Browsing by Author "Schiffbauer, James D."

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    Preservation of early Tonian macroalgal fossils from the Dolores Creek Formation, Yukon
    Maloney, Katie M.; Schiffbauer, James D.; Halverson, Galen P.; Xiao, Shuhai; Laflamme, Marc (Nature Portfolio, 2022-04-13)
    The rise of eukaryotic macroalgae in the late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic was a critical development in Earth's history that triggered dramatic changes in biogeochemical cycles and benthic habitats, ultimately resulting in ecosystems habitable to animals. However, evidence of the diversification and expansion of macroalgae is limited by a biased fossil record. Non-mineralizing organisms are rarely preserved, occurring only in exceptional environments that favor fossilization. Investigating the taphonomy of well-preserved macroalgae will aid in identifying these target environments, allowing ecological trends to be disentangled from taphonomic overprints. Here we describe the taphonomy of macroalgal fossils from the Tonian Dolores Creek Formation (ca. 950 Ma) of northwestern Canada (Yukon Territory) that preserves cm-scale macroalgae. Analytical microscopy, including scanning electron microscopy and tomographic x-ray microscopy, was used to investigate fossil preservation, which was the result of a combination of pyritization and aluminosilicification, similar to accessory mineralization observed in Paleozoic Burgess Shale-type fossils. These new Neoproterozoic fossils help to bridge a gap in the fossil record of early algae, offer a link between the fossil and molecular record, and provide new insights into evolution during the Tonian Period, when many eukaryotic lineages are predicted to have diversified.
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    Systematic paleontology of macroalgal fossils from the Tonian Mackenzie Mountains Supergroup
    Maloney, Katie M.; Maverick, Dakota P.; Schiffbauer, James D.; Halverson, Galen P.; Xiao, Shuhai; Laflamme, Marc (Cambridge University Press, 2023-03-01)
    Proterozoic eukaryotic macroalgae are difficult to interpret because morphological details required for proper phylogenetic studies are rarely preserved. This is especially true of morphologically simple organisms consisting of tubes, ribbons, or spheres that are commonly found in a wide array of bacteria, plants, and even animals. Previous reports of exceptionally preserved Tonian (ca. 950-900 Ma) fossils from the Dolores Creek Formation of Northwestern Canada feature enough morphological evidence to support a green macroalgal affinity. However, the affinities of two additional forms identified on the basis of the size distribution of available specimens remain undetermined, while the presence of three unique algal forms supports other reports of increasing algal diversity in the early Neoproterozoic. Archaeochaeta guncho new genus new species is described as a green macroalga on the basis of its well-preserved morphology consisting of an unbranching, uniseriate thallus with uniform width throughout and possessing an elliptical to globose anchoring holdfast. A larger size class of ribbon-like forms is interpreted as Vendotaenia sp. A third size class is significantly smaller than Archaeochaeta n. gen. and Vendotaenia, but in the absence of clear morphological characters, it remains difficult to assign. As Archaeochaeta n. gen. and Vendotaenia represent photoautotrophic taxa, these findings support the hypothesis of increasing morphological complexity and phyletic diversification of macroalgae during the Tonian, leading to dramatic changes within benthic marine ecosystems before the evolution of animals.
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    A unifying model for Neoproterozoic–Palaeozoic exceptional fossil preservation through pyritization and carbonaceous compression
    Schiffbauer, James D.; Xiao, Shuhai; Cai, Yaoping; Wallace, Adam F.; Hua, Hong; Hunter, Jerry; Xu, Huifang; Peng, Yongbo; Kaufman, Alan J. (Nature, 2014-12-17)
    Soft-tissue fossils capture exquisite biological detail and provide our clearest views onto the rise of animals across the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition. The processes contributing to fossilization of soft tissues, however, have long been a subject of debate. The Ediacaran Gaojiashan biota displays soft-tissue preservational styles ranging from pervasive pyritization to carbonaceous compression, and thus provides an excellent opportunity to dissect the relationships between these taphonomic pathways. Here geochemical analyses of the Gaojiashan fossil Conotubus hemiannulatus show that pyrite precipitation was fuelled by the degradation of labile tissues through bacterial sulfate reduction (BSR). Pyritization initiated with nucleation on recalcitrant tube walls, proceeded centripetally, decelerated with exhaustion of labile tissues and possibly continued beneath the BSR zone. We propose that pyritization and kerogenization are regulated principally by placement and duration of the decaying organism in different microbial zones of the sediment column, which hinge on post-burial sedimentation rate and/or microbial zone thickness.