Trace Fossils from the Vendian-Cambrian Transitional Strata of the Igarka Uplift (Northwestern Siberian Platform)

Abstract

The Vendian–Cambrian transitional strata of the Igarka Uplift (northwestern Siberian Platform), originally erected as the Sukharikha Formation, are one of the key objects revealing evolution of marine ecosystems in the late Vendian. Herein we describe dwelling burrows Skolithos and Arenicolites from dolostones in the middle Sukharikha Formation (Nemakit-Daldynian Regional Stage). High density and local distribution of these burrows in the Sukharikha Formation demonstrate that the terminal Vendian shallow-marine sediments became occupied by vertical-burrowing benthic organisms, mirrored in the geological record as an archetypical Phanerozoic ichnoassemblage (Skolithos ichnofacies).