Knoll A H, Swett K, Mark J
Botanical Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
J Paleontol. 1991;65(4):531-70. doi: 10.1017/s0022336000030663.
Carbonates and rare shales of the ca 700-800 Ma old Draken Conglomerate Formation, northeastern Spitsbergen, preserve a record of environmental variation within a Neoproterozoic tidal flat/lagoon complex. Forty-two microfossil taxa have been recognized in Draken rocks, and of these, 39 can be characterized in terms of their paleoenvironmental distributions along a gradient from the supratidal zone to permanently submerged lagoons. Supratidal to subtidal trends include: increasing microbenthic diversity, increasing abundance and diversity of included allochthonous (presumably planktonic) elements, decreasing sheath thickness of mat-building organisms (with significant taphonomic consequences), and an increasing sediment/fossil ratio in fossiliferous rocks. Five principal and several minor biofacies can be distinguished. The paleoecological resolution obtainable in the Draken Conglomerate Formation rivals that achieved for most Phanerozoic fossil deposits. It documents the complexity and diversity of Proterozoic coastal ecosystems and indicates that both environment and taphonomy need to be taken into explicit consideration in attempts to understand evolutionary trends in early fossil record. Three species, Coniunctiophycus majorinum, Myxococcoides distola, and M. chlorelloidea, are described as new; Siphonophycus robustum, Siphonophycus septatum, and Gorgonisphaeridium maximum are proposed as new combinations.
斯匹次卑尔根群岛东北部约7亿至8亿年前的德拉肯砾岩组中的碳酸盐岩和稀有页岩，保存了新元古代潮坪/泻湖复合体环境变化的记录。在德拉肯岩石中已识别出42个微化石分类单元，其中39个可以根据它们从古潮上带到永久淹没的泻湖的梯度上的古环境分布来表征。潮上带到潮下带的趋势包括：微型底栖生物多样性增加、所含异地（可能是浮游的）元素的丰度和多样性增加、造席生物的鞘厚度减小（具有重大的埋藏学后果）以及含化石岩石中沉积物/化石比率增加。可以区分出五个主要生物相和几个次要生物相。在德拉肯砾岩组中可获得的古生态分辨率与大多数显生宙化石沉积物所达到的分辨率相当。它记录了元古代沿海生态系统的复杂性和多样性，并表明在试图理解早期化石记录中的进化趋势时，需要明确考虑环境和埋藏学。描述了三个新物种，即大型联合藻、远距粘球藻和绿藻粘球藻；提出了强壮管藻、分隔管藻和最大戈氏球藻作为新组合。
