Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Turner, E. C. Articles by James, N. P. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Neoproterozoic reef microstructures from the Little Dal Group, northwestern Canada

¹ Department of Geological Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada

Basinal facies in the Neoproterozoic Little Dal Group contain large reefs up to 300 m in height and 8 km in diameter. In contrast to the stromatolitic composition typical of earlier Proterozoic buildups, Little Dal reefs consist mainly of three different calcareous microfossils. A tubule-thread microfossil, analogous to the calcimicrobe Girvanella in Paleozoic reefs, formed laminar-reticulate structures, like those in Ordovician bioherms. A clotted to saccate microfossil, comparable morphologically to Paleozoic Renalcis, constructed botryoidal to encrusting masses. An enigmatic component of multicellular appearance that has attributes of an early calcified metaphyte exhibits the encrusting sheetlike habit characteristic of middle to late Paleozoic algae. These reefs represent an intermediate stage between Proterozoic stromatolitic buildups and Paleozoic metazoan-calcimicrobial reefs and biogenic mounds.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. Riding An atmospheric stimulus for cyanobacterial-bioinduced calcification ca. 350 million years ago? Palaios, October 1, 2009; 24(10): 685 - 696. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. C. Kah and R. Riding Mesoproterozoic carbon dioxide levels inferred from calcified cyanobacteria Geology, September 1, 2007; 35(9): 799 - 802. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. A. CORSETTI and J. P. GROTZINGER Origin and Significance of Tube Structures in Neoproterozoic Post-glacial Cap Carbonates: Example from Noonday Dolomite, Death Valley, United States Palaios, August 1, 2005; 20(4): 348 - 362. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Digital Reconstruction and Stratigraphic Evolution of a Microbial-Dominated, Isolated Carbonate Platform (Terminal Proterozoic, Nama Group, Namibia) Journal of Sedimentary Research, July 1, 2004; 74(4): 479 - 497.

				Earliest Triassic Microbialite Micro- to Megastructures in the Huaying Area of Sichuan Province, South China: Implications for the Nature of Oceanic Conditions after the End-Permian Extinction Palaios, October 1, 2003; 18(4-5): 388 - 402.

				Taphonomic Control on Microstructure in Early Neoproterozoic Reefal Stromatolites and Thrombolites Palaios, April 1, 2000; 15(2): 87 - 111.