Taphonomic characteristics and significance of the Palaeoscolecids from the Cambrian Balang Formation in Jianhe County, Guizhou Province
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Abstract:
Abundant Cambrian palaeoscolecidan fossils, collected mainly from three beds of the Lazizhai Section of the Balang Formation in Jianhe County, Guizhou Province, are identified as Wronascolex geyiensis. By analyzing the characteristics of rocks, sedimentation, fossil preservation and taphonomic characteristics of the three beds, we discover that fossils of Wronascolex geyiensis were preserved inside the turbidite sediments which were formed at a rapid deposition rate. However, whether the fossils were perfectly preserved or not depends on the burial sites during the di-agenetic processes, mineral crystallizations in the depositions, as well as the modes of infilling, all of which had madedirect or indirect damages to the microstructures of the fossils formed previously. After analyzing the origins of the clay minerals, framboidal pyrite, idiomorphic or hypidiomorphic pyrite adhered to the Wronascolex geyiensis fossils, we propose that the most appropriate environment for preserving the microstructures of soft-bodied fossils is the oxygen-deficient environment with no contact between the organisms and sulphates in the pore water under autochthonous and nearly autochthonous burial conditions.
