Journal
PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH
Volume 173, Issue 1-4, Pages 93-104Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.precamres.2009.05.005
Keywords
Paleoproterozoic; Eukaryotes; Changzhougou Formation; Acritarchs; Diversification
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Funding
- UCSB's Academic Senate
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
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Shales and silty shales of the similar to 1800 million-year-old Changzhougou Formation (lowermost Changcheng Group) in the Pangjiapu Region of North China contain well-preserved, acritarchs. These microbial body fossils, although sphaeromorphs, have a size and fine-scale morphological complexity that would attribute them to the eukaryotic domain on the tree of life. Sphaeromorphs range in size from 62 mu m to 216 mu m. Shapes include spheroidal, ellipsoidal, and fusiform. Some have medial splits indicating excystment and others have a complex wall structure with three or more wall layers. Thirteen distinct morphological entities have been identified. These results indicate that eukaryotic microbial life was well established by close of the Paleoproterozoic and had already undergone a moderate amount of diversification. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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