BURGESS SHALE-TYPE PRESERVATION AND THE ANIMAL EVOLUTION ACROSS THE CAMBRIAN/PRECAMBRIAN BOUNDARY by (Alex) Jih-Pai Lin [email protected].

BURGESS SHALE-TYPE PRESERVATION BURGESS SHALE-TYPE PRESERVATION

ANDAND THE ANIMAL EVOLUTION ACROSS THE THE ANIMAL EVOLUTION ACROSS THE CAMBRIAN/PRECAMBRIAN BOUNDARYCAMBRIAN/PRECAMBRIAN BOUNDARY

by

(Alex) Jih-Pai Lin

[email protected]

Acknowledgements

• William I. Ausich, Loren E. Babcock and James St. John, Derek Briggs, and Sam Gon, III in USA; Yuan-Long Zhao, You-Yi Yu, Wang Yue, Jing Peng, Yuan Jin-Liang, and Shi-Xue Hu in China; Andrew Scott in UK; Chai-Wei Li and Hung-Jen Wu in Taiwan; and James G. Gehling in Australia.

• My graduate studies were supported by the Presidential Fellowship, Early-Start Fellowship, Ying-Chien Chang Fund, Graduate Student Ravel Grants, Alumni Research Grant from OSU, Student Research Grant and Gould Grant in Aid from PS, NSF East Asia Summer Research Fellowship, and two GSA Graduate Student Research Grants.

Why Study Fossils?

• Biostratigraphy

• Evolution

• Paleoecology

• Paleogeography

• Simple fascination

Source: Prothero, D. R. 1998. Bring Fossils to Life: An Introduction to Paleobiology, 1st ed. McGraw-Hill, Boston, 457 p.

Presentation Sections• Visited localities of exceptional preservation

– Mistaken Point Biota, Newfoundland– Ediacara Biota, South Australia– Chengjiang Biota, Yunnan, China– Emu Bay Shale Biota, Kangaroo Island, Australia– Kaili Biota, Guizhou, China– Burgess Shale Biota, western Canada

• Significance of Kaili Biota– New mode of preservation

Visited Deposits of Exceptional Preservation around the World

Mistaken Point Biota, Newfoundland, Canada

Narbonne et al., 2005

Narbonne et al., 2005

Visited Deposits of Exceptional Preservation around the World

Ediacara Biota, Flinders Range, South Australia

Gehling, 2005

Gehling, 2005

Gehling, 2005

Visited Deposits of Exceptional Preservation around the World

Chengjiang Biota, Yunnan Province, South China

Hou et al., 2004

Visited Deposits of Exceptional Preservation around the World

Emu Bay Shale, Kangaroo Island, South Australia

Jago & Zang, 2006

Visited Deposits of Exceptional Preservation around the World

Kaili Biota, Guizhou Province, South China

Kaili Biota – Arthropods

http://hdl.handle.net/1811/24227

Kaili Biota – Echinoderms

http://hdl.handle.net/1811/24227

Kaili Biota – Other Groups

http://hdl.handle.net/1811/24227

Kaili Biota – Trace Fossils

http://hdl.handle.net/1811/24227

Burgess Shale Biota

• Preservation of nonmineralizing organisms

• Preservation of soft parts

Visited Museum Collections

• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

• Carnegie Museum of Natural History

• Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

• Oxford Museum of Natural History

Caron & Jackson, 2006

Caron & Jackson, 2006

New Mode of Preservation from the Kaili Biota

Summary of Burgess Shale-type Preservation

• Organic carbon films

• Replication of clay minerals

• Pyritization

• Phosphatization

Clusters of Silicified Spheroids

Elemental Mappings

Synchrotron X-ray Microscopy

• Facility: National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC), Taiwan

• Advantage: Synchrotron X-ray provides the highest possible image resolution

• Collaborators: Chai-Wei Li and Hung-Jeng Wu (National Tsinghua University)

Summary• Kaili egg clusters formed via selective

silicification probably occurred in low pH and high solubility conditions.

(Blatt, 1992)

• 1997: Freshman Fee Remission Scholarship

• 1998: July 4th weekend field trip to Nevada

• 1999: Laurentia ’99

• 2001: Teaching assistantship at The Ohio State University

Important steps that had led to my early career in paleontology…