The oldest sequence of skeletal fossils in the Lower Cambrian of southeastern Newfoundland

Abstract

Sections on the Burin Peninsula in southeastern Newfoundland show a record of continuous sedimentation during the Late Precambrian–Early Cambrian transition. These may be correlated lithologically and biostratigraphically with less complete sequences on the Avalon and Bonavista Peninsulas. Below the oldest known trilobites in southeastern Newfoundland (of the Callavia Zone) two consecutive assemblages of skeletal fossils are recognizable: an Aldanella attleborensis assemblage and the succeeding Coleoloides typicalis assemblage. The shift between the two assemblages takes place within the Bonavista Formation in the Avalon–Bonavista region and in a similar succession of mudstones near St. Lawrence on the Burin Peninsula. The quartzitic Random Formation appears to have been deposited during a short interval within the time span represented by the A. attleborensis assemblage, and there is no conclusive biostratigraphical evidence of any major diachronism of this unit. The A. attleborensis assemblage contains taxa known from the lower part of the Tommotian Stage on the Siberian Platform. It is interpreted to be of Tommotian age, and the subsequent shift to the C. typicalis assemblage is tentatively correlated with the Tommotian–Atdabanian boundary as recognized in Siberia.