LATE RIPHEAN MINERALIZED MICROFOSSILS FROM THE VALYUKHTA FORMATION OF THE BAIKAL-PATOM HIGHLAND

Abstract

New sites of mineralized microfossils, seven in cherts and one in phosphorite of the Upper Riphean Valyukhta Formation-of the Baikal-Patom Highland, are discovered at the Alekan River (the Malaya Chuya River basin). The Valyukhta microbiota is specific in taxonomic composition persistent over the area and, thus, significant for biostratigraphy and correlation. It includes four new species of three insertae sedis genera: Siphonomorpha Golovenok et Belova, gen. nov.; Alekania Golovenok et Belova, gen. nov.; and Bifaria Belova, gen. nov., which are described for the first time in this work.