EDIACARAN AND CAMBRIAN INDEX FOSSILS FROM SONORA, MEXICO |
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Authors: | FRANCISCO SOUR-TOVAR JAMES W HAGADORN† TOMÁS HUITRÓN-RUBIO |
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Institution: | Museo de Paleontología, Departamento de Biología Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, México DF, Mexico, CP 04510;e-mail:; Department of Geology, Amherst College, Amherst, MA 01002, USA;e-mail: |
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Abstract: | Abstract: The Cambrian index fossil Treptichnus pedum is reported from the Puerto Blanco Formation near Pitiquito, Sonora, Mexico, and new occurrences of the Neoproterozoic index fossil Cloudina are reported from the underlying La Ciénega Formation. Considered together, these fossils constrain the location of the Ediacaran/Cambrian boundary in Mexico. The suite of fossils in this sequence is important because it provides an independent biostratigraphic datum for constraining the position of Laurentia during the onset of metazoan diversification, for testing proposed lithostratigraphic correlations among western North American Neoproterozoic–Cambrian successions, and for testing regional tectonic paradigms such as the Mojave-Sonora Megashear hypothesis. |
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Keywords: | Treptichnus pedum Cloudina trace fossils Early Cambrian Sonora Mexico |
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