigraphic charts; stratigraphic sections; photographs |
| Program | GEM2: Geo-mapping for Energy and Minerals Mackenzie Corridor, Shield-to-Selwyn geo-transect, Mackenzie-Selwyn sub-activity |
| Released | 2021 06 16 |
| Abstract | New occurrences of Psammichnites gigas are reported from the Mackenzie Mountains, northwest Canada. A locality in the hanging wall of the Plateau Fault, just below the top of the upper member of the
Backbone Ranges Formation, demonstrates that the uppermost part of the unit is Tommotian (latter part of Cambrian Age 2) or possibly earliest Atabanian (earliest Cambrian Age 3) in its previously undated proximal manifestation. Localities in the
trilobite-bearing Sekwi Formation confirm that Psammichnites gigas can be at least as young as Atdabanian (early to middle parts of Cambrian Age 3) in Laurentia. A review of reported occurrences suggests Psammichnites gigas, and the related ichnotaxa
Plagiogmus arcuatus and Taphrelminthopsis circularis, may be valuable for correlations in western Laurentia if their ichnotaxonomic relationships are clarified. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
This report documents fossilized animal burrows from two units of rock in the Mackenzie Mountains, northwestern Canada. The burrows are classified under
the scientific name Psammichnites gigas. The burrows provide important information on the age of a unit of rock called the Backbone Ranges Formation. In some places, this unit has not yielded fossils, and so it has been very hard to understand it how
it relates to other formations in terms of its age. The newly discovered fossil burrows show that it belongs to an interval of time called the Tommotian (early in the Cambrian Period, roughly 521-526 million years ago. We also show that these
burrows, and some similar types of burrows called by different names, are reasonably common in western North America. They may be useful for understanding long-distance age relationships between different packages of rocks in different
areas. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 321382 |
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