THE NEOPROTEROZOIC TO EARLY CAMBRIAN IN SOUTHWEST MONGOLIA: AN INTRODUCTION

Abstract

In this collection of papers, we attempt to document, through interdisciplinary studies in southwest Mongolia, the interlinked evolution of the biosphere and lithosphere over the Neoproterozoic–Cambrian interval. In so doing, we bring together the fruits of two expeditions to the Altay mountains, sponsored by IGCP Project 303 on Precambrian–Cambrian Event Stratigraphy. Both expeditions took place during an interval of great socio-economic change in the region. The first expedition, in 1991, was one of the last in a series of Joint Soviet–Mongolian Palaeontological Expeditions, organized by A. Yu. Rozanov and R. Barsbold, and led by E. A. Zhegallo and A. Yu. Zhuravlev. Scientists from Sweden and the UK also participated. The second, 1993, expedition was one of the first IGCP project meetings organized independently by the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, and was led by M. D. Brasier and D. Dorjnamjaa.(Accepted April 16 1996)