Reading the Siberian record: Unravelling biological and environmental dynamics in the Ediacaran Khatyspyt Lagerstätte

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jan-Peter Duda
• Subject Area: Palaeontology ; Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry
• Term: from 2017 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 379153100

The Ediacaran (635-541 Ma) records the global occurrence of macroscopic complex organisms (Ediacara-type fossils, carbonaceous compression fossils) prior to the celebrated "Cambrian Explosion" of metazoan life. However, still little is known about the ecosystems in which these organisms thrived. Molecular fossils could provide insight into biological communities and environmental conditions, but are commonly not preserved in the host rocks due to volcaniclastic and siliciclastic lithologies. The Khatyspyt Formation (Arctic Siberia, Russia) is one of the only two existing carbonate settings with Ediacara-type fossils. It contains abundant carbonaceous compression fossils, a variety of trace fossils, and exceptionally well preserved molecular fossils. The Khatyspyt Formation has therefore been considered a fossil lagerstätte that provides a unique window into ecosystems with Ediacaran macroscopic complex organisms. In this project I will conduct detailed molecular fossil (lipid biomarker) analyses on a variety of different Khatyspyt facies. By linking the biomarker data with sedimentological and paleontological evidence I will reconstruct biological communities, environmental conditions and thus, ecosystem variability in time and space. This will provide important ecological and taphonomic constraints on the occurrence patterns of macroscopic complex organisms in Ediacaran environments.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professor Gordon Love