Abstract
A highly diversified, advanced and exceptionally well preserved microfossil assemblage, dominated by a planktic community, has been recorded from petrographic thin sections of chert belonging to the Sirbu Shale Formation, Bhander group, upper Vindhyans, Rajasthan. Recently, it was noticed that the assemblage also contains well preserved, large-sized acanthomorphic acritarchs, Trachyhystrichosphaera considered to be an age-marker microfossil of the Cryogenian (850-630 Ma). It is reported for the first time from any Indian microfossil assemblage of Proterozoic succession. The other microfossils of the Sirbu Shale Formation are: well preserved simple, small and large-sized sphaeromorphs; complex acanthomorphs, cyanobacterial community; especially a very small-sized but exceptionally well preserved Obruchevella, a form resembling Volvox colonies; cf. vase-shaped microfossils and morphologies, possibly inclining towards fungal affinity, or lichenlike symbiotic associations of algae and fungi. Till date, Trachyhystrichosphaera has so far not been reported from successions older than the Tonian (1000850 Ma). It is believed that acanthomorphs attained maximum size in Ediacaran (630-542 Ma), and further decreased in size in the Cambrian. The global paleontological literature indicates that Trachyhystrichosphaera ranges in age from Tonian-Ediacaran (1000-542 Ma).
The present record of Trachyhystrichosphaera as well as the earlier studies of micro and megascopic life of the Bhander Group in general and the Sirbu Shale in particular (aided by the absence of any Cambrian fossil record) indicate that in all possibilities, age of the Sirbu Shale should lie near Cryogenian (850-630 Ma) and the uppermost Bhander group, may incline towards the Ediacaran (630-542 Ma).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allison C W and Awramik S M 1989 Organic-walled microfossils from earliest Cambrian or latest Proterozoic Tindir Group rocks, northwest Canada; Precamb. Res. 43 253–294.
Auden J B 1933 Vindhyan sedimentation in Son Valley, Mirzapur district; Geol. Surv. India Memoir. 62 141–250.
Azmi R J 1998 Discovery of Lower Cambrian small shelly fossils and brachiopods from the Lower Vindhyan of Son Valley, Central India; J. Geol. Soc. India 52 381–389.
Brasier M 1999 Discovery of Lower Cambrian small shelly fossils and Brachiopods from the Lr. Vindhyan of Son Valley, Central India. Discussion; J. Geol. Soc. India 53 727–730.
Butterfield N J 1997 Plankton ecology and the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transition; Palaeobiology 23 247–262.
Butterfield N J 2001 Ecology and evolution of the Cambrian plankton; Pp. 200–216; In: Ecology of the Cambrian Radiation (eds) Zhuralev A Yu and Riding R, Columbia University Press, New York.
Butterfield N J 2005 Probable Proterozoic Fungi; Palaeobiology 31 165–182.
Butterfield N J, Knoll A H and Swett K 1994 Paleobiology of the Neoproterozoic Svanbergfjellet Formation, Spitsbergen; Fossils and Strata 34 1–84.
Butterfield N J and Rainbird R H 1998 Diverse organicwalled fossils, including possible “dinofllagellates” from the early Neoproterozoic of arctic Canada; Geology 26(11) 963–966.
Crawford A R and Compston W 1970 The age of the Vindhyan system of peninsular India; J. Geol. Soc. London 125 351–371.
De C 2003 Possible organisms similar to Ediacaran forms from the Bhander Group, Vindhyan Supergroup, Late Neoproterozoic of India; J. Asian Earth Sci. 21 387–395.
De C 2006 Ediacaran Fossil assemblage in the Upper Vindhyans of Central India and its significance; J. Asian Earth Sci. 27 660–683.
Evitt WR 1963 A discussion and proposals concerning fossil dinoflagellates, hystrichospheres and acritarchs; II Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 49 298–302.
Glaessner M F and Walter M R 1975 New Precambrian fossils from the Arumbera Sandstone, Northern Territory, Australia; Alcheringa 1 59–69.
Golubkova E and Raevskaya E 2005 Main changes in microfossil communities throughout the Upper Proterozoic of Russia; In: Precambrian to palaeozoic Palaeopalynology and Palaeobotany (eds) Steemans and Javaux; Notebooks on Geology, Best Memoir, 2005/02.
Hofmann H J 2005 Palaeoproterozoic dubiofossils from India Revisited — Vindhyan triploblastic animal burrows or pseudofossils? J. Palaeontol. Soc. India 50(2) 113–120.
Kerr R A 2002 Earliest animal trace or just mud cracks; Science 295 1209–1210.
Knoll A H 1984 Microbiotas of the Late Precambrian Hunnberg Formation, Nordoustlandet, Svalbard; J. Palaeontol. 58(1) 131–162.
Knoll A H 1992 Vendian microfossils in metasedimentary cherts of the Scotia Group, Prins Karls Foreland, Svalbard; Palaeontology 35(4) 751–774.
Knoll A H 1994 Proterozoic and early Cambrian protists: Evidence for accelerating evolutionary tempo; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 91 6743–6750.
Knoll A H 1996 Chapter 4: Archaean and Proterozoic palaeontology; In: Palynology: Principles and applications, (eds) Jansonius J and McGregor D C American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation 1, (Salt Lake City Publishers Press) 51–80.
Knoll A H and Butterfield N J 1989 New Window on Proterozoic life; Nature 337 602–603.
Kumar S and Pandey S K 2008a Arumberia and associated fossils from the Neoproterozoic Maihar Sandstone, Vindhyan Supergroup, Central India; J. Palaeontol. Soc. India 53(1) 83–97.
Kumar S and Pandey S K 2008b Discovery of organicwalled microbiota from the black-bedded chert, Balwan Limestone, the Bhander Group, Lakheri area, Rajasthan; Curr. Sci. 94(6) 797–800.
Kumar S and Srivastava P 1997 A note on the carbonaceous megafossils from the Neoproterozoic Bhander Group, Maihar area, M. P; J. Paleontol. Soc. India 42 141–146.
Kumar S and Srivastava P 2003 Carbonaceous megafossils from the Neoproterozoic Bhander Group, Central India; Palaeontol. Soc. India 48 139–154.
Leiming Yin and Baode Guan 1999 Organic-walled microfossils of Neoproterozoic Dongjia Formation, Lushan County, Henan Province, North China; Precamb. Res. 94 121–137.
Malone S J, Meert J G, Banerjee D M, Pandit M K, Tamrat E, Kamenov G D, Pradhan V R and Sohl L E 2008 Palaeomagnetism and detrital Zircon Geochronology of the Upper Vindhyan Sequence, Son Valley and Rajasthan, India: A ca. 1000 Ma Closure age for the Purana Basins? Precamb. Res. 164 137–159, doi: 10.1016/jprecamres.2008.04.004.
Mandal M E A, Goswami J N, Deomurari M P and Sharma K K 2002 Ion microprobe Pb/Pb ages of zircons from the Bundelkhand Massif, northern India: Implications for crustal evolution of the Bundelkhand-Aravalli Supercontinent; Precamb. Res. 117 85–100.
Mcllroy D and Walter M R 1997 A reconsideration of the biogenicity of Arumberia banksi Glaessner and walter; Alcheringa 21 79–80.
Mcllroy D, Crimes T P and Pauley C J 2005 Fossils and mat grounds from the Neoproterozoic Longmyndian Supergroup, Shropshire, U K; Geological Magazine 142(4) 441–455.
Mendelson C V and Schopf J W 1992 Proterozoic and early Cambrian acritarchs; In: The Proterozoic Biosphere, (eds) J W Schopf and C Klein (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) 219–232.
Morris S C, Jensen S and Butterfield N J 1998 Fossil discoveries in India: Continued. Science 282 No. 5392, 1265.
Prasad B 1984 Geology, sedimentation and palaeogeography of the Vindhyan southeastern Rajasthan; Geol. Surv. India Memoir 116(1) 1–107.
Prasad B 2007 Obruchevella and other terminal Proterozoic (Vendia) organic-walled microfossils from the Bhander Group (Vindhyan Supergroup), Madhya Pradesh; J. Geol. Soc. India 69 295–310.
Ray J S 2006 Age of the Vindhyan Supergroup: A review of recent findings; J. Earth Syst. Sci. 115(1) 1490 160.
Sastry M V A and Moitra A K 1984 Vindhyan Stratigraphy: A Review; Geol. Surv. India Memoir 116(part II) 109–148.
Seilacher A, Bose P K and Pflüger F 1998 Triploblastic animals more than 1 billion years ago: Trace fossil evidence from India; Science 282 80–83.
Sergeev V N 1999 Silicified microfossils from transitional Meso-Neoproterzoic deposits of the Turukhansk Uplift, Siberia; Bollettino della Societa Paleontologica Italiana 38(2–3) 287–295.
Sergeev V V 2006 The importance of Precambrian microfossils for Modern Biostratigraphy; Palaeontol. J. 40(5) S664–S673.
Sharma M 2003 Age of Vindhyans — Palaeobiological evidence: A paradigm shift (?); Palaeontol. Soc. India 48 191–214.
Soni M K, Chakraborty S and Jain V K 1987 Vindhyan Supergroup — A review; In: Purana Basins of India; Geol. Soc. India Memoir 6 87–138
Srivastava P 2002 Carbonaceous megafossils from the Dholpura Shale, Uppermost Vindhyan Supergroup, Rajasthan: An age implication; J. Palaeontol. Soc. India 47 97–105.
Tappan H 1980 The palaeobiology of plant protists; Freeman and Co., San Francisco, 1028 pp.
Timofeev B V, Hermann T N and Mikhailova M S 1976 Microfossils of the Precambrian, Cambrian and Ordovisian; Institute of Geology and Geochronology, Academy of Sciences, USSR, 106 p. (in Russian).
Venkatachala B S, Sharma M and Shukla M 1996 Age and life of the Vindhyans — Facts and conjectures; Geol. Soc. India Memoir 36 137–165.
Vidal G and Moczydlowska-Vidal 1997 Biodiversity, speciation and extinction trends of Proterozoic and Cambrian phytoplankton; Palaeobiology 23(2) 230–246.
Vidal G and Knoll A H 1983 Proterozoic plankton; Geological Society of America Memoir 163 256–277.
Willman S and Moczydlowska M 2007 Ediacaran acritarch biota from the Giles 1 drillhole, Officer Basin, Australia and its potential for biostratigraphic correlation; Precamb. Res. doi: 1016/j.precamres.2007.10.010.
Yin L, Zhu M, Knoll A H, Xunlai Yuan, Zhang J and Hu J 2007 Doushantuo Embryos preserved inside diapause egg cysts; Nature 446 661–663.
Zang Wen-Long 1995 Early Neoproterozoic sequence stratigraphy and acritarch biostratigraphy, eastern Officer Basin, South Australia; Precamb. Res. 74 119–175.
Zhou, Chuanming, Xie Guwei, Kathleen, McFadden, Xiao Shuhai and Yuan Xun-lai 2007 The diversification and extinction of Doushantuo-Pertatataka acritarchs in South China: Causes and biostratigraphic significance; J. Geol. 42(3–4) 229–262.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Srivastava, P. Trachyhystrichosphaera: An age-marker acanthomorph from the Bhander group, upper Vindhyan, Rajasthan. J Earth Syst Sci 118, 575–582 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-009-0041-6
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-009-0041-6