Abstract
IN the search for Precambrian life, much effort has been centred on the study of stromatolitic cherts and their predominantly blue-green algal flora1. Nonetheless, it is common for reviews of evolution of the biosphere to switch from consideration of Pre-Vendian chert floras to Vendian soft bodied or trace fossils and thence to Tommotian shelled invertebrates2. A more objective approach will involve tracing organic development across the Cryptozoic–Phanerozoic transition from within a single habitat. Until this has been attempted, our views of changing biotas will be obscured by the changing facies patterns. I report here the discovery of a new early Cambrian flora and fauna from a typically ‘Precambrian’ habitat, a chertified oncolite association.
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BRASIER, M. An early Cambrian chert biota and its implications. Nature 268, 719–720 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/268719a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/268719a0
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