PALEOENVIRONMENTAL AND PALEOBIOGEOGRAPHIC IMPLICATIONS OF A NEW EDIACARAN BODY FOSSIL FROM THE NEOPROTEROZOIC CAROLINA TERRANE, STANLY COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

Abstract

New partial swartpuntiid from Neoproterozoic age rocks of Stanly County, North Carolina, herein assigned to cf. ?Swartpuntia sp., along with previously described Pteridinium carolinaensis, Aspidella, other metazoan trace fossils, and previously reported radiometeric ages, suggest Nama Assemblage type affinities for the Carolina Terrane. The new specimen, cf. ?Swartpuntia sp., and associated radiometric ages add further information pertaining to proposed geographic linkages between the Carolina Terrane and the Avalon Terrane. This new swartpuntiid may be evolutionarily convergent (in terms of habitat preference) to the infaunal or partially infaunal habitat preferred by other members of the Nama-type Ediacaran biota such as Pteridinium and Rangea. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.